Curriculum Corner
Book Study: The Mitten
Looking for a set of resources to compliment a reading of The Mitten by Jan Brett? A fun winter resource has everything from story sequencing and writing prompts to a parts of speech sort and a mitten flap book. The activities are great...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 18: Art Project! Design Your Own Book Cover
Finished your novel? What’s next? Designing the book cover, of course. But how to begin? After examining the covers of published books and noting the common elements of these jackets, young novelists design a front and back cover for...
Museum of Disability
Ian’s Walk and Apples for Cheyenne
Help young learners understand friendship and empathy with two reading comprehension lessons. Each lesson focuses on a story about a child with autism, and encourages readers to compare and contrast the characters to each other and to...
Novelinks
Words by Heart: Level 3 Writing Assignment
Get in touch with the emotional side of writing by reading Words By Heart. The writing assignment helps learners make personal connections with the text and hone their writing skills by exploring a time that they had to forgive...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Alexander, Who Use to be Rich Last Sunday (Viorst)
Although this vocabulary-in-context activity is focused on Judith Viorst's book Alexander, Who Use to Be Rich Last Sunday, the strategy can be applied to any book budding learners read with you. First, introduce the three...
Novelinks
Tuesdays with Morrie: K-W-H-L Strategy
Readers of Tuesdays with Morrie are directed to use a K-W-H-L chart to record what they know, what they want to learn, how they will find information, and what they learned about a particular topic related to Mitch Albom's book.
Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust
The Lost World
Fans of Sherlock Holmes may be surprised to learn that in addition to stories of the famous deductionist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is also the creator of Professor Challenger. An irascible, unpredictable scientist, Challenger was featured...
Great Books Foundation
Discussion Guide for 1984
George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, can seem strangely prophetic when compared to modern news events and politics. Readers of Orwell's dystopian classic sharpen their critical thinking skills by engaging in...
Curated OER
A Handmade House Book with Student Writing
Use this lesson for your bookmaking project. First, young writers work on making an accordion fold house book. After composing a variety of pieces of writing, they can use their book to store their writing. The structure is ideal for a...
Brigham Young University
Silent Discussion: After Reading Strategy for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
Complete this after-reading activity for the novel Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy in order to explore the books themes of societal prejudice, peer pressure, authority, and bullying. Write the seven provided questions on...
Teacher Created Resources
The First Thanksgiving Book
Looking for a Thanksgiving week activity? Try this seven-page printable book documenting the story of the first Thanksgiving. Each page (1/2 sheet) has a short text along with a picture kids can color in.
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Asking Questions
Here is a reading strategies instructional activity in which learners use post it notes to create a bulletin board. They post their new questions on the bulletin board and look back at questions they have already learned the answer to. A...
Curated OER
Reading the Play
Do figures of speech enhance a play or story? In small groups, learners locate and describe figures of speech they find while reading a reader's theater play. After making predictions, they describe how the figures of speech make the...
Curated OER
A Primary Source Picture Book
Travel through Europe with ten-year-old Teddy Roosevelt in this writing activity, which uses the picture book My Tour of Europe: by Teddy Roosevelt, by Ellen Jackson. After reading the book, readers compare it to passages from The...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: How Do Dinosaurs Go To School? (Yolen)
Dinosaurs don't go to school...but what if they did? Use Jane Yolen's book How Do Dinosaurs Go To School to explore vocabulary in context. Find this on YouTube if you don't have the text on hand. These in-text words give some...
Curated OER
The Outsiders: Question Answer Relationships Strategy
Kids learn best when asking questions about what they have read. Encourage active reading with a comprehension activity based on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, in which kids read passages from the beginning of the book and identify...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (Aardema)
The African plains come alive as scholars learn vocabulary in context through Verna Aardema's story Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (tip: this strategy can be applied to any book). Precede reading by...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Franklin Goes to School (Bourgeois)
Join Franklin the turtle at school as youngsters learn new vocabulary in the context of Paulette Bourgeois' story (or apply this strategy to any book). Scholars are acquainted with new words before reading and raise hands when...
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: The K-W-H-L Strategy
Make note of what readers know, what to know, and have learned during a unit on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. As class members read the book, they jot down their ideas on a KWHL chart, and consider what they have...
Curated OER
Take It To the Bank
Examine how the economics of a school store relate to real world economics. Elementary students explore various websites, complete a Venn diagram, create a schedule of wages for the students, read the book "A Chair For My Mother" and...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: From Tadpole to Frog (Pfeffer)
Take an amphibious journey with budding readers as you explore vocabulary in Wendy Pfeffer's informative book From Tadpole to Frog. This text is the backdrop of a vocabulary exercise based on six words: fertilize,...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: I Hate To Be Sick (Bermiss)
No one likes being sick; use Aamir Bermiss' book I Hate To Be Sick as the context for a vocabulary study of illness-related words. Acquaint pupils with this unhealthy vocabulary (dizzy, faint, fever,...
Curated OER
How Weather Affects Our Lives
English learners practice basic weather terms from listening to two books. They keep a daily weather record for two weeks to record the type of weather, as well as the high and low temperatures for each day. Next, they complete a simple...
EngageNY
Asking Probing Questions and Choosing a Research Topic
Begin the writing journey of an evidence-based essay detailing a rule to live by with various activities to familiarize learners with the topic and jump-start brainstorming. First, pupils take part in an in-depth review and discussion of...