By fourth grade, most students are familiar with story elements such as setting, characters, and plot. In this lesson, students will compare and contrast the elements in two stories with similar themes.

Students will read a story and listen to a song to explore the sound of silence, its meaning, and significance. They will share their experience and reflect on how and why silence or space can be important.

Good writers begin with a knowledge of who their audience is. They shape their piece knowing that there will be a certain kind of reader on the other side. This lesson will help young writers cultivate an awareness of their audience.

Help your students recognize when they are writing simple, boring sentences. This lesson will teach them to combine similar elements and improve the flow of sentences.

What do Malala Yousafzai, Al Gore, and Michelle Obama all have in common? They are all nonfiction authors with a purpose. In this interactive lesson, students will gain practice looking at details in text to identify the author’s purpose.

Close reading isn’t about just ticking through words on a page; it’s about absorbing ideas and expanding on them. In this lesson, students will use this strategy to make interpretations about a character's emotions through their actions.

Not all nonfiction texts on the same topic are created equal! Using this lesson plan, your class will become familiar with nonfiction features by comparing and contrasting texts on a shared topic.

A lesson about the Great Depression doesn't have to depress your students! They will enjoy building background knowledge for Bud, Not Buddy with great interactive and cooperative learning tasks.

In this lesson, you will share with your students two books that emphasize the beauty and power of music. They will also meet two unique characters that they will compare and contrast by referencing specific examples from the texts.