PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Bees
A Reading Adventure pack explores the busy life of bees. After reading a fiction and nonfiction text, scholars complete three hands-on activities. Participants invent a robot that can do the work of bees, cheers to hardworking bees with...
Curated OER
NonFiction Reading
Students explore reading nonfiction. In this nonfiction lesson, students practice using KWL charts to organize nonfiction information gained from reading. Students explore unfamiliar words from reading and recognize synonyms and antonyms.
Curated OER
Farewell to Manzanar
Examine human resilience across two texts with a detailed unit. Over the course of a week, learners will conduct a close reading of excerpts from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar. The resource includes clear procedures for reading and...
K20 LEARN
Watch Your Tone: Tone Analysis Through Music And Nonfiction
Identifying the tone of a piece of writing or the author's attitude toward the subject matter can be difficult for learners. Simplify the process with a lesson plan that begins with skits, moves to songs and their lyrics, and then to...
Curated OER
Contents and Index
It's important for your readers to understand features of informational text such as index and table of contents, so give them this visual activity to get started. They read a brief explanation of informational text, then look at an...
Curated OER
Identify the Parts of a Newspaper features of informational text, newspaper format
Young readers make sense out of the wealth of information in newspapers with this helpful reference document. Pointing out basic features like headings, articles, bylines, and captions this resource is a great tool for introducing...
DePaul University
Bold Plans, Big Dreams, City Progress
Determining which statements represent fact or the author's opinion in an integral part of reading informational text. Encourage seventh graders to read a passage about Barack Obama and the city of Chicago, as well as a passage focused...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Identify a Nonfiction Writer's Main Idea and Supporting Examples
Use this page to quickly identify the central idea of a text and organize ideas for writing an informational or explanatory text. The worksheet is split into two parts. In the first part, pupils note down the main idea and supporting...
Curated OER
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 5 ELA/Literacy)
Check in on the development of your fifth graders' reading and writing skills with this Common Core-designed assessment. Given a series of six reading passages ranging from narrative stories to informational texts, young learners answer...
EngageNY
Main Ideas in Informational Text: Analyzing a Firsthand Human Rights Account
Although this is part of a series, lesson plan nine has your class take a break from their close study of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) text to read the firsthand account “Teaching Nepalis to Read, Plant, and Vote” by...
Curated OER
Super Summarizer!!!
Emerging readers summarize a nonfiction text using a five step process. After a brief demonstration of the five-step method for summarizing text, they read a nonfiction article and write their own summary. A checklist of each summary is...
Curated OER
Text Elements of Fiction and Nonfiction
Second graders examine the text elements associated with fiction and nonfiction texts. In this text elements lesson, 2nd graders listen to Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock by Eric A. Kimmel. They take formative assessments to determine...
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.
Read Works
Famous Inventors — Zip it Up
Explore the invention of the zipper with a 10-question reading comprehension worksheet that challenges scholars to show what they know about an informational text's details and vocabulary.
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Weather
A reading adventure pack, featuring a fiction and nonfiction book focuses on the weather. Scholars read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett and Seymour Simon and then complete three creative activities. Participants craft...
Baruch College Writing Center
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Workshop
What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based on two...
Curriculum Corner
I See a School
Enthusiastic readers report on a book detailing what it's about and their favorite part with a picture-based writing template. A nonfiction version takes a step further to highlight what the pupil learned, and a fiction version showcases...
Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Parts of Argument II: Article Critique
Break down the parts of argumentative writing with a critical thinking activity. High schoolers read an article of your (or their choice), and use a graphic organizer to delineate the ways the author structures his or her arguments.
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Curated OER
Insects
It's a fact: kids love bugs! With this instructional activity, young learners explore reading informational texts and conducting research while learning about their favorite insects. Spark learners' interest by reading a book about one...
Odell Education
Reading Closely for Textual Details: "We, as a people, will get to the promised land!"
Take another look—there are probably more details than readers realize. Scholars analyze nine texts in a five-part unit that contains 21 activities to find textual details. Activities include close reading, independent reading,...
Curated OER
Fluency Passages, 6th Grade
Prompt your class to examine their own negative cycles with a short reading passage. After they finish reading, they answer two questions about concepts that they can find in the text.
Odell Education
Making Evidence-Based Claims: Grade 9
Sorry, Charlie. Scholars take a close look at Apology by Plato. Activities analyzing the text help pupils understand, make, organize, and write about claims. Learners work in groups, complete claim tools, and evaluate thinking by filling...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: What's Next? The Very Hungry Caterpillar
A series of hands-on activities follows a reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Learners create a paper collage to explore the beginning, middle, and end of days of the week, numbers, and more. They grow a butterfly...