National Endowment for the Humanities
The Preamble to the Constitution: A Close Reading Lesson
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." These familiar lines begin the Preamble to the Constitution, but do learners know what they mean? A close reading exercise takes a look at the language of the...
Pyro Innovations
Reading Comprehension
Good reading practices can start at any age. Early readers work with the teacher to read a short story about a bear. First, they identify basic text features, such as the title, author, and illustrator. Then, they answer several simple...
Curated OER
Night: Socratic Questioning Activity
We construct meaning through discussion, so help your readers of Elie Wiesel's work Night with a socratic questioning activity. The strategy is outlined on the first page, and the second page offers some example questions you give to...
Illustrative Mathematics
$20 Dot Map
Challenge the addition skills of young learners with this open-ended math problem. The task is simple, get from start to finish by connecting a series of three numbers. The trick is that the sum of the numbers must be less than or equal...
Great Books Foundation
Discussion Guide for 1984
George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, can seem strangely prophetic when compared to modern news events and politics. Readers of Orwell's dystopian classic sharpen their critical thinking skills by engaging in a shared...
Student Handouts
End to the Cold War
Introduce your class to topics relating to the Cold War through a brief reading selection. Class members read the passage and answer four questions, which are provided on the bottom of the page.
Curated OER
Developing Open-Ended Questions
Students work in groups of two to develop questions and sample answers that are relevant, accurate and use higher level of thinking skills about a literary unit. Students present their questions and answers to the class as a review of...
K12 Reader
Public Education
Your pupils may not know that school was not always required. Teach them a bit about the history of public education with a reading passage and related questions.
K5 Learning
Emma's Favorite Restaurant
Scholars answer six short answer questions following a tale about a family who decides to try a new restaurant and the surprise their children feel when they enjoy their meal.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
A Question of Balance
It's a neat idea, but the task of designing a system for filling jars with consistent specific amounts of a product may be a little out of reach, especially for younger pupils. Intended as an engineering design lesson plan, this may be...
Curated OER
What Do You See at the Pond?
With What Do You See at the Pond?, young readers explore pond life and practice reading strategies. Learners first make predictions and then read the simple story independently. After a second read-through with a partner, kids come...
Curated OER
Guided Reading With Fish Print
Pupils investigate the concept of reading comprehension using Fish Print. They practice reading skills with using picture clues, using context clues, and sight word recognition for simple sentences. The teacher guides the lesson plan...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Focus: The Paideia Seminar
Compelling discussions are the result of open-ended, challenging questions. An introduction to Paideia discussions includes explicit directions about how to prepare readers and how to model the kinds of questions they should develop in...
US Department of State
Reader's Theater: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing readers to work...
Curated OER
The Metamorphosis: Request Strategy
Round out your unit on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis with a series of reading comprehension questions. As kids read, they challenge each other to answer specific connection questions from the text.
Student Handouts
Examining Primary Sources: Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” (1899)
Combine literature and history with the poem "The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling. Pupils read the poem and answer four questions about the text.
Curated OER
We Play Music
Do you like music? Have your youngsters read We Play Music, practicing select reading strategies, like using picture clues to determine new words. Then, after their first independent read, have them re-read the story to a partner,...
Western Justice Center
Communication Skills
Good communication skills are key to resolving conflicts. A short video introduces learners to the concept of active listening and provides tips that will help them resolve conflicts. Class members then read articles, analyze scenarios,...
Curated OER
Shared and Guided Reading with Ice Cream Money
Here is a lesson which has students locate an exclamation point and a comma from the text. They locate previously learned words on the page, and create a word map from the word "Money." Students write about and illustrate their favorite...
Curated OER
First Day of School
Primary learners complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book First Day of School. They will complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions, and much more.
Reading Worksheets
Inferences Worksheet 8
Lead your class toward mastery of making inferences with a straightforward instructional activity. Pupils read four short passages and make inferences based on the questions asked about each passage. They explain their reasoning for each...
Curated OER
Cute, Colored and Contentious
Whether your class responds to the blog linked to this article, or just answers the nine related questions, they're in for an eye-opening read. Pupils consider animal rights as they read a New York Times article about two men who have...
Curated OER
The Atlanta Testing Scandal
What happens when a school is caught tampering with state test scores? Learners find out about the Atlanta Testing Scandal as they read a New York Times article. After they read, they test their comprehension by answering seven who,...
C.S. Lewis Foundation
Educator’s Guide to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe #2
This chapter-by-chapter guide to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, designed to be used in either a classroom or homeschool setting, contains vocabulary lists, discussion questions, and writing prompts.