Curated OER
Ancient Civilizations
Students examine the institutions and values of various ancient civilizations. They define civilization, read and discuss text, write journal entries, list the characteristics of a powerful society, and write a description of an event.
Curated OER
Super Space Summarization
Students review the concept of silent reading. Through modeling and guided practice, they explore five steps/rules of summarizing. In groups, they read an article and then, using the summarization rules and skills, write an effective...
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Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam A Study of the Vietnam Era
Young scholars examine letters that US service people wrote to their family and friends while they served in Vietnam. They examine the daily hardships and the role of medical personnel and helicopters. They write letters in response to...
Curated OER
No Path Without Pain
Students analyze the message of John Lennon's "Imagine." In this promoting peace activity, students complete a cloze activity on the song and discuss its meaning. Students then write their own versions of "Imagine."
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Strength in Summarizing
Third graders practice summarizing passages while creating a fishbone map of important details in non-fiction text. They examine how to tell the difference between important and less important details by highlighting them in reading...
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Let's Sum It Up!
Students explore the benefits of summarizing and create their own summaries in this lesson. Students read the "Siberian Survivor" article from National Geographic Kids Online. Students then discuss the important facts mentioned in the...
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What's Important?
Students, through teacher modeling and guided practice, explore four steps/rules of summarizing. In groups, they read a short passage and then, by applying the summarization rules and skills, write an effective summary of it.
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Place In The World
Twelfth graders explore their social, cultural and political surroundings. They explore the responsibility and power individuals have as writers. In groups, 12th graders examine the works of Henry David Thoreau. After spending time...
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I Grow
Students describe factors that influence relationships with family and friends. They write a book about themselves using personal knowledge.
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Morning Girl
Fifth graders read the novel "Morning Girl" by Michael Dorris. Using the text, they compare and contrast the two cultures, Arawak and Taino in the novel and research the landing of Columbus in San Salvador. They create a family tree...
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My Own True Name
Students read passages from My Own True Name. They write their own poems and present them to the class. They share their favorite lines from the poem as well.
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The Window
Students read a story entitled, "The Window," and discover how some cultures are rejected by others. Students write a letter expressing feelings of rejection and keep a journal of significant events in the story. Using a graphic...
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"Aerogrammes"
High schoolers examine Asian American culture through the analysis of the poem, 'Aerogrammes.' They watch a video, read and discuss the poem, take a field trip to Chinatown, and write a poem about their Chinatown experience.
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Sum it Up!!
Students work to develop comprehension strategies. Through modeling they discover how to summarize a written passage by deleting unnecessary information and using clustering or concept mapping for the most important items or events. In...
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Researching Another country's Holiday: Organizing and Recording Information
Prior to this lesson, 5th graders will have collected notes from several sources. Students extend their note taking to include at least one example each of summarizing and paraphrasing. They record bibliographic information for each...
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When My Name Was Keoko
Students construct a book banquet to help us to recall and enjoy food eaten in Korea during the 1940's. The class is to read When My Name Was Keoko and then create a book banquet that the students invite their parents to. Students cook...
Curated OER
Basil Heatter, "The Long Night of the Little Boats"
“It was a miracle.” Basil Heatter’s “The Long Night of the Little Boats,” which details the miraculous rescue of the British army from the shores of Dunkirk in 1940, is featured in a series of exercises that ask class members to read,...
K12 Reader
Summarize It!
A key reading comprehension skill is the ability to summarize. Here's a learning exercise that not only explains how to summarize, but also explains why summarizing is important.
Aspen Institute
The Voice That Challenged a Nation
Included here are step-by-step instructions for conducting a close reading of The Voice That Challenged a Nation by Russell Freedman. After an individual and class reading, class members read carefully through the text excerpt,...
Curated OER
Greek, Latin and Anglo-Saxon Roots to Better Vocabulary
Practice vocabulary skills with this word analysis lesson. Middle schoolers examine the roots of unfamiliar words and use their knowledge of roots to discern meaning through word analysis.
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Folktale Unit: The Emperor and the Kite
Learners read the story of The Emperor and the Kite examining new vocabulary and working on comprehension skills. They examine how to summarize the story after reading it.
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Study Skills-Note Taking
Students use a note card to record a direct quotation from a collection of famous speeches. The top right-hand corner should contain the name of the speaker, and the top left-hand corner should contain the name of the speech.
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Retelling Information
This scripted lesson suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and rubric are...
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Anasazi Basket Weaving
The Anasazi Indians of Mesa Verde are the focus of this art and social studies activity. Working in pairs or groups of three, pupils utilize computers and go online to search for websites about the Anasazi. Students will choose two or...