Reasons and evidence are given by the author to support topics or ideas. In this resource, learn about finding reasons and evidence in a text. Includes downloadable worksheet.

This lesson plan uses a virtual trip to the moon to teach vocabulary practice. Included in the lesson plan is an overview, practice, objectives, resources, preparation, and more.

"Prairie Keepers" is a one-page, nonfiction passage about how the prairie was saved from total destruction and the efforts of the Department of Agriculture to rebuild the prairie. It is followed by questions which require students to...

This activity asks students to differentiate between main ideas and supporting details.

This site discusses the topic of patterns of organization of paragraphs. Links with video content and further explanations about the following patterns of organization topics are provided: sequence, spatial, cause and effect; order of...

This resource provides a downloadable worksheet to use after reading a nonfiction text. Students will evaluate an author's support for a claim by answering the questions and prompts provided on the worksheet.

Series of interactive activities for practicing skills in summarizing information, in identifying main points and ideas, and in sorting lists into meaningful categories.

Slideshow introduces the concept of informational text or text structure.

A slideshow with twelve slides about reading or writing an argument, analyzing the claim and looking at how it is supported with observation, evidence, and reasoning.

Students will learn the "5 W's and H questions" needed to comprehend a news story. Then students will apply these question words [who, what, where, why, when, and how] to real news stories and to events in their own lives.

[Free Registration/Login Required] This nonfiction passage provides information about the ancient Aztec Empire, including the significance of Montezuma and Tenochtitlan. This passage reinforces essential reading comprehension skills....

In this persuasive media lesson, students will engage in viewing a Trix cereal advertisement and then engage in the process of "deconstruction" to analyze the use of propaganda techniques to attract customers. Then students will choose...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Learners learn to use titles and supporting details in both fiction and non-fiction texts in order to identify the main idea of the book in this three-lesson plan unit. The lessons utilize the books...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Lesson uses Bats by Gail Gibbons to teach students how to identify facts learned from labeled diagrams within an informational text. Ideas for direct teaching, guided practice, and independent practice...

Students can count on using the 3-2-1 strategy to help them successfully comprehend and write about an informational text.

Explains what figurative language is and how to determine its meaning. Also provides a practice exercise.

Dr. Murphy shares a comprehensive lesson plan to support students identifying various text features in informational texts. Students will mentally and physically engage in active learning to know how to navigate through different types...

[Free Registration/Login Required] A instructional activity in which students learn to use a glossary to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. Lesson utilizes the book The Life Cycle of an Emperor Penguin by Robin Johnson and...

Questions about weather clear up when students use what they learned from their books to create a presentation to share with the rest of the class.

[Free Registration/Login Required] Designed to teach students to identify explicit information in nonfiction and fiction texts. Lessons are based on the books Deserts (A True Book-Ecosystems) by Darlene R. Stille and The Stories Huey...

Lesson allows for middle school students who are familiar with researching electronic sources to gain a deeper understanding of the benefits of online resources versus traditional print.

After reading/listening to the picture book I am the Dog I am the Cat by Donald Hall in which two characters have opposing viewpoints, students are asked to look deeply at opposing viewpoints of real people just before the Revolutionary...

This multi-day jigsaw activity engages students in summary writing. Students will work in small groups after direct instruction and write short summary paragraphs. Students will refer to the 'Five Rules For Writing a Summary' chart for...

A three-part standards-based lesson in which students will use collaborative strategic reading to apply four reading strategies: preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap-up. They will work in cooperative groups while scaffolding...