From Kierkegaard to Cortazar, read a list of 74 books recommended by beloved Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges.
Excellent read aloud books for fifth grade. These are all books that I have read aloud and are perfect for reading aloud at home or in a classroom.
Haven't tried a book tasting with your students yet? This fun reading activity is an awesome way to introduce genres in your elementary classroom or library!
This post contains the animated short film "Glued." Download the accompanying handout leveled for upper elementary students to teach theme.
From William Faulkner to Rainer Maria Rilke, read a list of beloved British actor Colin Firth's favorite books of all time.
These recommendations from readers come with favorites by Kristin Hannah and Mary Hall Kelly.
If you are looking for some high-interest activities, try using animated shorts to teach inference. Free handouts focus on student learning.
If writing is something you want to do, these 6 books on writing will help get you started. Good writers write, but did you know they also READ? Like, A LOT? In fact, many authors, when asked how d…
If you're going to invest your time and energy in one long (long!) book, you want to make sure it's a good one, right? Here's my list of ten long books worth reading...
Read aloud these mentor text picture books to find simile examples and metaphor examples that show growing writers about figurative language.
Discover the best Kristin Hannah books ranked. Find your next great historical fiction novel for women, including The Nightingale, The Four Winds, The Great Alone, The Women, and More.
These BFG activities are the perfect accompaniment to the book or the movie. Read/watch the story and then your kids can have fun with these easy activities.
Explore picture books to teach author’s purpose and help children identify if texts persuade, inform, or entertain through storytelling.
A reading list of prize-winning author Zadie Smith's favorite books, including classic works by Vladimir Nabokov, George Eliot and Zora Neale Huston.
I love a good mystery-thriller novel and psychological thrillers books are probably my favorite within that genre. There’s just something uniquely delightful about those twisty plotlines and the multitude of suspicious characters that populate this genre. Psychological thrillers are also the perfect pairing for a full-bodied glass of red wine. This list of the Best ...
You’ll love this list of some of the best historical fiction books to read, including historical series, epic novels, and popular historical fiction books.
Editor’s Note: The following article continues Johan Liedgren’s series on storytelling and its role in crafting narrative in design, advertising and film. On New Research Suggesting There Are Only …
Use this page to help you understand the “tone” for any article or story that we read in class. If you understand the author’s tone, you will most likely understand the main idea …
Book Inspired Kids Crafts Roundup - I Heart Crafty Things A big hello today to all of you lovely Glued to My Crafts fans! My name is Rachel and I blog
Haven't tried a book tasting with your students yet? This fun reading activity is an awesome way to introduce genres in your elementary classroom or library!
A list of books recommended by Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, including work by James Joyce, John Steinbeck and Virginia Woolf.
Randi Sonenshine, children’s book author of The Nest That Wren Built and middle school literacy specialist, shares ways to keep communication going in book clubs using fun games. Read on for some easy ideas that can help switch up the normal routine and get students engaged in conversations...
The best book club books for 2024 - these 2024 new release books are perfect for book club discussions.
14 Literary quotes about life 1. “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” 2. “Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” 3. “There is nothing like looking if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”
A month by month list of chapter books for kindergarteners to read aloud. Your whole year of read-alouds is planned with this free printable list of books.
Looking for perfect Fall reads? This autumn reading list will be sure to get you in the perfect mood -- cozy, thrilling, atmospheric & more!
These picture books about kindness and empathy will help you spark important conversations about this topic with children at home and school.
Roald Dahl Day activities and lesson plans for Roald Dahl birthday is a great time to introduce kids to the list Roald Dahl books like The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory lessons, The BFG and more! Celebrate with a costume party with fun crafts ideas and theme food!
We LOVE activities to go with books! This Free Printable Mouse and Cookie Hat is a fun activity for your kids to recall and retell the story.
How do you know if you’re a good enough writer to pen a bestselling book? Book editor and author of THE BOOK YOU WERE BORN TO WRITE, Kelly Notaras, gives 3 clues for assessing if you're a gifted writer.
How to write chapter outlines or chapter summaries for your memoir book proposal, including examples of how long they should be.
Clever ideas for kids' book reports, from mint tins to cereal boxes to a Wanted poster.
Generally, when we think of book reports, we think of fiction reading response. However, nonfiction book report templates serve equally as important of a purpose for digging deep into nonfiction texts. Book reports are such
If you love a suspenseful story, these page-turning psychological thriller books will keep you up all night long.
How to write a novel is a legitimate question. It can be a scary and overwhelming concept. Novels go unfinished all the time, and writers everywhere get frustrated and discouraged.
