Curated OER
Martin's Big Words
Martin's Big Words, by Doreen Rappaport, is a story about Martin Luther King. Encourage your learners to create a list of questions before beginning the reading. Also, learners should be working on monitoring and clarifying to ensure...
Curated OER
Reading Made Easy with Mindwing Concepts
While this resource is actually attempting to sell a product, the foundational ideas may be worth looking into. Using Braidy the StoryBraid doll, learners will gain a better understanding of beginning, middle, and end, as well as story...
Curated OER
What's the Big Idea? 1
In this recognizing the common subject for groups of words learning exercise, learners read groups of words and write a good title for each list. Students write 12 short answers.
Curated OER
A Primary Source Picture Book
Travel through Europe with ten-year-old Teddy Roosevelt in this writing activity, which uses the picture book My Tour of Europe: by Teddy Roosevelt, by Ellen Jackson. After reading the book, readers compare it to passages from The...
Curated OER
Ben Franklin's Game
A reading of What's The Big Idea, Ben Franklin? provides an opportunity for class members to practice paraphrasing, quoting, and citing sources. An exercise on how to avoid plagiarizing is also included.
Curated OER
Clifford's Big Idea: Be Responsible
Students become aware of how important it is to be responsible at home and school through meaningful reading and language experiences. In this Clifford Gets a Job lesson plan, students author their own booklet regarding responsibility at...
K12 Reader
The Jungle Book
Young readers complete a graphic organizer identifying the main idea and the supporting ideas in a passage taken from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
EngageNY
Understanding Themes in Esperanza Rising
Determining a theme or central idea is greatly emphasized in the Common Core standards. Target that skill though big metaphors and central symbols in Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Help your class reach the standard through...
K5 Learning
Here Comes the Band
Can you hear the men playing in the band? What are they playing and where are they going? These are the main ideas of a brief fictional passage.
Curated OER
¿Por qué es importante el Servicio Comunitario?
Why is it important to do community service? Read these paragraphs to discover Barack Obama and Joe Biden's stance on community service. After reading the difficult text, high schoolers must identify the principal idea and decide their...
EngageNY
Characters Changing Over Time (Chapter 10: "Las Papas/Potatos")
Engage further in Esperanza Rising with a focus on close reading and metaphor. Class members zero in on the tenth chapter, examining characters and big ideas. Pupils discuss the text in small groups and as a whole class, and participate...
Curated OER
Where the Books Are
The news is full of interesting stories and ideas shared in an informational style. Readers use the provided who, what, when, where, and why questions as they explore an article about a man who is passionate about archiving physical...
Curated OER
17 - Cells
The first of three pages in this handout provides a brief history of our understanding of the cell. It also differentiates between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The second is a collection of true and false, multiple choice, and short...
K12 Reader
Summarize It!
A key reading comprehension skill is the ability to summarize. Here's a worksheet that not only explains how to summarize, but also explains why summarizing is important.
Curated OER
Running an Elementary Book Club
Combine reading with fun in order to create lifelong, literary-minded learners who love to read.
Curated OER
Through the Eyes of the Big Bad Wolf
Imagine how the wolf would tell the tale of Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs. Young writers re-imagine classic tales by adopting the point of view of another character in the story. After reading models like The True Story...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Stressed Out Sally
Life changes may cause stress. Here, scholars identify stressful situations in a peer's life and offer coping skills to make for a better day. A short story, "Stressed Out Sally," provides pupils with a look inside a bad day. After...
Curated OER
Big Branding on Campus: Reading Informational Text
This New York Times "Learning Network" activity poses 11 questions on an article and video about commercial branding and marketing on college campuses. The related article, "On the Market: Thinking Critically About Advertising", is...
Nemours KidsHealth
Online Safety: Grades 6-8
Recognize risky behaviors and avoid them! That's the big idea behind two activities designed to teach middle schoolers to think critically about online safety. After reading background articles about protecting online identity,...
K20 LEARN
The Conflict at the Washita River: The Indian Wars in Indian Territory
"Battle" or "Massacre"? Words matter, especially when labeling historical events. That's the big idea in a lesson about the 1868 conflict at the Washita River. After examining two images of the event, groups read and discuss articles...
Greater Good Science Center
Seeing The Good In Others
Showing gratitude is an intentional act and it's the glue in relationships. That's the big idea in a activity for tween and teens. Scholars leave post-it thank you notes on other's character strength posters that acknowledge those...
K20 LEARN
The Way I See It: Point of View
Robbers see a house from a different perspective than real estate agents. That's the big idea in a lesson about point of view. Groups assume the role of either robbers or real estate agents, note important details in a description of a...
Curated OER
The Big Surprise: Reading Comprehension
Four multiple choice questions accompany this passage called, "The Big Surprise." Answers are included on page 2.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension Review for Grade 5
In this reading comprehension review for grade 5 worksheet, 5th graders read 4 passages and answer 25 multiple choice questions in standardized test format.