Curated OER
Zooming into Fluency
Students read and reread decodable words in connected text. In this language arts lesson, students focus on improving their fluency to help them gain more meaning from the text. The story focused on is Arthur's Loose Tooth.
US Department of State
Reader's Theater: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing readers to work...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nature: Friend and Foe: Extra Support Lessons (Theme 6)
Breaking down words into syllables has two benefits: it improves vocabulary and it improves understanding of a text. The third and final resource in a series of materials designed to be used with Nature: Friend or Foe offers extra...
National Park Service
Hibernation-Migration-Fascination
What's the difference between hibernation and a good nap? Find out with an engaging life science activity that compares the hibernation habits of grizzly bears and marmots. After learners read an informational passage about each mammal,...
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
Reading With Expression, Fluency, And Accuracy Makes Reading Fun!
Students observe and demonstrate a variety of reading expression strategies. They listen to the teacher read different sentences with and without expression and discuss the difference, then in pairs read an "I Can Read" book using their...
Curated OER
Phrase Card Reading
Fourth graders, after reading and discussing the book, "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing," by Judy Bloom, complete a vocabulary worksheet and read sections from the book fluently and accurately. They utilize dictionaries and thesauruses...
Curated OER
"Flying to Fluency"
Students become fluent readers by decoding words and practicing mastery of phoneme correspondences. They also practice repeated readings of texts along with timed readings of the book, "Pat's Jam." Each student interacts with a bulletin...
Curated OER
Using a "Before Reading" Organizer with Informational Text
Lead your students in creating a graphic organizer that uses the titles and subtitles of an informational text. Your class should recognize and use features of narrative and informational text before connecting and remembering the main...
Curated OER
Question What You Read
Readers test their reading comprehension after reading a nonfiction text about Paleo Indians. (This text is in Alabama: It's History and Geography, but other texts can be used.) After reading the nonfiction article as a class, they...
Curated OER
Water: Narrative vs. Expository Texts
A reading of vignettes written by Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Lesotho and Madagascar launches a study of the difference between narrative and expository texts. As final products, young writers craft both a narrative and an...
Curated OER
Small Group Reading
It's the age of technology! The idea of computer literacy and fluency are rapidly gaining importance; can your learners keep up? To keep them interacting with technology, bring them to the computer lab for small group reading...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension
Help your learners build their reading comprehension by setting up the suggested learning stations. First, hold up a detailed picture of your choosing. Give your class 30 seconds before turning the picture over. How much of the image can...
EngageNY
Preparing to Write Historical Fiction: Determining Characteristics of the Genre
A language arts instructional activity helps young writers identify elements that make up historical fiction. First, it guides them through elements of fictional pieces with vocabulary cards. Then, pupils work collaboratively to...
Prestwick House
Writing Arguments in Response to Nonfiction
Emotional appeal or argument? That is the question. An informative instructional activity helps your class recognize the difference between a logical argument and an emotional appeal and learn how to craft an argumentative response....
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce’s short story, is used to model how structural moves, the decisions an author makes about setting, point of view, time order, etc., can be examined to reveal an author’s purpose. Groups...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
The Backpack Travel Journals
Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record interesting...
Curated OER
Literary Comparison
Compare and contrast two pieces of literature with this lesson. With the use of a Venn diagram, pupils make connections between literature and real-life situations. They practice skills of surveying a text looking for important details,...
Curated OER
Only the Facts
Practice the strategy of summarizing to gain meaning and knowledge from an informational text. Young readers highlight supporting details and main ideas, and then they use this to summarize two articles: "The Great Quake" and "What is an...
Curated OER
Gary Paulsen's Canyons: Question the Author (QtA) Strategy
Gary Paulsen’s Canyons is the focus of an exercise that models how to read closely using a Questioning the Author (QtA) strategy. Complete directions for the strategy, which can be used with any text, are included in the richly-detailed...
Curated OER
Following Instructions
Get scholars thinking about the scientific process with this fun experiment they can do at home. Learners practice reading directions as they underline each instruction in a procedural paragraph. They create a flow chart and record what...
Curated OER
Is It Fact or Opinion?
Distinguish between fact and opinions in this nonfiction reading lesson. Middle schoolers read 'The Diary of an Early American Boy' and work in groups to analyze the text. They record the facts and opinions for the text.
Curated OER
Strong Convictions
How can the rhetorical structure of an editorial help to develop its argument? Use this New York Times editorial to emphasize the importance of structure in a piece of informational text. Adolescent writers then use the editorial as a...
Curated OER
Bias and Crime in Media
Critical thinking and social justice are central themes for this resource on bias and crime in media. The class views and discusses an incisive PSA that highlights assumptions based on race. Small groups read newspaper opinion pieces...