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This site has an (almost) endless supply of suggestions for what students, parents, and teachers can do to encourage more and more reading and literary involvement. Students participate in reading, dramatic, discussion, and artistic activities to reinforce their connection to the printed word and build comprehension in a very active way!

Use this list as an idea generator for book report alternatives or even for lesson ideas. Share the link or some of the ideas on your tecaher web page for students to choose a book report product/project/performance. Print these suggestions out and share all or some of them with parents in a newsletter,at conference times, or before summer vacation. Give credit for your source, of course!

Signs in Stitches and Song is a multi-lesson, interdisciplinary unit about the Underground Railroad for primary students. Concentrating on the codes and signal systems by which escaping slaves found their way northward, the unit includes language arts, science, music, geography and math components. The various elements can be used individually, or in combination. There are extensive illustrations, printable handouts, optional Flash animations, and suggestions for further study.

Good writing skills are essential for secondary students. Writer's Workshop is an interdisciplinary writing technique which can build elementary students' fluency in writing through continuous, repeated exposure to the process of writing. Teachers can introduce elements of Writer's Workshop at any elementary grade. Ideally, however, the process begins in Kindergarten.

Teachers can use this introduction to introduce Writer's Workshop elements in a variety of curriculum situations and classroom settings.

TeachersFirst offers a listing of 100 of the best books for children, along with links to TeachersFirst's content about some of those books. Check out this list for some new literature ideas!

This is a great starting point for reluctant readers. Provide this list (or link) to parents to use during the summer months to help with the "I'm bored" days.

A list of 100 Picture Books developed by the New York Public Library. List includes title, author, illustrator and publisher. There are links to catalogs (for ordering these books) and to the New York Public Library Homepage.

This is an excellent list for teachers to make available to parents of young children.

Although TeachersFirst doesn't usually review a "list of links," our editorial staff found this one to be especially useful. Come to this site to find interactives about the 100th day of school. Learn about the history of this "holiday," use the printables, practice counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, and beyond with interactive challenges, find literature lists for the 100th day, and much more. Each link includes a detailed description about what is available for students at the site. Some of the links require Adobe Acrobat and/or Flash. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Are you planning for the 100th day of school? Visit this one-stop site and find books to read to your class, math activities for counting and multiplies, interactives to share on your projector or interactive whiteboard, and more.

Practice present and past tense with this interactive game. Students must help two industrious bees find their flowers by choosing the correct form of the verb "to be". Instant feedback is provided. Nice activity for independent practice.

From a school district in Indiana comes this web quest based on Louis Sachar’s book “Holes.” The quest invites students to search for information about the author, the book, and events that relate to Sachar’s story. This one could be used in class or independently by students at home.

This well-designed website has books for 8 levels of readers from picture books to adult-level subjects in 17 general categories. Search using the advanced search function or browse through the favorites. Look for fiction or non-fiction, parts of series, and best of all books for reluctant readers. All books feature a summary and also an illustration taken from the book. The descriptions of the books are very enticing and often include quotes from the text.

This is a great source for finding and showing students how to find independent reading. Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Since students often ask for books like Harry Potter, for example, put this link on your class web page. Show students how to click on the keywords once they find a category they like. When students ask for another book in the same series, this is a great place to start looking. Allowing reluctant readers to search and find their own book is a way to build investment in their reading future. Encourage students to write their own reviews of favorite books not found here. Use the site for a lesson in citing sources and punctuating quotations.

Even if it's not summertime, this reading list can provide librarians, teachers, and parents with great suggestions. "Best bets" in picture books, chapter books, and teen books are provided along with summaries and "alerts" regarding language or subject matter. A variety of reading level, subjects, and styles are included.

This unique web activity presents students with a set of directions to make tea. A grandmother goes through all of the steps necessary to prepare her favorite tea. Once the students are finished reading the directions, they must arrange pictures in the correct order. Students are able to return to the grandmother if they need to reread the directions. This site requires FLASH. If you see a blank screen, you need to install the Flash player. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

This is an excellent activity for comprehension, sequencing, and following instructions. If you read the text aloud n to non-readers, you can help them develop listening skills, as well. Try this one on an interactive whiteboard.

Teacher/parent/librarian resource K-6 - From Parent's Place, Bethesda, Md. Brief book reviews of children's books. This site lists children's books by Award, Popularity etc. It includes software reviews and simple learning activities as well. The reviews are brief and informative. Biographies on the reviewers are available. This site would be useful in planning units of study as well as a resource for ordering books and materials.

This humorous (and creative) web activity challenges the students to add dialog to a seaside postcard. Students move the mouse over the picture to find the dialog boxes. When you click in the boxes, the cursor will allow you to type in your dialog. Once all boxes are completed, click the print button to see the entire picture with your dialog. FLASH is required for this activity.If you see a blank screen, Get FLASH from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Try this one on laptops or in a lab. This is a wonderful way to reinforce good comprehension strategies by asking students what the characters would say. NOte: the language in the explanations is distinctly British, so you may have to explain a few words, such as "cheeky."

Familiar fairy tales and math skills come together in this unit plan that emphasizes critical thinking and mathematical reasoning. Using The Three Little Pigs, students must complete a variety of hands-on activities involving estimation, graphing, spatial perception, and measurement skills. Classification skills come into play with a compare/contrast analysis of several versions of Cinderella. An impressive and motivating set of activities. Aligned to National Standards.

This Webquest challenges students, working in small groups, to read, share, and compare/contrast folk tales from different parts of the world. A printable chart is provided to guide the analysis, and a graphic organizer can be downloaded to help students organize their thoughts for the final activity - the creation of an original folk tale. Links to online fairytales are provided.

This lesson involves early elementary students in planning a virtual vacation to the Arctic or Antarctic while learning about the physical characteristics of these two regions of the world. Combine this with an in-class reading of the Polar Express.

Book Club Online offers a set of 14 lesson plans for E. L. Konigsburg’s novel which are designed to link classrooms to an online discussion of the book. Written by 4-5 grade teacher Elan Fitch, this very thorough lesson plan is created to be used with daily reading segments and begins with an outline containing each lesson’s focus. The lessons themselves have an introductory paragraph relating the lesson’s topic to the specific reading assignment, the lesson goal, vocabulary /context clues, and a writing prompt and an online prompt.

Author’s On Line homepage for Aaron Shepard. - Appropriate for all elementary grade levels. - On this page you'll find loads of resources and treats (printable posters, music etc.) for teachers, librarians, storytellers, children's writers, parents, and young people -- all from award-winning children's author Aaron Shepard. His specialty is retold folktales. You'll also find information on Aaron, his books, and his author visits. Excellent resource site.

Appropriate for grade levels 2 and up. This is a Reader’s Theater site from an award-winning author. This site includes a wonderful selection of reader’s Theatre scripts for many of Aaron Shephard’s books. There is a good explanation and description of WHAT reader’s Theatre is, as well as guides to staging etc. An excellent site for those wishing to pursue reader’s Theater. Excellent site!

inactivated 10/07---new review.