Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: Vanquishing the Gooples

For Teachers 7th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a story about a girl named Melissa and her adventure at a Renaissance Faire and answer questions in comprehension, setting, characterization, main idea, inference, transitions, and more. A...
Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: The Other Side of the Magic Shop

For Teachers 7th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a story about a girl named Bella who worked at a magic shop and answer questions in comprehension, setting, characterization, main idea, inference, transitions, and more. A link to a...
Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: "The Bill of Rights"

For Teachers 8th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read "The Bill of Rights" and "The Preamble to the United States Constitution" and answer questions on the paired texts.
Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: Paired Text: "Luisa Builds a Model"

For Students K - 1st
[Free Registration/Login Required] These paired texts "Kareem's Playdate" and "Luisa Builds a Model" both have representations of physical space. A reading comprehension question set for each separately, a set for the two together, and...
Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: An Elephant's Excellent Trunk

For Teachers 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read an informational text about elephants and answers questions about reading comprehension, supporting details, main idea, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text questions are...
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Volcanoes: Magma Rising: Studying Volcanoes

For Students 5th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This two-page PDF nonfiction passage entitled "Volcanoes: Magma Rising: Studying Volcanoes" discusses how they study volcanoes to learn how they work. It is part of Paired Texts: "Volcanoes: Magma...
Article
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: "Dancing Ganesha"

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] The passage "Dancing Ganesha" from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, focuses on a sculpture of Ganesha, a beloved Hindu god who is believed to bring good fortune and success in all daily activities. A...
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Truman and His Doctrine: Revolutionary, Unprecedented, and Bipartisan

For Students 11th - 12th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] This 5-page PDF is the nonfiction article "Truman and His Doctrine: Revolutionary, Unprecedented, and Bipartisan" by Elizabeth Edwards Spalding which discusses Truman's policy to provide aid to Turkey...
Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: Grade 2: A Brush With History

For Teachers 2nd Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a non-fiction article about the history of a toothbrush and answer questions in comprehension, sequencing, inferences, main idea, transitions, and more. A link to paired text questions is...
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Program Notes Rhapsody in Blue

For Students 8th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This PDF is the Program Notes from The New York Philharmonic's production of "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin. It provides information about Gershwin and his writing of the "jazz concerto." It is...
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Senator Joseph Mc Carthy's Speech Before the Senate on June 14, 1951

For Students 11th - 12th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This PDF is an excerpt from Senator Joseph McCarthy's Speech before the Senate on June 14, 1951. It is part of Paired Texts (above the passage) with "Anti - Communism in the 1950s" by Wendy...
Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: Robert Kennedy on Civil Rights, 1963 [Abridged]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read letter from Attorney General Robert Kennedy to President John F. Kennedy concerning civil rights and answer questions about comprehension, author's viewpoint, main idea, vocabulary, and...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Eight Days: A Story of Haiti" by Edwidge Danticat

For Students 5th - 8th
In this tale, for young readers, award-winning Edwidge Danticat tells the story of Junior, a seven-year-old boy trapped beneath his house after the Port-au-Prince earthquake and his rescue. While trapped during the earthquake, Junior...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

For Students 5th - 8th
Death narrates a poignant tale of collecting lives and stories through Nazi Germany while constantly circling back to Liesel, who survives because of the love she shares and her love of language. Selected (6) reading passages (grades...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry

For Students 9th - 10th
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 8-10) to pair with the drama "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. When a struggling African-American family receives a large insurance check, a conflict erupts on how to spend the money....
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

For Students 10th - 12th
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 10-12) to pair with "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. In this novel about family connections and racial equality, Lily Owens and Rosaleen, Lily's housekeeper, run away to Tiburon, South...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas

For Students 9th - 10th
In the mid-1800s, a French sailor is unjustly imprisoned for fourteen years. He escapes, finds a fortune, and seeks revenge on the those who put him in prison. Selected (7) reading passages (grades 8-11) to pair with "The Count of Monte...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker

For Students 9th - 10th
Celie is an African American woman living in Georgia in the early 20th century. She suffers decades of abuse as she struggles to find love and friendship in her life. Selected (8) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with "The Color...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

For Students 9th - 10th
When Jerry Renault refuses to sell chocolate for the school's annual chocolate fundraising drive, the rest of the student body turns against him. Selected (8) reading passages (grades 9-11) to pair with "The Chocolate War" by Robert...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Catcher in the Rye" by j.d. Salinger

For Students 9th - 10th
From a mental institution, where he is receiving treatment, Holden Caulfield recounts the two day period after he is kicked out of school. Selected (8) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D....
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller

For Students 9th - 10th
An air pilot named Yossarian and his squadron navigate life in the army during World War II. Despite their attempts to stay alive, the army's "Catch 22" rule continues to put them in danger. Selected (5) reading passages (grades 9-11) to...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis

For Students 5th - 8th
After losing his mother four years ago, 10-year-old Bud Caldwell runs away from the foster care system in search of the father he has never met. Selected (11) reading passages (grades 5-8) to pair with "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson

For Students 3rd - 6th
Jacqueline Woodson describes her experiences growing up as an African American girl in South Carolina and New York in the 1960s. Selected (6) reading passages (grades 3-6) to pair with "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson. [Free...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" by John Boyne

For Students 5th - 9th
A wire fence stands between Bruno and Shmuel's friendship at Auschwitz, and tragedy beckons when Bruno's naivety and his distance from his family take him beyond the fence. Selected (9) reading passages (grades 5-9) to pair with "The Boy...