Reading can be a rollercoaster with its ups and downs! Use this lesson that features a rollercoaster-themed story map to teach your students about story structure and how to use a graphic organizer to visualize it.

How familiar are your fourth graders with the fictional genres available in their class or school libraries? This lesson introduces them to many genres of fictional books so they can get off to a terrific start of fourth grade reading.

Let’s read about our rights! In this social studies and language arts lesson, students learn about the Bill of Rights and participate in some fun writing activities.

Llama Llama's adventures are fun, interesting, and ready for your students' keen eyes. Explore the themes, setting, plots, and illustrations to discover hidden similarities and differences between these beloved picture books.

Let’s travel across the United States! In this city-themed lesson that integrates reading and social studies, students explore the culture and history of the cities in the United States.

Every great reader and writer knows that syntax matters. During this lesson, students will use the close reading strategy to focus on word choice, and use their understanding of syntax to develop theories about patterns in the text.

Who doesn’t love learning about animals? Engage students in research as they write informational books about animals.

Teach your students how to identify the main topic using story cards and an interactive read aloud in this engaging lesson.

Students will practice real world organizing as they learn how to alphabetize the classroom library.

Get your students excited about expository text through this fun introduction to text features! Students will create their own glossary of nonfiction text features.

Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name, and students will have a blast writing persuasive sentences about her. This quirky lesson is sure to please young, creative minds.

In this lesson students will be guided through a session of reflecting on their day and their emotions. They will also practice ways they can welcome and befriend their emotions with kindness and curiosity.

Ask an important question this month: What does an activist do? This engaging lesson can be used leading up to Martin Luther King Jr. Day (and year-round). It supports students in understanding what it means to be an activist and how Martin Luther King Jr. used collaborative action to change the world and speak out against oppression. Perfect for first graders and second graders, this activity explores word meaning and other reading and writing skills.

Want students to use text features in their writing? Begin by having them examine the text features that they see in informational books.

This lesson plan teaches students about Jean-Michel Basquiat and his life as a child. First, students will listen to a story and figure out the main topic and details. Next, students will be asked to think deeply about what it means to be an artist and some of the types of art they like to create. Perfect for first graders and second graders, the lesson Black Artists: Basquiat highlights reading informational texts and building vocabulary.

Change is inevitable, even for story characters! In this lesson, your students will determine how a character changes throughout a story by focusing on the character’s dialogue and actions.

Fully adaptable, this lesson can be used to to highlight African American leaders, famous women, veterans, or any other group of individuals who have acted heroically and have positively influenced our nation!

This engaging lesson plan provides students with an opportunity to learn all about America's prima ballerina, Maria Tallchief.

From seed to flower, students will learn all about the life cycle of a plant in this science lesson. Your class will discover what living things need to grow, and learn the various stages of a plant’s life span, with new vocabulary words.

Young detectives will have a blast as they find context clues and solve a mystery in this fun-filled lesson plan. By paying close attention to a story, students will figure out missing letters to decipher a hidden message.

Let’s put it all together! In this lesson, students will explore the different parts of a drama or play. By the end of the lesson they will be able to define terminology related to plays and give examples of the unique genre features!

To help develop independent readers, we need to make sure our students are able to identify books they can read independently. Teaching students to pick "just right" books helps them develop reading fluency by reading books at their level.

This lesson will help students identify the author's point of view and purpose for writing an informational text.

Do your students know they speak and write with prepositional phrases? Use this lesson plan to explicitly teach spoken and written prepositional phrases!

Bing! Bam! Boom! In this bombastic lesson, students will learn about onomatopoeia and create word art to describe the sounds these words make.

Nature can teach us about impermanence and appreciation of the present moment. In this lesson, students will explore impermanence in nature, and they'll create their own nature mandala that reflects impermanence and nature's gifts.

It’s raining, it’s pouring! Did you know that clouds can help you predict the weather? Use this lesson with your students to teach them about five different types of clouds and the weather to expect with each type.

Teach your students about picture walks as a strategy to understand the author's purpose in a fictional text. This lesson can be used as a stand-alone lesson or as support for the Examining Author's Purpose in a Fictional Text lesson.

Your students will deepen their understanding and build their vocabulary through reading nonfiction texts and identifying unknown words.

Create conversations about character changes! Use this lesson plan as a stand-alone lesson for practicing sequencing words in evidenced-based claims about a character, or before the Characters Change Just Like We Do lesson.