Use this lesson to see how animals can have very interesting relationships. Some help each other, some benefit from others, and some hurt others. Young scientists are sure to benefit from this eye-opening lesson.

This lesson will help your young writers develop a claim, or thesis, and construct an argument around it. You may have students complete the essay by continuing the process with the lesson Literary Argument Writing: Drafting Your Essay.

Don't believe everything you read! Teach students to differentiate between statements of fact and opinion. This important skill will help students become critical and discerning readers.

Students will learn how knowledge of word parts can help readers determine the meaning of words. This interactive lesson will have students reviewing and putting into practice some of the most common prefixes.

This lesson walks students through the first few steps of crafting a personal narrative. Writers will start by going through a process to select an idea to write about, then begin to craft a hook that invites readers into their story.

Teach your students to entertain readers with narrative writing. This lesson will help your students understand the genre, the different parts of a story, and elements such as character, setting, and conflict.

Sometimes authors choose to describe their setting for readers to imagine, but don't actually tell them where the story is set! In this lesson, students will learn to deduce settings from context.

Give your readers the tools to decipher the meaning of Greek and Latin based words. In this lesson they review the meaning of commonly used prefixes, suffixes and roots and then practice constructing and deciphering words.

Students can have a love affair with fiction while details of the genre can go unnoticed! Using this lesson, your students look under the hood of their favorite fiction by analyzing texts across common themes and topics that hook readers.

According to research about growth mindsets, certain kinds of praise can stifle growth, while others promote learning and achievement. In this lesson, students will be able to identify and use praise words that support growth mindset.

Help your students absorb the details of a text and make inferences about what they read with the strategy of close reading. By reading closely, students will become better able to understand complex themes and nuances in a text.

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.

Give your students practice with inferences using short fictional texts before asking them to apply the skill to a longer text of their choice.

In this support lesson, your students will compare and contrast character traits using a graphic organizer. It can be a stand-alone lesson or used as support for the lesson Comparing Two Characters.

In this lesson, students will learn how to write a conclusion for informational text using pre-written texts for practice.

Help students learn about descriptive writing with this engaging lesson. Your class will learn to show character emotions though the “show, don’t tell” writing technique with videos, practice writing, and class participation.

Students become word artists as they use ordinary pictures to practice creating detailed descriptions. This technique helps your class learn how to paint a picture with words.

This lesson gives students foundational skills needed to identify the author's purpose in a variety of texts. Use the lesson as a stand alone or as a pre-lesson to What Were They Thinking?

Use this lesson to help your ELs understand how nouns and verbs are used in personification. It can be a stand-alone lesson or used as support to the lesson Poetry: Figurative Language.

It's time to infer! Students will read a variety of short passages and make inferences using modals and a step-by-step graphic organizer. It can be used on its own or as support for the lesson Inference Detectives.

Improve your students' comprehension of non-fictional reading through this lesson that teaches them about text features. Students will find their own text features and explain why they aid in the reading process.

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.

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.

Students will get lots of editing practice in this lesson! After reviewing basic editing symbols, students will edit provided stories and a partner’s work. Student will also learn about editing tools used in word processing.

In fifth grade, students are expected to analyze complex texts on a deeper level. Teach your students to use close reading strategies, like rereading and annotation symbols, to dive deeper into fictional texts.

Give your students practice explaining how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text. With these sports-themed texts, students will make inferences about the author and use text evidence to prove it.

Students will use a combination of graphic organizers in this lesson plan to learn about famous African American poets and their poetry. They will work in groups to research a famous poet, and choose one of their poems to analyze. Then, they'll share their findings with the class.

Charts, graphs, and diagrams are complex text features for students to decipher. Use this lesson to familiarize students with these features. It can be taught on its own or before the lesson Charts and Graphs and Diagrams, Oh My!

Understanding how titles, headings, and subheadings work together in nonfiction can help students with writing and with reading comprehension. Students will make observations about nonfiction texts and consider organization choices.

Guess what comes next! Teach your students to make a prediction based on textual evidence.