Curated OER
How to Summarize
Young scholars review techniques on how to read a passage smoothly making the words connect, and with expression. They then read the instruction to the chapter in their science book and answer questions that are written on the board....
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Common Core Reading Standards: Understanding Argument
What does your class know about logical fallacies? They can find out quite a bit and practice identifying logical fallacies if you follow the steps and use the resources provided here! After reviewing ethos, pathos, and logos, ask small...
Curated OER
Rockin' Map Summaries
Pupils summarize a piece of text. After reviewing the correct way to read and summarize, students work in groups to summarize a piece of text assigned by the instructor. They write a summary paragraph by creating a story map and the...
Curated OER
Pigs: A Visual Splendor
Third graders practice using visualization to aid in their reading comprehension. After a reading a chapter from the book "Charlotte's Web," students write a brief summary of the plot using their visualizations, aided by reading...
Curated OER
Persuasive Writing
Seventh graders, in pairs, decide on a product they would like to advertise and design an advertising plan for said product. Using ClarisWorks, 7th graders create an advertisement using pictures, vote on their favorite and discuss what...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Dinosaurs Before Dark
Young readers travel back to the time of the dinosaurs in this literature unit based on the story Dinosaurs Before Dark. Intended for use with upper-elementary special education students, this resource provides reading comprehension,...
Scholastic
The Class Election from the Black Lagoon Storia Teaching Guide
One of my favorite things about this resource is that they use a standardized lexile to help you determine who should be reading what book. I also love this great teacher's guide for the book, The Class Election from the Black Lagoon. In...
Curated OER
Sarah, Plain and Tall - Intro to Literature Circle jobs
Students read a book with each student having a specific job for the class. In this literature instructional activity, students read Sarah, Plain and Tall over 10 days, dividing up responsibilities for each student to make sure everyone...
Curated OER
What Did I Just Read
Fourth graders write a summary for each chapter as they read a novel. They summarize the author's purpose and point of view after completing the novel. They also describe about how the author's point of view affected the novel.
Curated OER
Holes Comprehension Companion
Here is a one-stop planning resource for Louis Sachar's Newbery Award-winning book Holes. You'll find 21 links to worksheets and various activities designed to span the entire book. Learners draw to help analyze settings and make...
Curated OER
Rachel's Life is in a Hole
Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...
Penguin Books
White Fang Teacher's Notes
If you're looking for a way to structure your unit on Jack London's White Fang, use a well-organized guide to bring the intrigue of the novel to your middle school classroom. Covering a biography of the author, main background and...
Curated OER
What is Going On?
Young scholars summarize a fiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to glean important information for summary, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the process...
Curated OER
Summarization Mapping
Students observe and demonstrate the strategy of summarizing the main idea. They discuss six rules of summarizing, and observe the teacher summarizing the first chapter of the novel "The Incredible Journey." Students then read chapter...
Curated OER
Pinky and Rex and the Just Right Pet
Learners engage in reading comprehension activities for the story "Pinky and Rex and the Just Right Pet". In this reading comprehension lesson, students make prediction drawings before reading the story, create new illustrations for...
Curated OER
Voyage to the New World
Middle schoolers examine the exploration of the New World. They write a descriptive account of the first encounter between Europeans and Native Americans, analyze and label maps, plot Columbus's journey on a map, and write a chapter...
Curated OER
KWHL Jacob Have I Loved
Your class has just begun reading Jacob Have I Loved, and they're coming upon the fifth chapter. Pause their reading and have them complete a KWHL chart (not included) to detail what they've learned from the novel's beginning. An example...
Curated OER
Hyper for Expository Writing!
Fifth graders use the internet to research a plant or animal they read about in "The Talking Earth". Using notes, they develop a graphic organizer and use the main topics to create a HyperStudio stack. Using all of this information,...
Curated OER
Retelling the Main Event in Sequence
Students identify the key events in a fiction book. In this literacy lesson plan, students read the book Harry and the Lady Next Door and work in pairs to discuss the main events of each chapter to develop a short summary.
Curated OER
Meaty Words
Headlines from newspapers launch a discussion of image-rich, meaty words. Just as headline writers choose vivid vocabulary to attract readers, young writers develop headlines that capture the essence of a passage from a book they are...
Curated OER
Sarah Plain and Tall
Learners read the story, dividing it into chapters per day until complete. They respond to the ad, just as Sarah, Plain and Tall did and use the correct parts of a letter used including a return address, greeting, body, closing and...
Curated OER
The Young Gymnast
Second graders compare and contrast gymnastics in 1859, 1900 and today. Students contrast differences in gymnastics for boys and girls today. Students pretend that they are interviewing a famous gymnast and write up their interview....
Curated OER
Lyddie
Students investigate the character trait of perseverance and how it is used to help a girl gain independence in a fictional story. The story also has them think about the value of relationships and then write reflectively about...