Curated OER
Dracula: Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)
“There are often dangers from snow and wolves and night.” Bram Stoker’s “Dracula’s Guest,” which may or may not have been the first chapter of the original Dracula manuscript, is the focus of a Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA).
Curated OER
Following Instructions
Get scholars thinking about the scientific process with this fun experiment they can do at home. Learners practice reading directions as they underline each instruction in a procedural paragraph. They create a flow chart and record what...
Curated OER
Maniac Magee: The Cloze Procedure
Fill in the blanks with a Cloze activity based on Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. After listening to a passage read out loud, kids complete the worksheet by using their memories and context clues.
Ontario
Reading Graphic Text
Do students really need to be taught how to read cartoons, comic books, and comic strips? Yes. Just as they need to learn how to read other forms of graphic text such as diagrams, photos, timetables, maps, charts, and tables. Young...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Grade 4 Reading Item Specifications
Is it the end of the school year and you're in need of test practice? Use a set of reading passages to challenge fourth graders to answer questions based on what they read. Some of the questions require readers to compare and contrast a...
Read Write Think
Poetry Portfolios: Using Poetry to Teach Reading
Over the course of five periods, scholars create a poetry portfolio. They begin with a reading of the poem, Firefly. With a focus on vocabulary, learners reread the poem then look for sight words and other skills.
EngageNY
Reading Proficiently and Independently: The Power of Setting Goals
Scholars reflect upon their reading strengths and challenges to create personal reading goals. Participants use goal-setting verbiage in an accordion-style graphic organizer, a first step in writing a letter that details their reading...
Scholastic
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dream - Mini Book
Celebrate the birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. by sharing his dream of equality for all with young readers. This printable book includes simple sentences and one- and two-syllable words that make it a perfect...
EngageNY
Continued Close Reading of Nasreen's Secret School: Discussions of Questions and Evidence
Third graders answer text-dependent questions of the story Nasreen's Secret School both independently and then collaboratively through using the carousel of questions strategy. This plan is the seventh instructional activity in a larger...
K12 Reader
Step by Step Instructions
Here's a worksheet that not only provides readers with information about crafting step-by-step directions for a science project, but also serves as a reading comprehension exercise.
E Reading Worksheets
Context Clues Vocabulary Builder Activity
Reading comprehension improves when you can use context clues to define unfamiliar words. Help your kids practice using context clues with a instructional activity that provides space for seven sentences with new words, as well as a...
DePaul University
Chicago Changes
Scholars determine statements as fact or opinion in a practice page consisting of two reading passages followed by multiple choice and short answer questions. Fact and opinion passages detail information about Chicago and Ethiopia.
Prestwick House
Reading Nonfiction: Analyzing Joseph McCarthy's "Enemies from Within" Speech
Looking for a lesson plan that teaches class members how to analyze nonfiction? Use Joseph McCarthy's famous "Enemies from Within" speech as a instructional text. Worksheet questions direct readers' attention to the many historical...
California Education Partners
Bud Not Buddy
A two-day assessment challenges scholars to read an excerpt from the story, Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis then complete a series of exercises in preparation for a writing assignment. Day one includes an independent reading...
Lakeshore Learning
What's Next? Sequencing Story
First, next, then, and, finally are the words in focus of a sequencing lesson plan. Scholars listen to a read aloud of the tale "Lost in the Fog," and take part in a grand conversation about the story's sequence of events. They then show...
California Education Partners
My Five Senses by Aliki
An assessment designed to examine scholars' reading comprehension skills takes place over three days. Starting with a read-aloud of My Five Senses by Aliki, learners then take notes and discuss their most memorable moments with a peer....
August House
Why Koala Has a Stumpy Tail
Learn about the animals of Australia with a language arts lesson about an Australian folktale called, Why Koala Has a Stumpy Tail. After reading the story as a class, kids discuss events and characters from the book, retell the story to...
California Education Partners
Eleven
It is difficult to articulate how growing up feels as accurately and beautifully as Sandra Cisneros does in her short story "Eleven." After seventh graders read the story and note the author's use of figurative language, they respond to...
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
Parts of Speech Adjectives: Building Blocks of Grammar
How do you describe a jellyfish? Individuals write adjectives for Nomura's jellyfish, take notes, and check understanding with a formative assessment. Notes include the definition for adjectives, guiding questions to help writers...
Novelinks
Zach’s Lie: Anticipation Guide
The class explores the truths and lies regarding Zach's Lie through a well-written anticipation guide. First in a series of seven resources, the guide addresses themes within the text. The class collaboratively discusses their feelings...
Novelinks
Where the Red Fern Grows: Graphic Organizer, Story Map
How do you grow a goal from a dream to reality? You make a plan! After reading chapters two and three of Where the Red Fern Grows, learners map how Billy earns his dogs by completing an organizer in pairs and then discussing answers in...
Curated OER
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Socratic Seminar
After reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and an article about the use of the novel, class members engage in a Socratic seminar focused on whether or not Twain's book should be banned.
Fluence Learning
Writing About Literature: Comparing and Contrasting Characters in Heidi
Scholars read excerpts from the story, Heidi, in a three-part assessment that focuses on comparing and contrasting characters. Each part contains three tasks that challenge learners to discuss, answer comprehension questions,...
EngageNY
Paragraph Writing Instruction
Writing a paragraph from details found directly in a text is the central focus of this thorough and explicit lesson plan. Using the stories Nasreen's Secret School and Rain School, third graders are lead step-by-step through the basics...