Curated OER
Lesson 4: The Judiciary: A Brief Introduction to the Courts System
Focusing on the judicial branch of government, the fourth lesson in this series explores the structure of the US courts system. Beginning with an engaging activity based on the short story The Lady or the Tiger, students go on to examine...
Curated OER
Connecting Kansas: Past and Present
Upper graders identify five forms of transportation and describe how Kansans are connected to the rest of the country using transportation and communication. They complete a graphic organizer for each type of text structure given to them...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Fluency: Connected Text, Repeated Timed Reading
There are many different ways to build accuracy and fluency when reading. This exercise employs repetition and timed drills to get the job done. Learners time each other as they read a passage, recording each other's time and accuracy.
EngageNY
Analyzing Structure and Theme in Stanza 4 of “If”
Here is a lesson that provides scholars with two opportunities to stretch their compare-and-contrast muscles. First, learners compare and contrast their experience reading the fourth stanza of If by Rudyard Kipling to listening to the...
Sensetype
How to Type: Keyboarding Tutorials
Become an efficient typist who can easily perform online research, type assessments, and take online exams. With the link to a free keyboarding interactive website, any child will become a professional with their keyboarding skills.
Curated OER
Comprehension: Compare and Contrast Topics in Two Texts
A scripted lesson can be a big help for new teachers. This fully scripted three-day learning activity provides teachers with the means to demonstrate how to compare and contrast two topics in two texts. Learners will work as a class to...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Informational Text: Music and the Brain
Even if you've never picked up a musical instrument, chances are that music has directly impacted your mental and emotional development. Sixth graders engage in a reading activity in which they read two articles on the impact of music on...
Curated OER
Teach Text Structure for Nonfiction
Young scholars gain a strong foundation for reading, writing, and using nonfiction through this lesson. They gain an awareness and general understanding what text structures are. Students also identify and interpret what clues they can...
School Improvement in Maryland
Types of Economic Systems
As an introduction to economics, government classes investigate different types of economic systems (traditional, command, market or capitalist, mixed) to determine answers to basic question about how goods are produced.
EngageNY
Citing Evidence and Building Vocabulary: “The Exterminator”
It is an out-of-body experience. Scholars take a look at the sidebars outside the body of the text in The Exterminator. They discuss the purpose of this type of text feature and work to determine the gist. Learners write unfamiliar...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: What IS the Omnivore’s Dilemma Anyway?
What's the best thing on the menu? Scholars enter the room, complete a gallery walk of menus to choose a food to pretend to order, and then discuss how they made the decision. Next, they read The Omnivore's Dilemma and relate their...
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...
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: Questioning Strategy
Focus on chapter two of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a questioning activity. After teaching and modeling several types of questions, learners work with partners and then independently to answer and...
Science Matters
Landforms from Volcanoes
Three major types of volcanoes exist: cinder cone, composite/strata, and shield. The 18th lesson in a 20-part series covers the various landforms created from volcanoes. Scholars work in pairs to correctly identify the three types based...
Curated OER
Cooperative Classroom Text Features Activities
Fifth graders examine text features and create a PowerPoint presentation. In this text features lesson, 5th graders go over Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures and text features before they choose one to include in a book and...
Curated OER
Blood type Switch
Students read a text about blood groups and answer such questions as what, where and why regarding a scientific discovery. They complete vocabulary worksheets, comprehension exercises and utilize problem solving skills to decide who...
Odell Education
Reading Closely for Textual Details: Grade 6
Close reading doesn't mean to literally read text close to your face, but rather to pay attention to particular details in order to develop a deep and purposeful understanding of text. The first part of a five-part resource provides an...
Curated OER
Writer's Toolbox
Present the class with a slide show that will give them a great head start in writing expository and narrative texts. The information is highlighted for easy note taking, well organized, and presented in a kid-friendly manner. It...
Curated OER
Altering Text Size, Color, and Font
Students explore computer text. In this word processing and computer instructional activity, students practice changing color, font, and the size of their text with guided instruction from the teacher.
Curated OER
Alphabet Poems
Develop fluency with a variety of works. Help kindergartners use multiple strategies to understand text and decoding. They will create an alphabet poem book on Kid Works 2 to illustrate and write their own poem. In the end, they will...
Curated OER
Those Fabulous Fables
A video leads off this activity on fables, introducing the class to this important form of traditional storytelling. The group defines fable and hears an explanation of the origin of this type of folk tale. They summarize the story they...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Clouds (Bauer)
What type of cloud is that? Explore meteorological vocabulary using Marion Bauer's book, Clouds (although these strategies could be used for any fiction or nonfiction text). Pre-teach the new words before reading the story aloud....
K5 Learning
Rocks
Five short answer questions follow an informational reading passage that details the three different types of rocks—sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic—and their rock cycle.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Yummy Apples!
Young learners listen to a read aloud of Gail Gibbons book, Apples and the story A Red House With No Windows and No Doors. They compare characteristics of a number of kinds of apples, graph them and create a apple print picture. Learners...