E Reading Worksheets
Summarizing Text
Help learners find the most important information in a text with a lesson on summarizing. As kids read through a passage about Johannes Gutenberg, they summarize small excerpts, put events in sequential order, and respond to two longer...
EngageNY
Connecting Informational Text with Litearature: Building Background Knowledge About Mexican Immigration, California, and the Great Depression
Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Expository Text Structure, Text Feature Find
Scholars explore an expository text to answer questions about its structure.
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
The Backpack Travel Journals
Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record interesting...
Baruch College Writing Center
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Workshop
What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based on two...
Ontario
Reading Informational Text
Learning to recognize the importance of the features of information text (i.e., titles, subtitles, endnotes, sidebars, etc.) is the focus of a reading activity designed for middle schoolers. Learners examine how these text features help...
EngageNY
Summarizing Complex Ideas: Comparing the Original UDHR and the "Plain Language" Version
The eighth lesson plan in this series continues the focus on vocabulary and increasing young readers' awareness of academic language. Pairs of learners participate in a short vocabulary review activity called Interactive Words in which...
K20 LEARN
Summarizing and Sorting Details from an Informational Text: Identifying the Main Idea
Scholars participate in two activities that teach them to identify the main idea and key supporting details in informational text. Partners create a visual that reflects the main idea and key supporting details in an informational text...
Curated OER
Short But Sweet
After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...
Ideas From Suzi
Guided Reading: Beyond the Basics
Elevate children's reading comprehension skills with this collection of guided reading resources. From paper dice with basic comprehension questions printed on them to a system for using sticky notes to identify key parts of a story,...
EngageNY
Synthesizing from Informational Texts: Main Idea and Key Details from Promises to Keep (Pages 8– 10)
Learners determine the main idea of a timeline on pages eight and nine of the text Promises to Keep. They use the timeline to complete a Main Idea and Details note catcher and then share their thoughts with the class. To finish,...
EngageNY
Main Ideas in Informational Text: Analyzing a Firsthand Human Rights Account for Connections to Specific Articles of the UDHR
Lesson 10 in a series of human rights lessons focuses on the skills of finding evidence and summarizing. Your young readers work to compare the two texts they have read in this unit: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
EngageNY
Getting Ready to Learn About Human Rights: Close Reading of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Introduce young readers to informational texts with a well-designed, ready-to-use, and Common Core-aligned unit. Young readers learn a variety of skills while studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As the first...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Monitoring for Understanding, What Do You Know?
An activity promotes reading comprehension. Readers analyze a text of their choice while activating prior knowledge and asking and answering questions. Scholars enforce multiple strategies to improve comprehension.
Curated OER
In God We Trust; All Others Pay Cash
Learners review their knowledge on the First Amendment. After reading an article, they identify specific church and state issues. Using the Internet, they research President Bush's proposal from a specific point of view. They summarize...
For the Teachers
Main Idea Outline
Find the main idea in an informational text with a versatile lesson. Three levels of differentiation help you implement the strategy in any age or class level, based on the ability and objectives of your learners.
Polk Bros Foundation
Common Core Constructed Response Organizer
Get your writers ready to compose a constructed response essay in response to either an informational or fictional text. Pupils note down the big idea they wish to address as well as up to nine examples from the text that they wish to...
Curated OER
Whales and Fish: Creatures of the Deep
Practice comparing and contrasting details in informational text with a reading passage about whales. It explains the ways that fish and whales are similar, as well as the ways they are different, and specific characteristics of various...
EngageNY
Research Skills, Part 1: Natural Resource Development and How it Modifies the Physical Environment
Put it in your own words. Scholars complete a mini instructional activity about paraphrasing then complete a note catcher using the text A Limited Supply. They continue studying Canada's natural resources by analyzing the graph...
DePaul University
Egypt
The country of Egypt is more than just big pyramids and ancient pharaohs. After reading a brief overview of this African nation, young learners will demonstrate their understanding of the text by identifying the main idea and supporting...
Ideas From Suzi
Responding to Literature
Guide your class through a text with resources for before and after reading. Learners ask questions, discuss characters and plot points, point out elements of the reading that stood out, and compose brief summaries.
Curated OER
Researching the Past
Learners research the western movement in order to learn note taking strategies with nonfiction texts. They use the Internet to search for important information about the western movement using the Cornell Notes note-taking system. They...
DePaul University
The Football Team
Playing team sports is about more than just scoring the most goals or winning the most games. Read this passage with your class and learn how athletes build character as members of a team. When finished, individuals identify the main...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Learning About the Historical and Geographical Setting of Esperanza Rising (Chapter 1: “Aguascalientes, Mexico, 1924”)
Set up your class to read Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, through a class read-aloud and exploration of the setting. The detailed instructional activity outlines each step. First, class members read over the first few pages and...