Only a thorough understanding of history can save us from repeating it. Practice close reading skills with an eighth grade unit that focuses on 19th century America, including European immigration into Ellis Island and Frederick...

Get scholars thinking about the scientific process with this fun experiment they can do at home. Learners practice reading directions as they underline each instruction in a procedural paragraph. They create a flow chart and record...

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...

Accompany a reading of Madeleine L'Engle's classic tale, A Wrinkle in Time, with a detailed guide equipped with 15 informative and useful chapters. Scholars discover who the author is, why she wrote the book, and crucial story elements...

Learn more about Honest Abe with an informative passage that details his life chronologically. As learners read sections of the text, they answer multiple choice questions that draw on their ability to recall details from the passage.

What experiences lead people to change and how do they do it? After reading about Cole's encounter with Touching Spirit Bear, readers complete the second out of a series of five activities to predict future events in the text. The...

Boost reading comprehension with an interactive website featuring an informational passage about Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars read, or listen to, several paragraphs detailing MLK's life in order to answer seven...

Learning how to deliver good literacy instruction is key to becoming a successful teacher. This resource isn't so much a lesson as it is a guide to leading children in an interactive read-aloud session to increase fluency, comprehension,...

Sometimes it's helpful to read certain passages in a novel slowly and carefully, and to read other parts more quickly to move the plot along. Learners tread carefully through Chapter 20 of Lois Lowry's The Giver, noting which...

Enhance the reading experience with a set of lessons designed to improve textual analysis. Seventh graders use guiding questions to read both informational text and literature closely in the first part of the unit. Next, they work on...

Hail to the Chief! Your class learns about Abraham Lincoln winning presidency and choosing cabinet advisors through a reading passage and paired multiple choice questions. The resource offers great practice for state tests and...

Who wants to learn about Honest Abe? The reading passage highlights the early life of Abraham Lincoln, detailing his experience as a young boy growing up in Kentucky. Readers read the brief passage and then answer 10 comprehension...

How does a president save a country from itself? Readers learn how the Civil War began and how Lincoln managed it with a reading comprehension passage. They then demonstrate their understanding with multiple choice questions that...

Abraham Lincoln's face may only be worth one cent, but the online reading passage and questions about his life are an invaluable resource. Pupils read a passage about Lincoln's experience with the Illinois Legislature, earning his law...

How do your pupils feel about reading? Hand out this survey to find of if your high schoolers read often, enjoy reading, talk about what they read, and more.

A passage from Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises offers class members an opportunity to demonstrate their reading comprehension skills.

Can you guess what is going to happen in a story just by looking at the cover? Readers engage in a directed-reading activity in which...

Encourage close reading for young learners with a lesson based on Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting. The first part of the resource guides readers through a Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA), prompting them to make...

Replacing a gift can end up in an awkward moment—but not when replacing a noun with a pronoun! Watch the most effective ways to use subject and object pronouns, as well as direct and indirect object pronouns, with an entertaining...

The proof is in the details! A richly detailed plan provides clear examples of how to draw inferences from text and how to provide support drawn directly from the text. 

High school learners review the six major reading comprehension strategies. They demonstrate the strategies by putting them into action using more complex reading. They finish by discussing a seventh strategy, monitoring comprehension.

What is a cloze passage? The first page of this resource details this procedure and its benefits. To determine if Hiroshima is an appropriate reading-level text for your class, have them read the first passage provided, and then give...

What is the reading level of your language arts or English class? If you're not sure if In Cold Blood would be an appropriate reading level for your kids, give them this cloze procedure. They read the complete reading selection once, and...