Analyze a historical or scientific informational text by determining the main idea and supporting details. This graphic organizer allows pupils to write down the main idea and four details.

After reading a text, ask your pupils to recall and organize what they've just learned into a blank three-column chart. Class members write the topic and fill in the columns with information. The sheet also prompts students to write a...

Use this page to quickly identify the central idea of a text and organize ideas for writing an informational or explanatory text. The activity is split into two parts. In the first part, pupils note down the main idea and supporting...

One way to help your pupils more fully understand an idea from the text they are reading is to require them to draw or sketch the concept. This page provides some space to plan the details your students want to include in their...

Telling fact from opinion can be tricky. Direct your class to practice their reading and comprehension skills by taking notes on the facts and opinions in a text. Pupils fill out a two-column chart and write down how they know a...

Prepare your pupils for a debate or argumentative writing assignment. Students can use the two columns here to take notes on two different arguments about the same topics. They then note down their own positions and briefly explain their...

Start off analysis of a text with a worksheet that asks pupils to complete several tasks. Class members note down a couple of characters or people and their distinguishing traits, describe the most important event, summarize the text...

Help your class tackle chunks of text with a simple graphic organizer. Pupils read three paragraphs and, as they read, draw pictures in the provided boxes that demonstrate what each paragraph says. There are three boxes on the page and...

Examine cause and effect by asking pupils to fill out a basic graphic organizer. The template is for any story or event and provides a line for writing in the story or event title. Pupils write in two causes in the circles and the change...

Shrink up a section by asking pupils to write down the main idea for each of seven paragraphs. There is a space provided for each main idea. When students have completed this portion, they write down what they think to be the central...

Show the connection between the main idea and supporting details with a graphic organizer. Pupils fill in the main idea of a text in the circle and the supporting ideas in the boxes connected to the circle.

Use this simple graphic organizer to summarize the key points of Islamic civilization, including laws and dogma, the status of women and slaves, motivations for converts, and the re-centering of the Islamic people.

Ask your class to demonstrate their understanding of sequence. The graphic organizer provides five boxes for events and a few prompts to get kids started. Arrows point from one box to the next, demonstrating the progression of one item...

A key reading comprehension skill is the ability to identify the main idea and supporting details used in a passage of informational text. Here's a template that encourages young readers to practice this skill. They list the who, what,...

This cause/effect, color-coded template will require a great deal of explanation. Because no model is included, you might complete one as an example. However, once class members understand how to use the template, learners will be able...

What was gained? Lost? By whom? Why or how? Gains and losses are the focus of a worksheet that asks learners to chart both short-term and long-term gains and losses. A great way for class members to see the consequences of events.

Provide your debaters with a graphic organizer that asks them to select a topic and then list for the first position key points and arguments, possible compromise and systhesis, and key points and arguments for their second position. 

Keeping characters straight, especially in longer, more complex stories, can be a challenge for even the best readers. Here’s a character matrix that can help. Users record the title and author of the piece, as well as a physical...

Readers use a story elements matrix to identify the title, setting, characters, point of view, problem, and solution in four narratives. The template could be used to prepare for a compare/contrast exercise.

Class members can outline a topic or text with this graphic organizer. There are spaces provided for causes, details, and results.

Hold participants accountable for group discussions by asking members to take notes. After identifying the topic, the recorder indicates the speaker, the speaker’s opinion, and comments on this opinion. The matrix could also be given to...

A colorful image of a hamburger provides food for thought. Essay writers record their introduction on the bun top and the conclusion on the bottom portion of the bun. All the meat, the details, are recorded between the buns.

A variation of a standard graphic organizer for a five-paragraph essay, young writers may find this style of organization helpful while drafting their writing. Some key features of this particular organizer are sections for transition...

Can two cultures live together successfully? After reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, have your class complete the graphic organizer included. They compare different cultures and brainstorm how different pairs could live...