Curated OER
The Peanut Wizard
Peanuts inspire this lesson about George Washington Carver, called The Peanut Wizard in the included informational text. Class members read about peanuts and George Washington Carver and create a timeline of his life. In addition, pupils...
Curated OER
Agriculture is a Cycle
What do a bicycle and the life cycle have in common? Cover this and more with the series of cross-curricular activities included in this plan. Learners do everything from making bracelets that represent the life cycle to checking out the...
Curated OER
Just Lookin' For a Home
What is a boll weevil? Your class can find out that and more by following the activities included here. Pupils read an article, sing a boll weevil song, add to the song with their own original lyrics, illustrate the song, study the...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Prose Constructed Response Organizer [Pdf]
This Center for Urban Education resource provides a downloadable graphic organizer designed for comparing two nonfiction texts and a video. After completing the graphic organizer, students will use its contents to write a constructed...
University of South Florida
Fcat Reading Grade 4: Teaching Strategies
This is a great resource that concentrates strategies and student activities in one place in an easy to use format, and can be navigated easily. Find great examples of probable passage, selective underlining, and semantic feature...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Introducing Text Structures in Writing 5th Grade
This lesson engages students in learning about text structures. Graphic organizers are provided to assist students in planning writings that have the following text structures: problem and solution; sequence; cause and effect; and...
Read Works
Read Works: Water Woes
[Free Registration/Login Required] This nonfiction piece includes information about the world's water shortage. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and establishes...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Comprehensive Assessment: Nonfiction [Pdf]
Questions are provided to help students determine the main idea, topic, purpose, and opinion of a piece of nonfiction. Students are prompted to write a summary of the informational text.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Synthesize Ideas in Informational/expository Texts
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Learn how to synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres (including literary...
Education.com
Education.com: Compare and Contrast Non Fiction Stories: Extinct Birds
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will compare two informational texts about two extinct birds, the Great Auk and the Dodo. A Venn Diagram is provided to be used when comparing an contrasting tests.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Where Did I Come From
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...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Teaching Elements of Personal Narrative Texts
This resource presents instructional writing practices that support content-area learning, with specific strategies for teaching the thinking skills, processes, and knowledge needed to effectively write personal narrative texts. Some of...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension
Comprehension strategies are conscious plans - sets of steps that good readers use to make sense of text. Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Scientific Important Book Passages
Students read and examine the structure of The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown and then follow that pattern while writing about the most important things about various scientific topics. Printable handouts and student samples are...
E Reading Worksheets
E Reading Worksheets: Genre Activities
This learning module features "genre" as the topic for PowerPoint presentations, lessons, and quizzes. Numerous projects with the "genre" theme are available for further exploration as opportunities for more in-depth investigations.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Part 2 Reading: Informational Text: Connections Within Text
Learn how information in a text can be connected through compare and contrast, cause and effect, and sequence.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Nonfiction Reading Strategy Assessment [Pdf]
This inventory provides questions to determine the habits that students use when reading nonfiction pieces. This inventory may be used at the beginning of the year or prior to beginning a unit that involves the reading of nonfiction texts.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
Depaul University: Center for Urban Education: Interpet History [Pdf]
Students will read about a historical event and then illustrate their interpretations. Questions are included to extend the students' comprehension of the events.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Expand Story or History Text Based Dialog[pdf]
Students will use graphic organizers to help them make inferences about historical figures' feeings and motives. Students will summarize the information during an extension activity.
Other
Appalachian State Univ.: Journal Reprint: Internet and Blog Publishing [Pdf]
Information, ideas, and examples of how technology can be used in a Social Studies classroom. Although designed for a fourth-grade classroom, many ideas in this article are applicable and adaptable for various grade levels and other...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Guided Reading/listening Ques: Nonfiction[pdf]
This graphic organizer will assist students with taking notes connected nonfiction content. After taking notes with the graphic organizer, students will ask guiding questions listed on the sheet.
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...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Comprehending Nonfiction Text on the Web
Contains plans for three lessons designed to improve comprehension of nonfiction, especially nonfiction texts on the web. It focuses on identifying text features, locating specific information, and generalizing that information. In...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Literature in Nonfiction Inquiry
This lesson plan involves students working in groups after reading a work of literature to develop text sets. Included in the lesson plan is an overview, practice, objectives, resources, preparation, and more.