Best short classics to read in one sitting or in a day, all under 250 pages. Perfect for beginners! Download these short classic novels in PDF format
Students can struggle with reading for a variety of reasons: rich vocabulary, lack of background knowledge, the author's writing style. To scaffold difficult texts, teach students to annotate through the gradual release process.
We’re well into week three of our Tomie dePaola author study and knee deep in Strega Nona’s world! My class has fallen in love with the characters in these books. Their folkloric quality, Big Anthony’s bumbling, Bambolona’s brusqueness and Strega Nona’s endearing ways have captured their hearts and their attention. We began this part of […]
Teaching point of view and perspective can be difficult, but with the perfect read aloud and activities, students get it.
Our guest today is a 30 Days or Less alumna and the author of a charming children's book. As you can imagine, writing a book for children is no easy feat, especially for a first timer. Carrie agreed to tell us about the process that took her from a simple idea she had while working
Theme is such an important concept when teaching reading. Students are asked to determine the theme of a text over and over again. However, many students struggle with how to identify the theme. That's why I'm sharing some of my favorite ways to teach theme. You'll find theme lesson ideas, theme activities, and theme passage suggestions to help your students finally figure out how to find theme! Sometimes when thinking about theme it is easiest to think about what it is not. Theme is NOT the subject of the text. The subject would be a single word like "childhood" or "friendship." It is NOT a summary. A summary would be several sentences describing the text. Instead, it is the underlying idea of a text. It is what the writer wishes to convey about the subject. Therefore, it is usually written in a phrase or clause. When teaching theme, I find that it's best to introduce the critical components of theme through notes and a class discussion. My favorite kind of notes are theme doodle notes, of course. Since doodles are more engaging, they're a great way to get students focused as you begin teaching about theme. Once students have a general understanding of theme, you might want to have a discussion with students. During the discussion ask students to think of texts that have a theme like "Be careful what you wish for" or "Never give up on your dreams." Then, have students discuss the theme of fairytales or fables like "Beauty and Beast" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." The notes and discussion will drive home the idea that the theme is not a single word subject, nor is it a multi-sentence summary. Students will realize that the theme is a truth about life revealed in a phrase or clause. A work's theme can apply to multiple texts. When you teach about theme you'll want to help students realize that themes need to be general enough to apply to many different texts. Take the theme "Be careful what you wish for." That theme can apply to "The Little Mermaid," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and even "Macbeth." It's important for students to realize that themes are universal. You'll also want to expose students to different genres of writing so that students understand that themes are evident in all writing including fiction, nonfiction, prose, and poetry. I've compiled different genres in this theme unit. Since poems are short and compressed, I love using poems to help students develop an understanding of theme. Take a poem like, "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" by Maya Angelou. In Angelou's poem, the speaker is a child. Angelou's message and the poem's theme is to "be brave when faced with your fears." You might share poems like this or some of my other favorites to help students read several texts and practice determining universal themes. The theme is the message that the writer wishes to reveal about its subject. It's what the reader is supposed to learn about life after reading the text. Therefore, it is usually not directly stated in the work. Instead, students will need to think about the plot, conflict, characters, and setting and then make an inference or educated guess. When students consider all the elements of the text, they'll need to infer the theme. One way to help students understand that the story is built around the theme is to have them develop their own stories with a theme in mind. At first, you can have students do this by providing them with themes that they will need to portray in a comic strip or skit. For instance, you might have students doodle a comic for the theme "Two heads are better than one." Or, you could have students work in small groups to come up with a skit that has the theme "Friends always show up when you need them." By writing their own texts, students will begin to see how the theme is infused throughout the work. As students determine the theme of a passage, they'll need to consider a text's plot, characters, conflict, and tone. In other words, they need to think about the entire writing piece and reflect on its message about life. That can be challenging for students. That's why I like to give students many opportunities to practice finding the theme. Task cards and mini-passages work especially great for this. I've taken the idea of theme task cards even further with Learning Take Out activities. Students read fiction and nonfiction passages that they grab from take out containers. The passages are the perfect way for students to develop the ability to identify a text's theme. ------------------------------------------------- As you can tell, there are many ways to teach theme. I think the more chances we can give students to develop their reading skills, the better! If you're looking for some ready-to-teach resources, grab these THEME resources: ⭐--- FINDING THE THEME MINI-UNIT - Doodle Notes and Activities ⭐--- THEME UNIT - 3-Day Theme Unit ⭐--- LEARNING TAKE OUT - Theme Task Cards Thanks for stopping by! Mary Beth P.S. Here's my latest resource for teaching theme!
Talk about a difficult concept with the help of a book! Plus, check out our tips for reading to your kids to increase comprehension.
