New York State Education Department
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 11
You'll C-E-R a difference in classroom achievement after using a helpful lesson plan. Designed for economics, civics, government, and US history classes, participants practice using the CER model to craft arguments about primary and...
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...
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: Revolution and the Power of Words
A module where students will determine the meaning of unfamiliar terms using prior knowledge, context clues and examination of word parts.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Honeybees: Using a Quiz to Access Prior Knowledge
Using Dadant's Honeybee Study Prints, students learn about honeybee anatomy, reproduction, and behavior.
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Building Background Knowledge
The importance of background knowledge is especially salient in the age of Common Core. This article offers practical classroom strategies to build background knowledge such as using contrasts and comparisons and encouraging...
![Florida Center for Reading Research: Agree to Disagree [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/509083-5064f95f26a4a1c3d3ba87981b20c878.jpg?1661786998 "Florida Center for Reading Research: Agree to Disagree [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Agree to Disagree [Pdf]
A lesson plan in which students read statements and then use prior knowledge to agree or disagree with each statement. Materials are included.
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Rhetorical Reading: Strategies for Active Reading
This lesson focuses on strategies for active reading such as annotating your texts, reading multiple times, and using your prior knowledge.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Cognitive Strategies Toolkit
This article describes eight cognitive strategies - including monitoring, tapping prior knowledge, and making predictions - to help readers develop their comprehension skills.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Using Poetry to Teach Reading & Writing
Lesson plan makes use of weekly poems for students to read, discuss, and study. Students compile a poetry portfolio to use for further learning in reading and writing, as well as engaging in interactive activities such as creative poetry...
Other
Rhl School: Reading Comprehension: Using Inference
A good warm-up/introduction activity for a unit on inferences. This is a simple exercise to help teachers assess prior knowledge.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Searching Informational Texts
Online lesson allows elementary students to use prior knowledge, make predictions, and perform research on the Internet. Labeled "The Frog Beyond the Fairy Tale Character," lesson challenges students to examine print and online texts...
Read Works
Read Works: Predicting 2nd Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] A series of three lesson plans designed to teach students to use textual clues and prior knowledge to make predictions and revise incorrect predictions. Lessons are based on the books The Stories Huey...
Love To Know Media
Your Dictionary: Activities for Teaching Vocabulary
This article focuses on the importance of teaching vocabulary and how to teach it effectively. It lists concepts that need to be considered when preparing to teach vocabulary such as prior knowledge, dictionary use, context clues, and...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: K W L S Chart
A printable K-W-L-S sheet to help students activate prior knowledge, ask questions, record new learning, and then ask additional questions to extend inquiry beyond the text . Directions on how to use this type of graphic organize as well...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Acquiring New Vocabulary
This lesson teaches elementary students new vocabulary terms through book discussion groups. Students use context clues, prior knowledge, and print and online resources for vocabulary understanding in their discussion.
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
Ncrel Anticipation: Reaction Guide
A model of a quick survey to give students to help them activate their prior knowledge of subject matter. Alter this survey to suit your particular subject.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Lesson Plans: Using Personal Connections to Understand Emotions
A lesson plan in which younger students draw on prior experiences that made them happy or sad, build two-sided masks, work with Venn diagrams, and connect personally with the emotions conveyed by poems in The Way I Feel by Janan Cain...
Maths Challenge
Maths challenge.net: Isosceles Trapezium
This is a "three star" geometry problem where prior knowledge of problem solving and thinking through proofs is recommended to solve this trapezoid inscribed in a semicircle problem.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
Depaul University: Center for Urban Education: Share Knowledge: Fact Bank [Pdf]
This graphic organizer can be used to collect facts during a research task prior to writing about the topic or sharing what was learned in a discussion. Students will place facts in the boxes and then number the facts, according to the...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Instructor: Reading Clinic: Strategy Inventory
This lesson plan includes a group of activities that will teach students how to use vocabulary knowledge to help with comprehension of a text. Split into three activities, this lesson plan encourages students to use prior knowledge, word...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Rhyming Charades K, 1, 2, 3
Students use listening and kinesthetic skills to show their understanding of rhyme. They associate words that rhyme through pantomime. This activity encourages students to use prior knowledge and experience.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Camp Add 'Em Up Iii
Camp Add 'Em Up is a series of lessons for first grade students. Students will use prior knowledge of friendly numbers (two number combinations that make a "10") and "adding on" as they master the ability to add three numbers. In this...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Hail to the Chief!
The students will use prior knowledge of Presidents to complete this project. They will devise a platform based on past presidents' qualities and their impact on the nation to run against classmates in an election. Students will use this...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Finding a Formula for the Volume of a Cylinder
Use prior knowledge of a rectangular prism to determine the formula of a cylinder. Check for understanding with the assessment at then end of lesson.