Gourmet Curriculum Press
Author's Purpose
Who knew determining author's purpose could be turned into a game? Four teams compete to correctly identify the author's purpose for writing a series of passages.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Text Analysis, Persuade, Inform, and Entertain Sort
Why do authors write? Practice determining the author's purpose with a categorizing activity. Learners sort twelve short passages into three categories: persuade, inform, and entertain.
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Diction and Tone (English II Reading)
Words carry baggage. In addition to their literal, denotative meaning, words also carry the weight of the associations and connotations attached to the word—the connotations of words writers use to create the tone of a piece. An...
Novelinks
Tuck Everlasting: Similes, Metaphors, and Personification in Imagery
Poetic language is abundant in Natalie Babbitt's beautiful novel, Tuck Everlasting. Learners note the examples of similes, metaphors, and personification they find as they read, and illustrate how the language creates a sensory...
Novelinks
Touching Spirit Bear: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
What experiences lead people to change and how do they do it? After reading about Cole's encounter with Touching Spirit Bear, readers complete the second out of a series of five activities to predict future events in the text. The...
Autism Fitness
Top 8 Exercises for Autism Fitness
Create an inclusive physical education program with help from eight exercises designed to met of the needs of children with autism. Activities include ball work, hurdles, bear crawls, resistance bands, star jumps, and the Scramble.
Curated OER
Poetry Project
Choosing a poet or a theme, eighth graders conduct research in the world of poetry. They conduct Internet research and select five poems that fit their poet or theme, and create a seven slide PowerPoint presentation on their selected...
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Guided Imagery
What do you imagine when you think of the sea? Put on some ocean sounds, close your eyes, and listen to a guided meditation based on the imagery from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. After class members listen to...
Novelinks
Words by Heart: Guided Imagery
Sad, depressed, miserable, inconsolable, forlorn: so many synonyms have a lot of variety with their connotations. Through the guided imagery activity, writers explore the use of connotation and its influence on imagery and description by...
Novelinks
Zach’s Lie: Guided Imagery
Close your eyes and picture a time where you decided to tell the truth to someone. What were you wearing? How did you feel? Such prompts begin a guided imagery activity for Zach's Lie. Directions for creating an environment conducive to...
Read Works
Read Works: Goodbye to Lice
[Free Registration/Login Required] This nonfiction, informational text passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and establishes scaffolding for vocabulary learning. It contains...
Read Works
Read Works: The Heat Is On
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage gives information about global warming and its threat to the polar bears in the Arctic. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and...
Read Works
Read Works: The Ivory Billed Woodpecker Returns
[Free Registration/Login Required] This informational text passage shares information about the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird that was once perceived to be extinct due to excessive logging. This passage is a stand-alone curricular...
Read Works
Read Works: Casey Saves the Play
[Free Registration/Login Required] This short literary text passage shares the story of a character who is able to particiapate . This passage is intended for guided practice and is designed to reinforce essential reading comprehension...
Read Works
Read Works: Hispanic Population Soars
[Free Registration/Login Required] This nonfiction passage discusses the soaring Hispanic population in the United States. This passage is intended for guided practice and is designed to reinforce essential reading comprehension skills.