Brush up on your reading comprehension skills when you check out this website. It looks at a particuar strategey called QAR. QAR stands for "Question-Answer Relationships." This particular strategy helps students learn to answer reading comprehension questions.

This article from Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle provides ideas on how school librarians can work with elementary teachers to teach about the Sun's impact on weather and climate. The author introduces the Standards for the 21st Century Learner, developed by the American Association of School Librarians. The author focuses on Standard 1, which calls for students to inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge through developing and refining questions, investigating answers, seeking divergent perspectives in information, and assessing whether the information found answers the questions posed. The free, online magazine draws its themes from the Seven Essential Principles of Climate Literacy, with each issue focusing on one of the seven principles.

Working with students on identifying problem and solution in their reading? Here is a simple concept, with a printable chart, for teaching and reinforcing this concept. Applicable for any subject area, could be used (modified) at any level.

Online lesson allows elementary students to use prior knowledge, make predictions, and perform research on the Internet. Labeled "The Frog Beyond the Fairy Tale Character," lesson challenges students to examine print and online texts carefully.

The realities of slavery and Reconstruction hit home in poignant oral histories from the Library of Congress. In these activities, students research narratives from the Federal Writers' Project and describe the lives of former African slaves in the U.S. -- both before and after emancipation. From varied stories, students sample the breadth of individual experiences, make generalizations about the effects of slavery and Reconstruction on African Americans, and evaluate primary source documents.

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.

This book list contains children's books that have been screened for accuracy in depicting scientific concepts. Each book's content is briefly described and its cover pictured. The topics of the books support learning in Grades K-5 about the issue's theme. The list appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the essential principles of climate literacy.

This lesson discusses how statistics can be used as supporting details. This tutorial shares a short audio lesson [05:16] and supplemental notes with the lesson's content.

A lesson with audio discussing how analogies can be used as supporting details. [4:00]

Simple and effective method for introducing primary students to the concept of cause and effect in literature.

While this lesson is designed to aid in communications technology, the concept and procedure of the lesson can be readily used in any class. The main concept taught is organization and developing chronological order.

Compare and connect ideas across the texts about the teenage brain by developing your response to the text-specific questions. Support your response with evidence from the texts.

Review shared claims developed across three informational texts. Then share your response with the class.

The Bozeman Trail was a shortcut to the newly-discovered gold fields of Montana Territory. Cutting through the heart of Indian country, it provoked a clash of cultures that exploded into warfare, destruction, and tragedy. In the accompanying Lesson Plans for Grades 6-8 and 9-12 (found in Support Materials), students will learn it was a singular road that changed this part of the American West forever. [4:30]

This nonfiction article, written for students in grades 4-5, explores the relationships between various tundra species: marsh marigolds, bot flies, and caribou. Modified versions are available for students in younger grades.

This article describes robots that are helping scientists explore the Gakkel Ridge deep below the Arctic Ocean and links to informational text about them. Versions are available for students in grades K-1, 2-3 and 4-5. Related science and literacy activities are included.

In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch video dramatizations of Percy Julian's struggles with racism and how he refused to let it limit his possibilities in life. Students develop their literacy skills as they explore an English language arts focus on understanding character. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities. This resource is part of the Inspiring Middle School Literacy Collection.

This list of children's books recommends nonfiction titles that supplement basic information found in lessons and activities of this themed issue of the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The books are grouped by topic -- water, weather and climate, and atmosphere. Each book is described by its content, reading level, and possible uses in the classroom. Covers are pictured. The online magazine is produced for elementary school teachers and is structured around the essential principles of climate sciences and climate literacy.