University of Arizona
Found News Poems
Combine informational text and creative writing with one fun activity! Middle and high schoolers write found poems based on newspaper headlines that they find. The resource includes a thorough lesson plan and many links to articles that...
EngageNY
Analyzing Text Structure: “The Shakespeare Shakedown”
Pupils continue reading and discussing Simon Schama's article "The Shakespeare Shakedown." They work together to analyze the article's paragraph structure, completing a note-catcher worksheet.
Curated OER
We Can Eat Smarter
Students practice their reading skills. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read an article titled "We Can Eat Smarter," and then use the reading strategy described to note confusing passages and revisit them.
Curated OER
Reading Non-Fiction: Persuasive Language
In this persuasive text worksheet, middle schoolers read an excerpt from an advertising leaflet and identify the persuasive words and phrases used in the text. Students then read the text about a Greenpeace campaign to identify emotive...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for Nonfiction Comprehension: Posing Questions
Pupils practice writing questions on a selected topic. Students discuss questioning skills. They browse through books and magazines, review their textbooks, watch a film, or participate in a similar experience that will provide some...
Curated OER
Guided Reading with Ten Oni Drummers
Second graders read the book, Ten Oni Drummers. Working in guided reading groups, they discuss fantasy as a genre and preview the book. They review word identification strategies and read the book silently. After reading, they confirm...
Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...
Baruch College Writing Center
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Workshop
What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based on two...
Curated OER
Natural Gas: An American Treasure
Do your fourth graders need extra practice with evaluating fact and opinion? An informative resource provides two reading passages in which learners distinguish sentences as fact or as opinion. Additionally, they determine how the...
Clever Student Training Company
Logical Fallacies Recognition
“Should same-sex marriage be allowed?” As part of a study of recognizing logical fallacies learners read John Stemberger’s April 12, 2012 argument against same-sex marriage published on the opinion page of the Orlando Sentinel. They then...
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 crossword...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations
A 10-lesson unit explores the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. Over the course of two weeks, scholars read nonfiction excerpts, discuss their findings, and complete activities. An assessment equipped with multiple choice and matching...
Film Foundation
To Kill a Mockingbird: What Is a Movie?
The challenge film makers face when creating a film based on a novel or nonfiction text is the focus of a interdisciplinary resource that uses To Kill a Mockingbird to teach viewers how to read the visual images of film. A must-have...
Louisiana Department of Education
Unit: Hamlet
Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Curated OER
Starting an Elementary Book Club
Discover the benefits of starting a book club in this two-part article.
Curated OER
Comprehension-Note Taking Skills to Supprt Opinions and Panel Discussion
Fifth graders examine note taking skills in order to support opinions. In this language arts instructional activity, 5th graders read several newpaper articles and discuss a current issue. Students explore how to paraphrase so as not to...
Curated OER
Organizing One’s Thoughts
Students take a closer look at the organization of written pieces. For this writing skills lesson, students examine transitions, repetition, parallelism, and other organizational patterns in writing.
Curated OER
Introducing Biographies-Getting to Know You
Students study biographies as a nonfiction genre while examining a variety of examples. Next, they access and complete an online tutorial about biographies. They choose one person that interests them to conduct further research using a...
Curated OER
Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
Students explore a content area by reading both fiction and nonfiction texts on the topic. They do more research online about the topic. After comparing the texts, they create their own written original work, using both narrative and...
Curated OER
Analyzing Irony in Nonfiction
Students examine the use of irony in non-fiction works. In this literature lesson, students read non-fiction war texts and explore the use of irony in the piece as they respond to discussion questions.
Curated OER
Literacy:Non-Fiction Stories
Third graders explore non-fiction stories. They follow along as the teacher reads a story. Students fill in words as the teacher reads to ensure they are following along. They discuss the text features found in the book and the features...
Curated OER
Flat Stanley Guided Reading
Second graders listen to their teacher read the book, "Flat Stanley". They relate the activities in the book to activities in their own life. They can also create their own pictures of Stanley.
Mark Twain Media
Understanding Informational Text Features
Everything you need to know about informational text features can be found in this resource. Recognizing these types of text features and how they are used in text allows readers to better understand information. Teachers can use this as...