Independent and semi-independent activities (such as Literature Circles, Book Club, Project-Based Instruction, and Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction) provide students with opportunities to apply their reading and writing skills to texts of a range of difficulty.

Author-illustrator and public-school art teacher Jonathan Roth (who created the space-themed graphic novel series Rover and Speck and Beep and Bob) shares some special memories and ideas for helping readers find beauty in bugs and connect with nature through art.