EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 6
Is a college education necessary for success in today's world? The class investigates the question, along with others at the end of the sixth workshop in a 15-part series. The instructional activity has four parts with multiple...
New York State Education Department
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 5
Are video games sports? Pupils investigate this question as well as various nonfiction selections to learn more about claims and the support that defines them. All of the selections mimic the rigor on state tests and encourage close...
EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 12
How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...
abcteach
Abcteach: Middle/high School Reading Comprehension
[Free Registration/Login Required] Here one can generate several reading comprehension activities for middle or high school students with material ranging from biographies to non-fictional content.
Virginia Tech
Pixel: Fiction and Nonfiction Reading and Organizing
Short summary of different skills involved in reading fiction vs. non-fiction. Includes study tips and an organizational guide to use when reading.
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All: Non Fiction Text Features
Fifth graders will use non-fiction books to identify and explain how text features help them as individual readers.
City University of New York
Cuny: E Resource Center: Course Tutorials: Reading Your Textbook
A tutorial consisting of seven exercises showing different text structures used in textbooks. Learn how they organize information to help students locate specific details and how to take notes based on information within a textbook.
BBC
Bbc: Ks2 Bitesize English: Reading
This site provides activities, games, tests, and worksheets in reading areas: deduction, dictionaries, poetry, and non-fiction.
Read Works
Read Works: Explicit Information 3rd Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] A two-lesson unit in which students learn how to identify explicit information in non-fiction text by creating questions and then reading the text to find answers. Students also use explicit information...
Read Works
Read Works: Cause and Effect 3rd Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] A three-instructional activity unit on cause and effect. Learners learn to use signal words to identify cause and effect relationships and to describe possible effects when given a cause in fiction....
Read Works
Read Works: Read Aloud Lesson: Digging Up Dinosaurs
[Free Registration/Login Required] Teachers will read "Digging Up Dinosaurs" using the close reading technique. Young scholars will use graphic organizers to summarize the steps necessary to collect, study, and build a dinosaur skeleton.
Read Works
Read Works: Fact and Opinion 1st Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] A three-lesson unit on fact and opinion through which students learn how to identify opinions through signal words, identify facts in a non-fiction text, and use facts to help them formulate opinions of...
Read Works
Read Works: Debate a Moment of Silence, Please
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text debating the topic of starting each school day with a moment of silence. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Text Features: Non Fiction [Pdf]
Compare the printed page to an electronic web page and use this activity to discuss the similarities and differences. A cross-curricular tie-in with ecosystems. Could easily be adapted to another subject area.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Animal Studies [Pdf]
"Animal Studies" is a one page, non-fiction, reading passage about studying the behaviors of animals including the sawfly and the poppy-bee. They learn about animals by observing them. It is followed by constructed-response questions...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: Teaching Units
Complete teaching units (12) by grade level. CommonLit units are crafted to be both engaging and rigorous, featuring a variety of literary and informational texts from diverse sources. Reading, writing, and discussion are prioritized in...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Abc Bookmaking Builds Vocabulary in the Content Areas
Six 50-minute lessons build vocabulary through the content areas by making an ABC book. It can become a classroom resource. Links include a non-fiction book list, checklist, word list, rubric, and a storyboard chart. There is also a link...
Read Works
Read Works: Paired Text Questions: "We Are Americans" and "Whoever You Are"
Students will compare information from the non-fiction book "We are Americans" and the book "Whoever You Are" to write or speak more knowledgeably about what large groups of people have in common.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Hooking Struggling Readers: Using Books They Can and Want to Read
One of the keys to helping struggling readers is to provide them with books that they can and want to read. Fiction for struggling readers must have realistic characters, readable and convincing text, and a sense of the readers'...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Nonfiction Pyramid
A printable pyramid for use with nonfiction texts while students identify the main ideas and supporting details within a text. Students also determine author's purpose and key vocabulary words. Directions on how to use this type of...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Diary of a Teenage Refugee" by Amira
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...
Yale University
Biographies for Change in a Time of Conformity
Reading non-fiction and perhaps particularly biography is a skill that must be taught. This unit uses the lives of three icons: Elvis Presley, Malcolm X and Rachel Carson to develop this skills. Extensive bibliography for the teacher,...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Pbs Learning Media Presents Pov Watch Club
PBS LearningMedia Presents POV Watch Club. Free to educators each month. Let's watch and learn together! Join the Watch Club: Since February 2021 PBS has teamed up with POV to bring a documentary from television's longest-running...
Colorado State University
Colorado State University: Writing @ Csu Writing Guides
This is a fairly sophisticated series of writing guides. It assumes that users already have a solid grasp of spelling, grammar and mechanics, so it focuses more on organization and types of presentation than on more basic skills....