Curated OER
Dr. Seuss and Read Across America
What important facts about Dr. Seuss influenced the Read Across America movement...? This is the driving question of a research project that requires scholars to find information about Dr. Seuss' life and work. Class members write a...
Curated OER
During Reading Strategies
Middle schoolers employ strategies to increase comprehension while they are reading. In this language arts lesson, students must infer, predict and visualize in order to improve comprehension.
Curated OER
Night of the Twister
Students use reading strategies for Night of the Twister. In this reading strategies activity, students name five major catastrophes and books about each. Students complete a vocabulary section, make inferences and predictions, read the...
Curated OER
Reading About the Journey: The Odyssey
Learners practice their reading skills. In this reading fluency and comprehension lesson, students read instructor-selected passages from The Odyssey following the provided steps for the reading class activity that requires them to...
Novelinks
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Picture Book Strategy
Picture books aren't just for primary learners. Your scholars compare and contrast literary themes between the novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and the children's book, The Dream Tree by Winfried Wolf through...
Have Fun Teaching
Predict and Infer (22)
Encourage close reading and critical thinking with a worksheet that asks readers to select an event from a story, predict what they believe will happen, and list clues from the story that support this prediction. After completing the...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Infer the Meaning of a Word in Context
Work on developing strategies for determining the meaning of unknown words and phrases with a quick context clues exercise. Class members choose two words from their reading and write down what they think they mean and why. See the...
Curated OER
Practice Book O
Whether you need resources for reading comprehension, literary analysis, phonics, vocabulary, or text features, an extensive packet of worksheets is sure to fit your needs. Based on a fifth-grade curriculum but applicable to any level of...
National Park Service
A Tale of Two Men
Theodore Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores were both born in 1858, and both came to the Dakota territory in 1883, but they influenced the developing country of America in different ways. Elementary and middle schoolers apply written and...
Reed Novel Studies
The Lemonade War: Novel Study
Sibling rivalry or all-out war? The Lemonade War tells the story of a brother and sister who begin a competition selling lemonade. Scholars read to find out who will win. The resource includes vocabulary words, comprehension questions,...
Curated OER
Ban That Book!
Take advantage of Banned Book Week to pique students' interest and get them reading! Create a classroom display of previously banned books and allow each member of your class to choose one to read. After they have read their book, get...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 12: Story Event
Focus on plot and the impact-specific events in The Cay. Class members use their double-entry journals, created in a previous lesson in this series, to record their thinking about the guiding question as they read chapters 15 through 17....
Curated OER
A New Point of View
Analyze point of view and how it affects a literary work with this lesson. Middle schoolers create a written piece that focuses on point of view. They review the literary term "point of view," and explore examples of the term in text....
Curated OER
Comparing Themes Across Texts
Read various texts to compare the themes across each text. Learners write a journal entry describing the most beautiful scenery they've seen and use a map of the United States to locate the Sequoia National Park and Muir Woods. They then...
Curated OER
Persuasive Elements
Investigate letters to the editor and their persuasive qualities. Break your class into reading groups and give each one a different article. As they read, they complete a graphic organizer to record their thoughts and opinions. There is...
Curated OER
Tangerine: Writing Assignment: Paul’s Witness Account
As a final assignment in a unit study of Edward Bloor's Tangerine, individuals assume the voice of Paul Fisher and craft the witness report Paul mentions in the final pages of the novel. A great way to assess the writer's understanding...
Curated OER
Focus on Figurative Language in Prose and Poetry
Young scholars place emphasis on the use of figurative language when analyzing prose and poetry. In this figurative language activity, students explore the tone of a story and its imagery. Young scholars read and discuss how the author...
Curated OER
Looking Back to 1980
Young scholars use clustering/mind mapping techniques to generate ideas, graphically represent inferences, organize their conclusions and write a report that presents conclusions the writer has reached, and facts substantiating those...
Curated OER
The Hurricane
Students analyze three different ways a story is told, determine truth and fiction in each story, and discover and apply techniques to narrate a good story.
Students listen to Bob Dylan's "The Hurricane" and watch the "R" rated movie,...
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...
Defining US
Integration of Education and American Society
How did the struggle for Civil Rights during the 1950s transform American society and politics? Why are American schools integrated today? Class members explore these essential questions by examining a series of primary and secondary...
Curated OER
Note-Taking: K.I.S.S. "Keep It Short and Simple"
Note-taking is an essential study skill, and it needs to be taught! In the context of a research project on energy sources, learners find multiple sources, evaluating, paraphrasing, and citing them correctly. Two lists with note-taking...
Curated OER
The Right to Vote
Students discover voting barriers. In this government lesson, students explore the history of voting. Students work in small groups to analyze and debate if certain groups of people should have the ability to vote or not.
Curated OER
Underground Railroad
Students explore the Underground Railroad. In this U.S. history and technology lesson, students research an assigned topic related to the Underground Railroad, such as "abolitionist," "conductor," or "station houses." Students design a...