Curated OER
Fiction vs. Nonfiction
Students explore fiction and nonfiction writing. They identify the elements of fiction in a short story and identify the criteria necessary in a nonfiction piece. Students distinguish the author's purpose in an expository text,...
Curated OER
Answering a Research Question
Students explore beginning research skills. In this nonfiction comprehension and research lesson, students generate possible research questions to answer when given the book title of Animals of the Sea and Shore by Ann O. Squire....
Curated OER
Main Idea in Informational Text
Readers identify main ideas and supporting details using informational texts. In this literacy activity, they make predictions and read the text to find the main ideas. They use a table diagram to define the main idea and supporting...
Curated OER
Check Comprehension and Apply Writing
Elementary schoolers practice the skill of non-fiction writing. They study aspects of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, and write an essay which describes the tower and it's fascinating history. The article about the tower is included in...
Curated OER
Observing the Pumpkin Cycle
Students observe and listen to nonfiction books about the life cycle of pumpkins. They practice early reading skills in a shared reading related to pumpkins. They observe the life cycle of a pumpkin including growth and decay.
Curated OER
Main Idea in Informational Text
Individuals complete a pre-assessment to gauge their ability to determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine a new piece of nonfiction reading by looking at the table of contents, headings, and index...
CPO Science
Science Worksheets
If you need an array of worksheets to augment your science lessons, peruse a collection of assignments that is sure to fit your needs. With topics such as metric conversion, the scientific method, textbook features, research skills,...
Curated OER
We Can Eat Smarter
Pupils practice their reading skills. In this reading comprehension lesson plan, students read an article titled "We Can Eat Smarter," and then use the reading strategy described to note confusing passages and revisit them.
Curated OER
Guided Reading with Ten Oni Drummers
Second graders read the book, Ten Oni Drummers. Working in guided reading groups, they discuss fantasy as a genre and preview the book. They review word identification strategies and read the book silently. After reading, they confirm...
Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...
Louisiana Department of Education
Unit: Hamlet
Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Curated OER
Organizing One’s Thoughts
Students take a closer look at the organization of written pieces. In this writing skills instructional activity, students examine transitions, repetition, parallelism, and other organizational patterns in writing.
Curated OER
Introducing Biographies-Getting to Know You
Students study biographies as a nonfiction genre while examining a variety of examples. Next, they access and complete an online tutorial about biographies. They choose one person that interests them to conduct further research using a...
Curated OER
Analyzing Irony in Nonfiction
Students examine the use of irony in non-fiction works. In this literature lesson, students read non-fiction war texts and explore the use of irony in the piece as they respond to discussion questions.
Curated OER
Flat Stanley Guided Reading
Second graders listen to their teacher read the book, "Flat Stanley". They relate the activities in the book to activities in their own life. They can also create their own pictures of Stanley.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Let’s Look Around!: Challenge Activities (Theme 3)
Let's Look Around! is the theme of a unit that offers a plethora of challenge activities. Enhance your scholars' learning experiences and reinforce concepts with activities such as writing a book about farm animals, an imaginary place,...
Building Evidence-Based Arguments: Grade 9
New ReviewHigh schoolers investigate the dilemma of a proportional response with a lesson about the history of terrorism and militant extremists in the United States. As they examine memos from the FBI and speeches from President Bush and Obama,...
Curated OER
Fiction and Nonfiction
Fourth graders differentiate between fiction and nonfiction using the books "Sarah Plain and Tall" and "A Day in the Prairie." They develop a list of information that they learn from the text, and create an information web. Students...
Curated OER
The Effects of Slavery
The emotional and spiritual oppression of slavery in the African-American experience is the focus of this instructional activity. Middle schoolers analyze various texts by Frederick Douglass and Maya Angelou related to freedom and...
BW Walch
Unexpected Family History
The history of the northern states' involvement in the slave trade is not widely known. This resource uses the PBS documentary, Traces of the Trade, and the nonfiction book, Children of the New England Slave Trade, to examine this aspect...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 4: Proverbs
"Eneke the bird says since men have learnt to shoot without missing, he has learnt to fly without perching." As part of their study of Things Fall Apart, class members read Paul Hernadi and Francis Steen's essay, "The Tropical Landscapes...
Scholastic
The First Thanksgiving Feast for Grades 6–8
It's time for the feast! Young historians complete their study of the First Thanksgiving by completing an online activity, watching a slideshow, and examining a First Thanksgiving timeline. After answering text-dependent questions to...
Curated OER
Find an Animal! Find a Book!
Young scholars identify the themes of different books by classifying their genre. In this genre lesson, students examine a specific animal by reading both a nonfiction and fiction book about the species. Young scholars compare the...