Pearson Longman
Back Talk: A Summarizing Activity
Here's resource that presents step-by-step directions for three different activities that ask kids to read a short passage, listen for the main points, and then to summarize the passage in their own words.
K12 Reader
Literature About Chicago: Prose vs. Poetry
In this comprehension exercise, readers compare Carl Sandburg's "Chicago" to a description of the city from Upton's Sinclair's The Jungle.
Louisiana Department of Education
Hatchet
Accompany a novel study of Hatchet by Gary Paulson with a unit consisting of 16 lessons focused on physical and emotional survival. Reading the story along with a variety of informational texts, scholars compare and contrast reading...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 4
Connect with the text using helpful annotation strategies. As your class reads the first section of Karen Russell's short story, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," they note important passages that establish character...
K12 Reader
Ben Franklin
Readers are asked to use the provided graphic organizer to list the main idea and supporting ideas in a passage about the inventions of Benjamin Franklin.
Speak Truth to Power
Dalai Lama: Free Expression and Religion
How is religious freedom connected to the conflict between China and Tibet? After reading an online passage of background information, your learners will divide into groups and both read and view an interview with the Dalai Lama. They...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Request Strategy
Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida is used in an activity that models how to develop questions to aid in comprehension of a text.
California Education Partners
Hope Despair Memory
Elie Wiesel's "Hope, Despair and Memory" provides ninth graders an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to analyze complex text. Individuals craft an essay that draws evidence from the text of the speech to show how Wiesel develops...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Ideas, Part 1: “The Border”
What is your strategy? Scholars read "The Border" and work with a partner to practice reading strategies to use while independent reading. They identify difficult parts where they practiced rereading by marking them with sticky notes,...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
The Election of 1912
The Election of 1912: an election with four competitive opponents. Pupils get to know the candidates with informative reading passages that provide context to the election. Then, the class engages in a debate and answers questions as one...
Annenberg Foundation
Exploring Borderlands
What motivated Europeans to explore the New World, and what effects did their exploration have on Native American populations? The second installment of a 16-part American Passages series prompts pupils to watch a video and read several...
K5 Learning
I Have Been Thinking…
Scholars read a short story about a girl visiting her grandmother, identify the main idea of the tale, and then write a sentence about this idea. Learners practice their phonics skills by filling in word blanks with letters to complete...
Curated OER
Travels With Charley By John Steinbeck
A paragraph from John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley provides English language learners with an opportunity to practice strategies for answering guiding questions about the academic text. Class members locate keywords in the annotated...
K12 Reader
Find the Main Idea: The Meerkat
After examining a short article about African meerkats, readers identify the main idea and supporting ideas in the paragraph.
Louisiana Department of Education
Fahrenheit 451
In his 2013 introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman states, “Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” In this extraordinary unit plan, readers "explore the power of written language to educate and influence...
K12 Reader
Have You Got the Time?
Time and time measurement is the subject of a comprehension worksheet that asks kids to read a short passage about time, and then respond to a series of questions based on the article.
K12 Reader
Fractions as Parts of a Whole
Whether used to introduce learners to fractions or as a comprehension assessment, this two-part, cross-curricular worksheet will give readers a chance to test their understanding of fractions.
Curated OER
Epic Improvisation
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
K12 Reader
Character Analysis in the Red Badge of Courage
As part of a comprehension exercise, readers analyze the character of Henry Fielding and consider how his romantic view of himself, and of war, changes.
K12 Reader
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
After reading a short passage about Japan's involvement in World War II and why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, readers are asked to analyze how the attack effected the attitudes of Americans who previously had not wanted to go to war.
K12 Reader
The Grand Canyon
After reading s short description of the Grand Canyon, readers demonstrate their ability to use context to determine the meaning of words in the passage.
K12 Reader
Oliver Twist
Middle schoolers demonstrate their ability to summarize by crafting a summary of a passage from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. Oh that Dickens should be so laconic.
Curated OER
The Kite Runner: The Pomegranate
To better understand the conflict between Amir and Hassan, two characters in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, readers assume the voice of one of the boys and craft a letter to the other that explains his feelings and concerns.
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to Short Story Writers Say
There are so many authors of short stories, and your class can have the chance to study quite a few. This seventh instructional activity in a series of fourteen continues the decision-making process for the final assessment: a short...