In this lesson, students listen to an illustrated read aloud and use literacy skills to understand the central message of the book.

This lesson employs direct instruction and small-group discussion to help students learn new vocabulary skills while reading Patricia Polacco?s Pink and Say.

In this lesson, students analyze the ways in which Draper creates the first-person narrator of Melody and the effects these choices have on the story and the reader. Melody has cerebral palsy; instead of asking students to research about the condition before reading, this lesson invites students to learn about it through the narrator herself in the context of her story. Students meet to discuss the narrator at several pre-determined discussion points and eventually write a brief analysis of the narration.

The ability to ask and answer questions while reading is essential to comprehension. This article discusses instructional strategies used to teach questioning and provides many online resources. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which explores the seven essential principles of the climate sciences for teachers in k-grade 5 classrooms.

This activity is designed as a project-based learning activity. It allows students to collaborate, requires them to comprehend what they have read and engages them in critical thinking. This activity can be adjusted to fit the needs and grade levels of your students.

This activity is designed as a project-based learning activity. It allows students to collaborate, requires them to comprehend what they have read and engages them in critical thinking. This activity can be adjusted to fit the needs and grade levels of your students.

This activity is designed as a project-based learning activity. It allows students to collaborate, requires them to comprehend what they have read and engages them in critical thinking. This activity can be adjusted to fit the needs and grade levels of your students.

Students will gain an understanding of using contractions in speaking and in written text. They will identify word pairs used to make contractions and create contractions appropriately. They will also have a better understanding of how certain grammatical structures, like contractions, contribute to the overall understanding of a text.

The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

In this 5-day unit, students will explore the topic of cheating. Cheating seems to be ever-present in today’s society. Whether we are talking about athletes being busted for using steroids or students “sharing” answers and plagiarizing on final exams, one thing is clear—there’s a whole lot of cheating going on. In this unit, students will take a look at some contemporary instances of cheating and argue whether under certain situations cheating is not only excusable, but also justifiable.

In this lesson, students will share annotations and discuss the articles “Don’t Alter Models’ Bodies” and “Is Photoshop Destroying America’s Body Image?” Then they will write an argument in which they state their claim, present relevant evidence, and respond to counterarguments.

In this short unit, students will spend three lessons exploring the importance of themes and main ideas in fiction and informational texts.  Now would be a good time to have them take an assessment of their reading and writing skills. They'll explore theme through O. Henry's classic short story  "The Gift of the Magi" and consider how this piece compares to the main idea in the article "The Proven Power of Giving, Not Getting."

In this lesson, students will consider whether aphorisms are trite, true, or both. They’ll think about the theme of “The Gift of the Magi” and read an informational article on a similar subject.

The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

In this short unit, students will spend three lessons exploring some of Abraham Lincoln's speeches. Students will explore Lincoln's themes and consider how they address the issues of his time, and they'll analyze the literary and rhetorical devices he used to express his ideas.

In this lesson, students will continue analyzing Lincoln’s first inaugural address. They’ll read two more of his speeches, including the Gettysburg Address. Then, they’ll analyze his themes and the ways that he used literary and rhetorical devices.

In this 5-day unit, students will explore the topic of love. After reading six poems from writers in the 16th and 17th centuries, they will decide which poet had a better idea than the others about how to express love to a young woman.

Over the next two lessons, students will complete the culminating assessment for this unit.In this lesson, students will read text and answer questions that reflect their reading comprehension. Some questions will ask students to select from a group of answers supplied. Other questions will ask students to construct their own answers and write them in the space provided.

Evaluating has been called one of the six most important reading comprehension strategies. In this article, it is also considered as a strategy for analyzing and interpreting data. This professional development article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which integrates science education and literacy instruction for K-grade 5 teachers. Each issue examines one of the recognized essential principles of climate literacy and the climate sciences and one or more reading strategies for elementary teachers and their students.

