Encourage readers to compare and contrast the information that they find in informational text with a variety of reading passages and worksheets. Learners read all about subjects in science, social studies, and literature...

Whether you need resources for reading comprehension, literary analysis, phonics, vocabulary, or text features, an extensive packet of worksheets is sure to fit your needs. Based on a fifth-grade curriculum but applicable to any level of...

What's the difference between hibernation and a good nap? Find out with an engaging life science activity that compares the hibernation habits of grizzly bears and marmots. After learners read an informational passage about each mammal,...

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...

Reporting the news is easy, right? Think again! Show young scholars the difficult choices journalists make every day through a instructional activity that includes reading, writing, and discussion elements. Individuals compare the...

Sometimes words aren't the best way to get information across to the reader. The eighth handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series describes different type of figures and charts to display complex information in a paper....

What is the secret to success? Scholars use close reading of a variety of articles to determine characteristics of people that overcame hardships to become successful. While reading, pupils annotate their copies, make claims, and...

Pupils work in small groups to answer guided questions and discuss the details they found. They also read independently, improving strategies they learned to approach and question text.

Pay close attention! After finding details in a picture, scholars begin to find details in videos and text. They work together in groups, discuss in pairs, and carry out independent reading to answer guiding questions. Organizers, tools,...

Take another look—there are probably more details than readers realize. Scholars analyze nine texts in a five-part unit that contains 21 activities to find textual details. Activities include close reading, independent reading,...

Look closely, some details are hidden! Scholars learn how to find attributes by first examining characteristics in illustrations and then move to locating details in text with close reading. The teacher models good practices for...

Scholars boost their knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement with a lesson plan that challenges writers, readers, and historians to analyze primary sources and caption their observations. By way of reading, writing, discussion,...

"Three Stones Back," a passage from Matt de la Pena's best-seller, Ball Don't Lie, allows readers to practice their close reading skills as they compare the passage to an information text about wealth inequality. 

The eyes have it in a project that combines art with creative writing. Class members list three adjectives or characteristics of a person they admire. Then draw a picture of a pair of eyes that they feel reflects these characteristics....

Art can enhance the understanding of history. That's the big idea in a lesson that has young scholars read Randall Jarrell's poem "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" and an excerpt from John Hersey's Hiroshima, which provide a...

The second lesson in the series asks groups to analyze an exchange of love letters between Abigail and John Adams. Scholars identify the many allusions and references in the letters and consider what they can infer about the writers.

Young historians analyze a letter 17-year-old Abigail Adams wrote to her cousin and identify the aphorism Adams used. Participants select a line from the letter and create an illustration of the aphorism.

Open the library for young readers by introducing them to the main genres and sub-genres. A podcast and two presentations identify the characteristics of the different genres. Groups then sort through a box of books and, using evidence...

Introduce young readers to informational texts with a well-designed, ready-to-use, and Common Core-aligned unit. Young readers learn a variety of skills while studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As the first...

As part of a group of lessons, your class will return to the primary text for this unit, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Key vocabulary as well as close reading strategies continue to be the focus skills; however, this lesson...

Your class continues to explore the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition to learning about the background of this text, learners work on the skill of identifying and understanding key academic vocabulary....

Lesson 6 of this extensive unit finally has your class begin to work their way through specific articles from the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Before examining the rights actually detailed in the...

A continuation of the previous lesson plan, which is part of a larger group of lessons on human rights (see additional materials). Here, in Lesson 7, your class will explore more articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights....

Although this is part of a series, lesson plan nine has your class take a break from their close study of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) text to read the firsthand account “Teaching Nepalis to Read, Plant, and...