Practice summary writing with informational texts. Young readers create summaries after reading magazine articles, newspaper articles, or other forms of informational texts. Readers use the GRASP strategy (read text, write what you...

Summary writing is tough for native English speakers, let alone English language learners! In this plan, high school English learners examine how to annotate online articles and write a one-page summary. They can post this summary on...

Young writers compose an article on the benefits of healthy eating. They are coached on how to use the passive voice in their writing. On the whiteboard, they brainstorm ideas of why healthy eating is important, then use those ideas to...

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...

Is there anything left to discover? Evaluate opposing sides of the debate regarding whether or not there is a future for scientific discovery. Middle and high schoolers assess quotations from the articles included to evaluate claims and...

What is the "Faurisson Affair”? What is “Holocaust Revisionism”? What does freedom of speech entail? Do revisionists have a right to voice their ideas? Such questions are at the heart of a richly detailed, thought provoking lesson plan...

Middle schoolers summarize a one to two page article of informational text. They compose a summary according to the guidelines on the "Five Rules for Writing a Summary" chart. They take turns reading their summary to the group, and...

Use this economic activity to focus on writing summaries of informational text. First, middle schoolers define common economic terms used to describe news about the economy. They closely read news about the federal budget deficit and...

What is the Nobel Peace Prize? After they establish criteria for great leadership, secondary learners read a New York Times article about President Jimmy Carter's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Individuals research the...

Explore early American documents that qualify as primary sources. Tenth and eleventh graders use the provided worksheets to analyze the texts of the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation,...

What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based...

Why didn't Rapunzel's hair stop growing?  Why did it take the fairy godmother so long to intervene in Cinderella's affairs? Young writers consider unanswered questions like these and compose news articles investigating the true...

Students review the five steps to summarization. They then read the article "Whoooo-o Are You?" silently. As a class they summarize a small section of the article using the five steps included. Finally, the students summarize...

Learners read newspaper articles. In this social studies lesson, students locate the latitude and longitude of the location where the news article takes place. Learners write a summary of the news article.

In this summary skill worksheet, learners research various online websites to educate themselves on what a summary is, when to write one, and how. Students are then required to find an article, read, and summarize with options for...

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...

It's so interesting to see kids respond to articles about education. To start the day, prompt learners to discuss the words colorblindness and diversity. Then, split your class in two and have one side read an article from 2007 and...

As part of a study of the treaty that ended World War I and the seeds of resentment it planted, class groups compare President Wilson's Fourteen Points and the articles of the Treaty of Versailles.

Discover how copying nature can be beneficial to humans. Scholars read articles about examples of biomimicry and its potential applications. Along the way, they learn about Nature's Nine Laws and how they relate to biomimicry. This is...

Explore the structure and content of the US Constitution in the second lesson of this five-part social studies series. A collection of activities, games, and videos complement a class reading of a document summarizing the US...

Through direct instruction, the teacher demonstrates how to identify the main idea and supporting details of a text when creating a summary. As a class, read a paragraph, highlighting relevant information and crossing out extraneous...

Jump back into expository writing and analysis at the start of a new school year! Start with a review of an authors' stylistic choices in diction, syntax, treatment of subject matter, and figurative language. Writers choose a text to...

Not all technology is digital. Teach learners about the low-tech maker movement with a photo essay about six artisans from California and two articles about the local creator movement. After tackling the photo essay in small...

The purpose of this lesson is to assist students in discovering the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the foundation for creation of the United States Constitution. Students will investigate the events leading up to the...