Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Question Answer Relationships
Asking questions about what you're reading is an effective way to connect with the text. After kids read passages from Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter, they identify questions about the passages as Right There, Think and...
Curated OER
The Outsiders: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
It can be difficult to begin a novel when you don't know what it's about. Take the opportunity to begin S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders slowly, making predictions and answering questions about the book's first nine pages.
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Can you judge a book by its cover? