Activity
Gourmet Curriculum Press

Author's Purpose

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
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.
Activity
Shmoop

ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.6

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
What does the author believe about his topic? Why did he write in the first place? Challenge your class to figure out the answers to these questions as they read through informational texts. The resource provides a breakdown of the...
Activity
Florida Center for Reading Research

Comprehension: Text Analysis, Persuade, Inform, and Entertain Sort

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd Standards
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.
Activity
Education World

Every Day Edit - Author Virginia Hamilton

For Students 3rd - 8th
In this editing activity, learners correct grammatical mistakes—including punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar—in a short paragraph about author Virginia Hamilton.
PPT
National Humanities Center

Teaching Emily Dickinson: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A set of 14 primary sources provides background for a study of Lorraine Hansberry's drama, A Raisin in the Sun. Featured are images from stage productions of the play, white supremacy protests, a clip from a television interview, and...
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

Voting Rights Act of 1965

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Despite the passing of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, as well as the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the struggle to ensure fair voter registration and election procedures continues. Young historians...
Activity
PBS

Document This

For Students 6th - 12th
Being a historian requires serious sleuthing. They examine primary source documents and look for evidence, for clues that reveal who wrote the document, when, and why. After watching two historians model the process, young history...
Interactive
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Syntax (English II Reading)

For Students 10th
Lesson five in the series focuses on syntax and the elements that make sentences enjoyable. Learners practice building different clauses and phrases and using figures of speech and rhetorical and literary devices.
Interactive
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Diction and Tone (English II Reading)

For Students 10th Standards
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...
Interactive
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Simile and Metaphor (English III Reading)

For Students 11th Standards
The key idea in this interactive exercise designed for high schoolers is that figurative language, especially similes, and metaphors, add layers of meaning to a text. Users examine examples from speeches, ads, movie dialogue, and poems,...
Activity
Florida Center for Reading Research

Comprehension: Text Analysis, Fiction and Nonfiction Find

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Scholars analyze fiction and nonfiction text and fill in a worksheet detailing the text's title, genre, and reason for its classification.
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

Women and the Blues

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A 12-piece primary source packet sets the tone for a study of the role women played in the origins, development, and impact of blues music. Legends like Bessie Smith, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Mamie Smith, and Ida Cox are featured, as are...
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

African American Soldiers in World War I

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Finding good primary source materials to support any study of history can be a challenge and time-consuming. A set of 11 primary source letters, images, and text excerpts provide young historians with an opportunity to sharpen their...
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A primary source set of photographs, videos, newspaper articles, and FBI reports provides insight into race relations during the 1960s, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, and the murder of Emmitt Till. Designed to be used to...
Activity
2
2
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program

The Columnist Project

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Imagine a list that includes Alan Abelson of Baron's, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and Mother Jones. High schoolers select a national columnist, read and annotate five columns by this author, noting the rhetorical...
Activity
Novelinks

The Book Thief: Concept Analysis

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Designed for teachers who plan on using Markus Zusak's  The Book Thief, this packet includes background information about the author, themes addressed in and issues raised by the novel, a list of research and project ideas, and...
Lesson Plan
1
1
Shmoop

ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Identifying an author’s choice, especially choices that concern craft and literary devices, is a difficult skill to teach. Here's an activity that will make your job easier. The resource breaks down how to teach the skill to novice,...
Activity
Education World

Every Day Edit - Chris Van Allsburg

For Students 3rd - 8th
In this everyday editing activity, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about the author of The Polar Express and Jumanji, Chris Van Allsburg. The errors range from capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.
Activity
Sandra Effinger

Bulletin Board Project

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Imagine a project that informs and entertains. Replace book reports with a bulletin board that highlights all the important elements of a novel. Readers research the author, create a timeline of events in the story, write a...
Activity
Whitewater Valley Railroad

Teaching and Learning with The Polar Express

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Use a series of extension activities to enhance your class reading of Chris Van Allsburg's holiday classic, The Polar Express. From a biography of the author to filmed book reviews and research about the railroad, kids can take...
Activity
Orlando Shakes

In the Heights: Study Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Before Hamilton, Lin Manuel-Miranda gained fame with In the Heights. A study guide prepares theater goers for a performance of the musical about a group of friends living in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights....
Lesson Plan
Serendip

Golden Rice – Evaluating the Pros and Cons

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
More than half the world's population eats rice as a daily staple ... imagine if that rice could prevent illness. Scientists genetically engineered rice to include vitamin A for just that purpose. However, room for debate still exists....
Interactive
DocsTeach

Analyzing a Letter to Congress About Bloody Sunday

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
The brutality of Bloody Sunday—when non-violent protesters who supported voting rights for African Americans were beaten by police—captured a nation. Young historians examine the letter of one horrified American to Congress to consider...

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