This resource includes a unit lesson designed to provide students with the opportunity to perform a close reading of the Gettysburg Address. The resource includes activities, text-dependent questions, vocabulary and writing assessments.

The reading strategy known as inferring is also one of the six basic process skills in science. How to apply the strategy in teaching K-5 reading and science is explained in this article from the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The magazine is designed to prepare elementary teachers to teach climate science concepts while integrating inquiry-based science and literacy instruction.

In this activity, students will read the story of the booted cat for reading comprehension.

Using the web-based lessons highlighted in this article, students learn how to pose questions before, during, and after reading nonfiction, fiction, and diagrams. This reading comprehension strategy is included in the literacy column of the magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, a free, online publication for K-5 teachers.

The author identifies online lessons that will support students in applying evaluation skills to fiction and nonfiction texts. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which integrates science education and literacy skills instruction.

Different approaches to teaching the reading comprehension strategy of inferring in K-5 classrooms are identified in this article. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which is structured around the essential principles of climate science.

Making predictions is a skill readers need for comprehending fiction and nonfiction. Three lessons are identified here to give young readers opportunities to make predictions about nonfiction text found in print or on web pages. The lessons are aligned with the national standards for English language arts. The article appears in the free, online magazine that focuses on the seven essential principles of climate literacy.

This article identifies online lesson plans that can be used to introduce visualizing, a comprehension skill important to both science and literacy learning. Each of the lessons meets NCTE/IRA English language arts standards. The article appears in the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which is structured around the seven essential principles of climate science and literacy.

Students study a composer and learn about the musical genre of opera, They learn form and melodic patterns, read the opera storyline, and develop their own opera scenes.

This article examines the reading comprehension strategy known as making connections. It involves linking what is being read (the text) to what is already known (schema, or background knowledge). The author provides links to four online resources that will help readers use the strategy in K-5 science and literacy classrooms. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which integrates science and literacy instruction.

The reading strategy known as making connections can greatly enhance students' understanding of any text. This article offers resources that teachers can use to instruct K-5 students in using the strategy. The free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle integrates science and literacy instruction. Each issue contains lessons and activities that combine literacy and science experiences.

This article discusses the reading instruction strategy of predicting and shows how it applies to science learning in the elementary school grades. It appears in the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which provides a first introduction to the Seven Essential Principles of Climate Literacy.

This resource includes a lesson that tasks learners with reading a short selection before answering a set of accompanying questions. This resource may be used as a quick quiz to test a learners understanding of the aligned standards.

This article describes the importance of teaching students the strategy of note taking and includes a template for use with elementary students.

Students are required to act out their favorite character from the book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Students will also develop an opinion of the main character, Hugo Cabret. They must decide if he is a diligent or obsessed person. Students will then create their own Hugo Cabret puppet using a paper plate and cut out body parts. The puppet will convey two reasons why the student felt the way they did about Hugo, as well as two references from the text to support their opinion.

Students read an informational text and attempt to find examples of the ways Abigail Adams attempts to persuade John Adams. The resource may be used to reinforce previous instruction of or introduce constructed response style responses.

This article provides an overview of metacognition, suggestions for teaching elementary students to be metacognitive about their reading, and links to professional resources.

Objective: As a student, I will be able to read the conversation and answer questions about it in Spanish and in complete sentences.Objective: For the student to be able to read and comprehend a conversation between two people and answer questions in Spanish.The assumption is the students has already been exposed to the vocabulary of greetings, name, how they are, numbers, where they are from and goodbyes.The questions can be translated into English as well.

A short video resource that demonstrates the beginning steps to analyzing a poem.

For teachers in K-Grade 5 classrooms, the author of this article reviews the reading comprehension strategies known as Summarizing and Synthesizing. She provides links to web sites and to a book that will provide more background information and lessons. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the seven essential principles of climate science.

In this lesson plan, students will review point of view through use of a close reading of Two Bad Ants and associated activities.