Read Works
Signal Words in Expository Text
Signal words are one way that authors make the relationships between their ideas clear. Allow your learners the chance to investigate cause and effect in texts by identifying signal words. They locate and analyze cause-and-effect...
Hood River County School District
Text Structure: Features and Organization
Teach learners how to interact with both fiction and non-fiction text with a packet of activities and worksheets. After looking over text structure and the difference in text features between different types of writing, readers analyze...
Curated OER
The Importance of Teaching Text Structure Lesson Plans
Using text structure lesson plans can help students improve their understanding of what they read.
Curated OER
Connecting Kansas: Past and Present
Upper graders identify five forms of transportation and describe how Kansans are connected to the rest of the country using transportation and communication. They complete a graphic organizer for each type of text structure given to them...
Curated OER
Exposing Expository Text Structure in a Rainforest Setting
Students create a thematic booklet containing examples of different types of expository text structures. They explore a variety of expository text structures.
Curated OER
Use Common Roots and Affixes When Attached to Known Vocabulary
After a brief review of roots and affixes, partners are asked to choose a root, find words built on that root, and create a Christmas ornament decorated with these words. Beware the typos!
Curated OER
Order! Order!
Polish organization skills in your youngsters. With this lesson, they are introduced to the trait of organization and participate in activities that reinforce organization. They cut apart a familiar story, receive different parts of the...
Curated OER
Informational Text: What's It All About?
With the Common Core State Standards' growing focus on informational text, it's the perfect time to showcase this PowerPoint to your team of teachers. It's 59 slides focus on seven best practice structures: reading-as-thinking,...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Word Choice
Students explore language arts by participating in a vocabulary usage activity. In this word choice lesson, students read examples of great word usage in literature and discuss with the class why some words appear stronger than others....
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Strategy 3: Using Graphic Organizers Implementation Guide
Whether or not you are new to using graphic organizers with informational or expository text, the materials in this guide will prove useful.
Polk Bros Foundation
Punctuation Signals
Choose any passage that uses punctuation effectively and analyze it with your class. Learners read the passage out loud once, ignoring the punctuation. Then they read it again, but this time paying attention to all of the punctuation....
Education World
Take Five: Writing a Color-Coded Paragraph
Use a traffic light to model a very basic paragraph plan. The Go, or topic sentence, is written in green and expresses an opinion about the topic. Information that supports the opinion of the Go sentence is written in yellow and the...
Curated OER
Text as Texture Collage
Students explore the concepts of rhythm, movement, contrast and texture. They practice using new vocabulary and work on creating a college after designing the arrangement. They self-evaluate their collage and critique their classmates...
Curated OER
New Shoes for Sylvia
First graders explore reading comprehension by analyzing a story in class. In this story structure lesson, 1st graders read the book New Shoes for Sylvia and discuss the character and her dilemma in the story. Students answer study...
Curated OER
Spanish & Chicano English
Students examine the history of Spanish in what is now the United States. They examine the current language status of the Hispanic population. Students are able to characterize Spanglish and Chicano English. They examine some features...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Sentence Fluency
Students practice writing with sentence fluency in order to make the story more enjoyable for the reader. In this sentence fluency lesson plan, students focus on rhythm and flow.
Curated OER
The Civil War Comes to Kansas: The Battle of Mine Creek
Seventh graders explore the impact of Price's Raid and the Battle of Mine Creek. In this American Civil War lesson, 7th graders examine a list of events based on the war in Kansas and then put them in chronological order. Students also...
Curated OER
Whodunit? Creating Mysterious Plays
Students examine mystery plays by reading a number of five-minute mysteries. They write and perform their own plays.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Tell Me Again
Students demonstrate how to retell a story in sequential order. In this reading comprehension lesson, students listen to a suggested read aloud, such as Little Boy Blue. Additionally, students practice retelling the story by using...
Curated OER
The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
Young scholars read the story The Day Jimmy's Boa At the Wash and put the event boxes in order from the beginning to end of the story. In this sequencing lesson plan, students do this on the computer.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Organization
Students make logical patterns in their writing to demonstrate the trait of organization. For this organization lesson plan, students focus on events proceeding logically.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Voice
Students explore the trait of voice. In this language arts lesson, students focus on the writing trait of voice. Students view a video and practice writing.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: conventions
Students watch a video and write using conventions. In this conventions lesson plan, students edit their writing for the correct spelling, grammar, and paragraph usage.
Curated OER
The Underground Railroad
Fourth graders participate in a literature circle after reading a book about the Underground Railroad. They discuss their selected book with their literature circle group, and complete a handout about their role in the circle. Students...