August House
A Tale of Two Frogs
Ribbit ribbit! Hop through a series of activities based on A Tale of Two Frogs. Kids read the Russian folktale and answer reading comprehension questions before working on phonics exercises, tracing dotting lines to make a path between...
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Can you find the themes from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea in other books? What about picture books? Compare the novel to a picture book with a lesson about making predictions and finding textual evidence.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Alphabet Borders
Help young scholars name the letters of the alphabet. They use the provided alphabet border and letter cards to take turns saying and finding various alphabet letters. This simple game can be extended by having learners focus on the...
California Education Partners
Eleven
It is difficult to articulate how growing up feels as accurately and beautifully as Sandra Cisneros does in her short story "Eleven." After seventh graders read the story and note the author's use of figurative language, they respond to...
Museum of Disability
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon
Help to create the next generation of friends with a lesson about accepting people who are different. As kids read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, they answer a series of discussion questions and activities about making friends with others.
Museum of Disability
Don't Laugh at Me
You can prevent bullying in your classroom by addressing kindness, empathy, and acceptance with your littlest learners early on. After reading Don't Laugh at Me by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin, kids discuss the ways that words can...
Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day lesson integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The lesson activates...
Novelinks
The Martian Chronicles: Response Writing
Follow the format of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with a journal-writing activity. Readers choose a character and examine the character's life and circumstances through brainstorming, research, and discussion before writing a...
Council for Economic Education
Out of Africa: Why Early Humans Settled around the World
Why would someone want to leave home? The age-old question is at the center of a thought-provoking activity. Scholars consider why humans move around the world both during pre-historical times and today using a PowerPoint, reading on...
August House
When Turtle Grew Feathers
Friendship is a valuable part of growing up. Learn about the importance of friendship with a variety of activities based on When Turtle Grew Feathers by Tim Tingle. Kids practice making musical instruments, discussing plot points,...
Positively Autism
Activities for "Decreasing Supermarket Tantrums"
Priming and shaping, two teaching strategies used to prepare kids for upcoming activities, are detailed in this resource that models how to prepare kids for a trip to the supermarket. Activities include creating a shopping list, matching...
Curated OER
Responding Syllables: Reading and Music
Shell Silverstein’s “Sick” provides an opportunity for kids to demonstrate their understanding of syllables and phonemes. The class creates a list of descriptive words used in the poem that have more than one syllable, and brainstorm how...
Scholastic
Reading Success Mini Books: Word Families
Engage children in learning about rhyming words with this printable book on the -ing word family. Including six words with supporting pictures, young learners practice reading and writing the words before adding their own word and...
Curated OER
Reading Contract
In this reading contract learning exercise, students write the title of a book they will read, how many pages they will read each day and how they will share what they've read. Both the teacher and student sign this agreement. Two...
Curated OER
Post-Reading Strategies
Students practice post-reading strategies. In this reading comprehension lesson, students review pre-reading strategies, then read a handout entitled "Thirteen Reasons Our Ancestors Migrated." Students complete a post-reading worksheet...
Curated OER
Active and Passive Listening
Eighth graders practice passive and active listening skills. They discover listening skills help them communicate more effectively. Students analyze the benefits of having someone to listen to them actively and the benefits of being an...
Curated OER
Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie
In this reading comprehension worksheet, students use a short story for several activities. Students write a short story of their own about the characters. Students answer questions while reading the story. Students create a pantomime of...
Curated OER
Passage to Freedom Teacher's Guide
Learners explore the main elements of the book Passage to Freedom. In this reading response lesson, students participate in pre-reading activities that focus on the idea of courage. Learners conduct a book walk-through and are introduced...
Curated OER
Predictions: A Pre-Reading Strategy
Students read and complete an article filling in the blanks to make predictions before reading the full article. In this predictions lesson, students compare predictions to the actual parts of the article. Students discuss the main idea...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Segmenting, The Sound Game
Pre-readers get a better understanding of phoneme segmenting and counting by playing a board game. They pick an image card from the stack, say the name of the object, break the word down into segments, then move their piece that number...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Blending, What's My Word?
At a listening station, learners listen to a pre-recorded script; they follow the directions and number each picture on their picture chart corresponding to the segmented phonemes they hear.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Matching, Vowel Picture Sort
Sound sorting can be a fun way to get little ones phonologically prepared for a life of reading. In this activity, learners sort picture cards based on the long or short vowel sound they make when said aloud.
Reed Novel Studies
The One and Only Ivan: Novel Study
A new friend, a new perspective, and a new light are all found in Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan. Ivan, a gorilla, was content with his life until a baby elephant befriended him. Readers find synonyms, answer comprehension...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Isolating, Phoneme Quest
In this phonics activity, little learners glue picture cards under the initial, medial, and final phonemes represented by the lead sound cards. An image of a shark broken into three parts represents the initial phoneme /sh/, the medial...