Curated OER
Let's sum it all up!
Young scholars identify that comprehension is the main goal in reading. Then they read the words in a text, but also draw information from what they read. Students also identify and practice summarization. They read a piece of text...
Learning Links
The Josefina Story Quilt Study Guide
Considering using The Josefina Story Quilt in your classroom? Check out this sample teaching guide for a list of pre-reading activities.
The Alamo
Lorenzo de Zavala and José Antonio Navarro: Their Contributions to the Independence of Texas
Lorenzo de Zavala and José Antonio Navarro were both native Mexicans and leaders of the Texas Revolution, but with different backgrounds and careers. Compare and contrast the two influential men with a research assignment in which...
California Education Partners
Tuck Everlasting
An assessment takes a close look at the story, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, and tests writing abilities. Over the course of two days, scholars read an excerpt, answer questions on a worksheet pertaining to the author's...
Scholastic
Voyage on the Mayflower for Grades 3-5
Following an online activity, scholars complete a Grafitti Wall in which small groups write words and phrases on chart paper pertaining to Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and Thanksgiving. Pupils perform a close reading then answer a series of...
Curated OER
Regarding the Fountain: Questioning Strategy—Cubing
Look deeper into the text with a reading strategy based on asking critical thinking questions. While reading Reading the Fountain by Kate Klise, learners think of questions that help them describe, compare, associate, analyze,...
Student Achievement Partners
Eleven
Turning 11 comes with a range of emotions. Explore those emotions by reading the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. Readers analyze the main character's reactions to the events of her day. Then, they write an essay describing what...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Ideas, Part 1: “The Border”
What is your strategy? Scholars read "The Border" and work with a partner to practice reading strategies to use while independent reading. They identify difficult parts where they practiced rereading by marking them with sticky notes,...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing Using the Book Rumpelstiltskin
Use the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin to teach your third grade class about descriptive writing. Following a teacher read-aloud of the story, the class brainstorms a list of adjectives describing the main character. Students use this list...
Reading Shakespeare
Shakespeare Literature Circles Role Sheets
Tired of those blank stares after your class reads a particularly complex passage from a Shakespearean play? Help high schoolers untangle that prose with a literature circle activity. Ten different roles prompt class members to focus on...
Soft Schools
Practice Reading Poetry
Identify the rhyme scheme in a activity that features "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Readers use the nursery rhyme to reinforce poetic elements in four comprehension questions.
Prestwick House
A Doll’s House
Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House introduced the novel idea that women are independent people, and that their first duty is truly to themselves. Review the important details of the dramatic play with a short crossword puzzle activity.
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...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Sound Changes
Looking for an auditory approach to phoneme manipulation? You'll find everything you need here for an independent practice activity to get youngsters changing initial, medial, and final phonemes to create new words. They begin with a...
Curated OER
Learning to Summarize a Story
Students with hearing loss read independently and understand what is being read to them. For this independent reading lesson plan, students sequence and discuss the book that is read.
Curated OER
the Declaration of Independence Lesson
Students demonstrate reading comprehension skills, including reading strategies, inference, literal meaning, and critical analysis.
Curated OER
Read It, Picture It! Reading to Learn
Students examine the reading comprehension strategy of visualization. They practice visualization by making pictures in their mind. They draw the pictures from their visualizations with explanations.
Curated OER
The Red Badge of Courage: ReQuest
Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage provides the text for a reading comprehension activity that asks class members to develop questions based on the novel.
Curated OER
The 5 W's
Examine how to answer who, what, when, where, and why when reading text. Young writers listen to the story Skeleton Hiccups, and as a class answer and discuss the five W's. Independently they read the story silently, and write the...
Curated OER
Quiet As A Mouse
Students observe and demonstrate how to read silently. As a class they discuss the importance of silent reading and how to select a book appropriate for their own reading level. They demonstrate reading silently, and write a summary of...
Curated OER
Reading and Responding -- Lesson 13
Fourth graders work independently or in a small group to (1) read a fictional passage, (2) use context to define unfamiliar vocabulary, (3) use comprehension strategies, and (4) make inferences. Reading passage and teacher script is...
Novelinks
Touching Spirit Bear: Question Answer Response Strategy
What types of questions help readers learn the most? Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders learn how to ask four types of questions from the Question Answer Response (QAR) reading strategy to help grow their comprehension of Touching Spirit...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1
Word choice can drastically alter the tone of a piece of writing. Ninth graders read Karen Russell's short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" and use textual evidence to help them analyze how word choice affects their...
Great Books Foundation
State of Affairs
Good verses evil. Scholars make inferences after taking a close look at the short story, State of Affairs, in which Daniel Defoe goes back and forth comparing good and evil thoughts through his writing. After reading the text,...