Curated OER
Transition Words in Expository Writing
Create to learn! Your class can create posters of transitional words and phrases to help them compose an explanatory text. They work in groups and focus on one type of transition (time, place, importance, etc.). They also create a poster...
Polk Bros Foundation
Meet the Nonfiction Main Idea Challenge
Help your class develop the ability to determine a main idea with a packet of materials that you can introduce and use over a period of time. The packet includes some information for the teacher and rationale for the exercises. There are...
Curated OER
Shorten the Length
Learn how to summarize by identifying main ideas and supporting details. Readers cross out unimportant information as they read through a text. Is it a random detail? Cross it out! They then draw a concept map, placing the main idea in...
Student Handouts
War and Neutral Rights
Teach your class about neutral rights with a brief reading selection and related questions. Pupils read the passage and answer the four questions on the bottom half of the page. Useful for a homework assignment or a quick warm-up, this...
University of Chicago
Ancient Egyptians and Death
What archaeological evidence remains of ancient Egyptian burial and mortuary practices, and what can this information tell us about ancient Egyptian society?
Curated OER
Anticipation Guides Improve Reading Comprehension
Beginning with anticipation guide strategies is a powerful method for improving reading comprehension. First, list initial ideas for a topic the class will be reading about. These ideas are formulated into statements, some of which are...
Curated OER
The Ocean Floor
Practice reading comprehension by approaching oceanography through 2 pages of informational text. The text compares the ocean floor to the Grand Canyon to gives learners perspective, and gives a brief coverage of the earth's crust and...
Curated OER
My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C.
Although this legislative process lesson is designed to accompany a specific text, it is valuable independently. Young learners participate in a picture walk (worksheet included) through My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington,...
Curated OER
Don't Get Lost on the Web
Scholars discuss purpose of search engines, define World Wide Web, become familiar with website addresses, demonstrate understanding of site updating, create a list of topics about which they would like more information, and visit at...
Curated OER
Symbols and the Choices we Make
Upper elementary and middle schoolers recognize symbols that influence the choices that we make consciously or unconsciously in everyday life. They look at the symbols and choices that others make. They identify and apply knowledge of...
Curated OER
Fact Versus Opinion
Young learners distinguish statements as fact or fiction. After exploring a newspaper, they determine the type of information it contains. They read editorial articles and discuss the differences between the editorial page and the front...
Curated OER
Mapping Out the Story
Discuss the reading comprehension strategy of summarization with your elementary schoolers! They read a chapter from their social studies textbook, Regions Near and Far, and create a map, or word web, for the chapter. They identify...
Curated OER
Media Literacy Skills
You're on camera! Third graders find a news story and research it to get more information. Everyone uses their found information to write a script and create their own news broadcast!
Curated OER
The Melting Of Bolivar and San Martin
Analyze and read a dramatic role-play depicting the meeting of Bolivar and San Martin. There are 3 critical-thinking questions based on the dramatic reading. A fun way to practice interpreting informational text.
EngageNY
Conducting Research: Asking and Answering our Questions about Rainforest Arthropods
Let's ask an expert. Scholars divide into groups to research and become experts on either ants or butterflies. Learners use task cards and text on their topic to complete a note catcher. At the end, they share their information with a...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Monitoring for Understanding, Simple Summary
Can your class sum up a text in a few sentences? Help them build this skill by starting nice and slow. For this summarizing activity, the teacher marks the main ideas with sticky notes. Learners read and reread the text, pausing at the...
EngageNY
Writing Interview Questions
And now for the star witness! Scholars take a look at a model newspaper article and discuss the importance of eyewitness accounts. In groups of three, they take turns underlining text from eyewitnesses. They then regroup to talk about...
University of North Carolina
Literature (Fiction)
An informative installment of the Writing for Specific Fields series helps readers learn how to interpret and write about fiction. The website details nine easy steps for writing a literary analysis—a useful method for all readers!
City College of San Francisco
Making Inferences: Reading Between the Lines
Have you ever read part of a story and had to figure out what the rest was about? Practice making inferences with several short passages and multiple choice questions.
Civil War
Civil War Medicine: Fact or Fiction
Young historians compare the presentation of medical care during the Civil War in passages from fictional and nonfictional texts. They examine passages from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell and Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen, and...
EngageNY
Revising My Accessing Books Around the World Informative Paragraph for a Hook to Captivate My Reader
While this is considered optional within the unit it is designed for, pupils would benefit from the listed activities. Working on writing and revising a paragraph about librarians who travel to isolated areas, class members can add some...
University of North Carolina
Reading to Write
Silly journal and essay prompts may be fun to write, but they don't model the kind of writing needed for college papers and standardized tests. The 15th part in a series of 24 covers the concept of reading to write—during and after...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Dinka and Nuer Tribes Until the Mid-1980s (“Sudanese Tribes Confront Modern War” Excerpt 1) (Version 1)
Readers consider comparisons between the Dinka and Nuer tribes in South Sudan, making connections between an informational article about Sudanese tribes and the novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They annotate the text to help...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Dinka Tribe (“Loss of Culturally Vital Cattle Leaves Dinka Tribe Adrift in Refugee Camps” Excerpt 1)
Text annotations help readers track essential ideas. Pupils continue reading and annotating an informational article about Sudanese tribes, connecting it with A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They also begin writing about their...
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