Middle schoolers get hip to the jive with a lesson about slang. They closely examine examples of slang and use context clues to infer the meaning of the terms. Groups read and summarize an article about a teacher who created a Gen Z...

Get deep! Teach scholars how to make connections between texts to deepen their understanding of a topic. Using the resource, pupils read and annotate a short informational text about Sudan's Civil War and refugee crisis. Next, they...

Text annotations help readers track essential ideas. Pupils continue reading and annotating an informational article about Sudanese tribes, connecting it with A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They also begin writing about their...

Agriculture and water—it's a fine balance. So how exactly do industry and agriculture currently manage water? Pupils consider the question as they continue reading excerpts from Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst and adding notes to their...

It's puzzle time! Pupils participate in a jigsaw activity to discuss the various uses of water, including personal, agricultural, and industrial uses. They also conduct a close reading of The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman and answer...

It's all in the details. Scholars read acts two and three of The Hero's Journey and collect important details from the text. They share their notes with their peers and listen for key words from the story. They then turn their attention...

Even fictional characters have rights. Scholars read selected passages from Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising and consider which of the five categories from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the text relates to. They glue each...

Put on a happy face. Using an interesting resource, pupils read an informational text about Hawaii's endangered Happy Face Spider. Next, they participate in a jigsaw discussion to find the gist of the article. 

Pupils work in expert research groups, reading an informational article about an invention and completing a note-catcher worksheet. Afterward, scholars work in triads to answer questions based on the text.

Just like instant replay, it's time to take a closer look! Pupils work together to add ideas to a Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart. They then put their knowledge to the test as they read an informational article about the...

Wheels go around is the theme of this series of challenge activities. Extend learning of making predictions and the reading comprehension skill, cause and effect, through grand conversations, poster designing, and writing books.

Did you know dogs had an important job on September 11th, the day airplanes took down the World Trade Center? Learn more about the furry heroes with a three-page informational read designed to aid pupils in answering 10...

Twelve cards and a worksheet make up an activity designed to reinforce problem solving skills. Scholars read and solve a variety of word problems using a graphic organizer to show their work. 

Does Bud use his rules to survive or thrive? That is the driving question of a lesson plan following the reading of Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. In an argument essay prewriting activity, pupils use textual evidence to...

Young scholars examine opening sentences from texts they will read in full in later sessions. They make predictions about the texts and then revisit them throughout the course or unit to discuss the prediction strategy.

Students explore note taking. In this study skills and nonfiction comprehension instructional activity, students complete a two column main idea chart while reading a nonfiction passage.