EngageNY
Synthesizing Information: Living Things in the Rainforest
How is a map a type of informational text? Class members view a world map of major rainforests, discussing its text features with a partner. Next, they take notes on key details from multiple texts about rainforests and write an...
Curated OER
Report Writing
Why don't dinosaurs wander the earth any longer? Answer this fascinating question with young readers as they examine a brief informational text. There are bolded words to separate text sections which are an excellent example of...
Polar Trec
The Amazing Antarctic Trek
This resource provides two ways to engage learners in using latitude, longitude, and research skills. In pairs, or on their own, learners will locate several Antarctic regions on a map. They will write the name of the place and a few key...
Prestwick House
I Am Malala
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai is an inspirational tale of heroism through adversity. Focus on the key details of the book with a quick review...
Penguin Books
A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of Mary Shelley ’s Frankenstein
Contrary to popular belief, the monster's name in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is not Frankenstein. A teacher's guide for the novel helps readers make sense of key details in the text, define vocabulary words, and discuss prominent...
Virginia Department of Education
Physical and Chemical Properties of Water
How can you effectively provide detailed concepts of water properties to your high school class in a way they find exciting and challenging at the same time? By letting them play, of course! Through a variety of...
Federal Reserve Bank
GDP: Does It Measure Up?
Here is resource that offers a very clear explanation for how economists measure economic growth by comparing real GDP over time. There is also an additional worksheet that details the expenditure method and four components for...
Curated OER
The Achievements and Challenges of Egypt
Awesome, that is all I have to say! This set of lessons provides learners with an understanding of ancient Egyptian laws, lifestyle, religion, and culture. It engages them in a critical analysis activity regarding the film, "The Prince...
Curated OER
Liberty and Security in Contemporary China
Upper graders consider contemporary Chinese economics, political viewpoints, and government. This unit covers a span of several class periods or six days, and engages learners in a variety of skills based activities. They conduct...
Curated OER
Basil Heatter, "The Long Night of the Little Boats"
“It was a miracle.” Basil Heatter’s “The Long Night of the Little Boats,” which details the miraculous rescue of the British army from the shores of Dunkirk in 1940, is featured in a series of exercises that ask class members to read,...
Park City Historical Society & Museum
Oral History Interview Questions Worksheet
What is an oral history interview? What goes into the planning and what should be said? Why is it important that we know and learn from oral history? This is an excellent worksheet to support your young historians as they conduct...
Federal Reserve Bank
Gini in a Bottle: Some Facts on Income Inequality
Delve into the hard numbers and fundamental concept of income inequality in the United States, using graphs, detailed reading materials, and an organized activity.
Advocates for Human Rights
Nativism and Myths about Immigrants
Where do anti-immigrants myths come from, and how can they be refuted? Learners critically analyze media reports and how to identify reliable sources. After studying a timeline that details the history of US nativism, groups research the...
Conneticut Department of Education
Instructional Strategies That Facilitate Learning Across Content Areas
Imagine 28 instructional strategies, appropriate for all subject areas and all grade levels. Directed Reading-Thinking Activities (DRTA), Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) activities, KWL charts, comparison matrixes, classification...
Media Education Lab
Understanding Viral Messages
Imagine advertising for a product but not being paid to do so. Welcome to the world of Viral Messaging. Class members first view a T-Mobile flash mob video that went viral and has been seen by over 14 million viewers. After analyzing the...
Curated OER
Spots the Barn Cat: Finding the Main Idea
Spots the barn cat is the subject of this colorful worksheet. Young learners demonstrate their ability to identify the main idea in a written passage by reading a short passage about Spots and responding to the prompt asking them to...
Curated OER
Using Plot Elements to Retell a Story
The stories in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street form the basis for a lesson on plot elements. The class examines introduction, sequence, problem, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution and identifies these...
Curated OER
Jason's Gold: Chapter 9
Students collect details from chapter 9 of the book Jason's Gold and connect them back to the author's purpose of the book. In this details lesson plan, students listen to a read aloud where they discuss the details with the teacher as...
Curated OER
You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover
Fifth graders explore the purpose for reading a piece of literature. In this reading lesson plan, 5th graders view the cover of a book and then predict the order of details from the book. Students listen to the piece of literature...
Curated OER
Using Children's Literature to Teach Writing: No, David!
Students review beginning, middle, and end of a story and how details add to a story.
Curated OER
A Birthday Mystery: comprehension skills
In this comprehension skills instructional activity, students read the book A Birthday Mystery and complete comprehension activities. Students complete activities such as main idea, opinions, details, and drawing conclusions.
Curated OER
ESL Lesson Idea: Describing People
Students practice using the proper vocabulary to provide a physical description of a person. They focus on the details that are necessary to give a complete description by participating in a teacher directed guessing game.
Curated OER
Learning Paragraph Structure Through Design
Students examine paragraph structure, the writing process, and then design a model for the process. In this writing skills lesson, students explore paragraphs using the SmartBoard. Students create a class T-chart about paragraph...
Curated OER
Understanding Story Elements-Who, What, Where
Learners create a rap using story details. In this creative writing lesson, students examine the use of rap lyrics to list important details of stories. They view a video example, and use their notes to create their own raps...