In this lesson, the teacher will read a book about different landforms. The children will learn about the features of the landforms and how they were shaped by natural forces. Then text features will be discussed. The children will then explain how a text feature, such as images or diagrams, helped them to understand the scientific content more clearly.

As adults, we explore pictures, captions, diagrams and text, when reading any kind of informational piece. Kids can do this too! In this lesson, students will sort information that was obtained from pictures and diagrams, from that obtained from text when reading an informational piece.

Using the book "Is My Dog a Wolf?" students will find "connections or similarities" in two animals. Included is a printable graphic organizer.

This lesson, based on the 11-minute animated story "Brand New Flag" from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI, helps children use captions to access and convey meaning in informational texts. After Molly learns about the history of Alaska's state flag, she holds a contest to design a flag for the Trading Post. Entries come flooding in with captions to explain each design. Molly must decide which one truly captures the spirit of the Trading Post. After watching, students create informational text with captions in the context of a current unit that they are studying.

A new instructional model, called Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI), is introduced to elementary teachers in this article. The author shows how school librarians and classroom teachers can collaborate to help students construct and communicate evidence, or arguments. Evidence buckets, a collaborative activity, and related online resources are presented. The article appears in the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which is structured around the seven essential principles of climate literacy.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" was written during atime of change. This lesson plan, the first part of a two-part lesson, helps to set the historical, social, cultural, and economic context of Gilman's story.

The goal of this lesson is to give students ownership over classroom policies by asking them to research and support a cell phone policy that they believe should be used in our classroom. Students will discuss and debate the policy after researching and then they will create the policy that we will follow for the first quarter. After the first quarter, we will reevaluate the policy for effectiveness. Students will use research and speaking and listening standards to complete this PBL for an authentic purpose. It is important to actually implement the policy for that particular class, or students will not feel the 

This unit uses first- and second-hand accounts to explore the life of Ruby Bridges and revolves around the book "Through My Eyes" by Ruby Bridges. This detailed lesson includes a full literacy unit, tips for small group and independent work on comparing and contrasting, a bibliography of resources, and discussion prompts.

This article discusses how creating Readers Theater scripts from informational text can improve fluency and build comprehension.

Need help planning ways to creatively teach your students chronological order? Here's a great place to start. While the site is specifically geared toward the middle school student, it is a teaching idea which could easily be adapted for lower or higher levels. Good connection between visual and written literacy skills.

By closely reading historical documents and attempting to interpret them, students consider how Arthur Miller interpreted the facts of the Salem witch trials and how he successfully dramatized them in his play, "The Crucible." As they explore historical materials, such as the biographies of key players (the accused and the accusers) and transcripts of the Salem Witch trials themselves, students will be guided by aesthetic and dramatic concerns: In what ways do historical events lend themselves (or not) to dramatization? What makes a particular dramatization of history effective and memorable?

Help young students move from drawing pictures into writing simple stories. Good plan for having students put pictures in sequential order and teaching them about sequential order.

Discussing real life heroes and heroines and viewing their pictures will help students learn about reading and writing biographies. A writing rubric assessment is included in this series of activities designed to teach about heroes and comparing and contrasting.

[Free Registration/Login Required] A site with links to 4 worksheets that can be downloaded and printed for student use while building skills with standard W.4.9.B: Apply grade 4 reading standards to information texts (e.g., Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in 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.

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.

Working on higher-level thinking skills with your readers is made easier with this lesson. You will have your students connect with and analyze a mystery story at their grade-appropriate level. Lesson plan, printable worksheets, and evaluation.

A video [13:03] discussing post mortem investigations and how they differ from state to state due to a lack of federal regulations.

What can you do with your child in fifteen minutes to improve their reading skills? This site has a list of reading activities.

What are the foundations for reading? Come and explore this informative article to discover the answer to this question.