What important facts about Dr. Seuss influenced the Read Across America movement...? This is the driving question of a research project that requires scholars to find information about Dr. Seuss' life and work. Class...

Learners examine samples of writing and discuss the score it received. They brainstorm what qualities make a good writer and stories.

Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...

Who would you love to see at your table? Groups research a decade, ranging from the 1840s to the 1960s, read a short story associated with that decade, and plan a dinner party, complete with table set-up and menu. After researching...

The courage of Las Mariposas, the Mirabal sisters, is the focus of a series of activities designed to accompany a reading of In the Time of the Butterflies that ask readers to consider what it means to be courageous. Beautifully crafted...

Students demonstrate through a choice of assessments, their understanding and enjoyment of materials they select to read.

Readers make personal connections to Saturday Market by Patricia Grossman and answer comprehension questions while reading the book. Comparing and contrasting the different characters in a Venn diagram leads to a kinesthetic...

A three-part writing assessment challenges scholars to think critically about schools of the past and present. Learners read informative texts, answer questions to prepare for a discussion, research in small groups, complete a Venn...

As an assessment of their skill in crafting a compare and contrast essay, class members read and compare the portrayals of nature in excerpts from naturalist John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra and from poet Emily Dickinson's...

Young scholars design and illustrate a pop-up book of their original writing after studying the book, The Jolly Postman: Or Other People's Letter's. They present their book and complete a self-assessment rubric.

Middle schoolers complete a writing assessment task to demonstrate their ability to craft a narrative based on a variety of informational texts. They view West of the West's documentary Magic Isle, read three print resources about...

How is religious freedom connected to the conflict between China and Tibet? After reading an online passage of background information, your learners will divide into groups and both read and view an interview with the Dalai Lama. They...

The New York Times article “Online Diary,” launches this study of websites and how to assess them. Richly detailed, the lesson includes warm-up activities, procedures, journal prompts, discussion questions, and links to valuable...

If you're looking for engaging, cross-curricular, inquiry-based activities and projects to support your class reading of Carl Hiaasen's Hoot, you've come to the right place!

Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials...

Students review the task sheet and information on SQ3R reading strategy. They choose a text for reading then apply SQ3R to the text to preview and ask questions about the content, organizational structure and author's prupose for writing.

Learners write a friendly letter to 5th graders welcoming incoming students. In this writing lesson plan, learners identify the five parts of a friendly letter, write a friendly letter to a current 5th grader, and perform a peer review...

Second graders practice their reading comprehension by analyzing stories they read in class. In this children's literature lesson, 2nd graders are assigned to read a book for 20 minutes each day in class and also reflect on it in their...

Aesop’s Fables offer young learners an opportunity to study figurative language. After reviewing theme, simile, alliteration, and metaphor, model for your pupils how to identify examples of these devices in the fable. Class members then...

Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...

William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...

Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...

After reading about the legal status of women in the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt and doing some additional research, your young historians will work in groups to develop short skits that reflect a typical gender-role related scenario...

Reinforce research skills, close reading, teamwork, and biographical writing skills with one collaborative instructional activity. Groups create slide shows detailing the elements of a biography through a presentation on a famous...