If young writers can learn how to write a solid paragraph, then they have the building blocks of an essay. In this lesson, students will study paragraph structure and practice organizing ideas into paragraphs.

Get your students excited about geography with a lesson on Earth's oceans. After reading two different texts, they'll be ready to dive right into ocean paragraph writing.

In this lesson, ask students to compare and contrast two important African-American historical figures. Students will write an informational paragraph on the similarities and differences between W.E.B. Du Bois and George Washington Carver.

Popular fiction throughout the ages colors the way people speak. In this short lesson, students will read a myth and non-fiction paragraph in order to identify and define words that come from mythology.

Want to help your students write more juicy details in their stories? This lesson will teach your class to identify and form prepositional phrases in their own writing while reinforcing the importance of prepositions.

The hardest part of writing an essay can be the first few steps. This lesson and accompanying graphic organizers will help students map out their ideas and practice crafting paragraphs. With this support, your writers will be off and running!

This lesson helps your students practice making text connections so they can write about their reading. It can be taught on its own or serve as a precursor to the Reading Response Letters lesson.

This lesson helps students summarize fictional stories using sequence words. Students will have a chance to practice distinguishing the different parts of a story in this lesson, which can be taught as a precursor to Storyboard Superstars.

Use this lesson to guide your ELs towards identifying and discussing the problem and solution in a story. Teach this lesson as a stand-alone lesson or as support to the lesson Traditional Literature: Story Mapping.

Understanding the Constitution is an important civic duty. This lesson gives your students a chance to break down the Preamble to the Constitution into manageable chunks, and translate it into student-friendly language.

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.

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.

Once students have selected a topic related to a piece of literature they have read and mapped out their argument, this lesson will help them turn their prewriting into an essay.

Writing a research paper is a huge undertaking. Getting curious about your topic and breaking it down into steps makes it more inviting and doable. Use this lesson to review the research process.

How can you see what your students are thinking while they read? Try reading response letters in your class. Students will practice formatting letters and learn to discuss their thinking about literature in writing.

This lesson combines an introduction to biomes with some fun Venn diagram exercises. Not only will students learn more about nature, they'll also learn how to make comparisons between different things in nature.

Planning for a substitute in the classroom has never been easier than with this daily sub plan! Your substitute can keep your students learning in your absence by using these lessons, worksheets, and activities.

In this lesson, your students will explore the library in search of various genres of nonfiction texts. Teach this lesson at the beginning of the year to familiarize your students with the structure and organization of the library.

Characters, settings, and events, oh my! In this lesson, students will dig deeper into each of these components and learn to provide specific details from their texts.

Homophones are frequently misused in student writing. This lesson teaches students about many of the commonly misused homophones through the creation of a poster on one set of homophones.

Marie Curie’s monumental achievements in chemistry and physics are remarkable. In this lesson, your students will read two accounts of her life, integrate the details, and assess the importance of having more than one source of information.

This lesson gives students a structure to help them summarize fiction texts. When they are skilled at summarizing, they will be more capable of exploring various fiction genres. Use it as a precursor to Fiction Genres Library Exploration.

This lesson helps your ELs identify nonfiction text features and explain how they enhance comprehension of the text. Use it as a stand-alone lesson or a support lesson for the Searching for Text Features lesson plan.

Give your class the "write" tools they need to become excellent authors. In this literary lesson, students use their knowledge of author's purpose to successfully write pieces that persuade, inform, and entertain.

Students will enjoy playing a dice game in this interactive lesson on prefixes and their meanings.

In this lesson, your students will go through the writing process to write about their perfect pets and then make a 3-D version of this pet, mount the final draft, and display it.

Teach your students to edit peer writing with a three-step process that will improve their writing skills and overall confidence. In this lesson, students will practice editing short pieces of writing using specific criteria.

Let's practice reading nonfiction texts! In this lesson, teach your ELs about identifying and describing text features. This lesson can be taught on its own or used as support for the lesson Formatting Text Features.

Let's get reading! In this lesson, students will identify the main idea and details of a nonfiction text. Use this on its own or as support for the lesson Connecting the Coasts: Effects of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Settlers began arriving to build homes for themselves in America in the early bits of the 17th century. In this lesson, your students will learn a little about what it took to leave home and become a settler.