Many informational texts are written as factual, but can your learners determine when an opinion is presented as fact? Have your kids read several articles on the same topic and record the statements that contain either facts or...

Investigate biographies with your class. Compare autobiographies and biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr. as an example. Learners explore the factual components that make up a biography and locate several biographies of notable...

Five pages provide thorough coverage of three protozoans: euglena, amoebae, and paramecia. For each, junior biologists read factual text, label the organism, and write answers to several questions. This neatly organized assignment is...

The courage of Las Mariposas, the Mirabal sisters, is the focus of a series of activities designed to accompany a reading of In the Time of the Butterflies that ask readers to consider what it means to be courageous. Beautifully crafted...

It's tough for high schoolers to assess what is a credible resource and what is not. A helpful resource prompts class members to research a particular topic and record two facts—and create one lie—while documenting the sources. They...

That sounds like a plan! Scholars complete the Newspaper Article Planning graphic organizer to understand the process of writing a newspaper article. They also use what they learned about researching factual information and...

Go fish! Scholars continue using their research skills to find factual information to use in their consumer brochures about overfishing. They work in triads to research information about sustainable fishing practices and share their...

Sustainable seafood is not an oxymoron. Pupils watch a video about how consumers purchase seafood responsibly. Then, using resources in their assessment research folders, they complete a graphic organizer to record factual information...

Compare and contrast World War II to the modern Iraq war with this instructional activity. After watching a film, learners use supporting evidence to support their point of view of the conflicts. Using the internet, they create a...

Introduce young learners to the read-aloud process with a short biographical passage about Ray Charles. After listening to the passage, class members respond to factual, inferential, and evaluative questions, and then create a timeline...

Students observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. They read and discuss the steps to summarize text, then in small groups read and summarize an article about frogs from "National Geographic" online. Independently they...

Here's a must-have resource for anyone reading To Kill A Mockingbird or using Harper Lee's award-winning novel in a classroom. The packet contains Miss Hollace Ransdall's first-hand, factual account of the trials of the Scottsboro Boys,...

A biography is a factual book or narrative about a real person. The book, The Story of Ruby Bridges is used to introduce non-fiction texts about real people and event to a Kindergarten class. A chart is used to highlight text...

Students explore Vancouver. For this Vancouver geography and English language building lesson, students brainstorm what they know about Vancouver and predict what their text will cover. Students listen to the informational content of...

Slavery in India, Sudan, and Mauritania? What about in the United States? Groups research modern slavery in these four countries, collecting factual evidence (What), determine their feelings about this evidence (So what),...

Mark Twain, the famous American author, is often studied in the school system. Use "The Prince and the Pauper" to analyze the differences between the text and its video version.  This instructional activity includes several...

Students examine the process of summarizing text. They participate in a class discussion, and read an assigned passage from their textbook, highlighting the main points of the text. Students then write a short summary of their...

Children learn to read and comprehend non-fiction text and explore how to relate non-fiction texts to things they already know. They then examine how to stop and think about what they are reading repeatedly to make sure they understand...

Third graders conduct research. In this conducting research lesson, 3rd graders discuss the importance of nonfiction text in providing factual information. Students write questions about an assigned topic and research using informational...

After looking at the back of a quarter featuring Oregon terrain, learners distinguish between fiction and non-fiction and identify the beginning, middle and end of a story. First, they listen to legends that describe the creation of...

How do statistics help people understand the universal refugee experience? Using the resource, scholars engage in an activity called a Chalk Talk, working in teams to analyze statistics from informational texts about refugees. Also, they...

Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida is used in an activity that models how to develop questions to aid in comprehension of a text.

A set of very useful posters (in PDF) describing different types of non-fiction texts is here for you. While there isn't an activity, per se, in these worksheets, they could be used as a handy reference for learners who are engaging in...

Introduce your class to literary analysis with a series of activities that has them examine book and movie reviews. Groups then draft their own review of a text, select a digital medium, and craft a presentation.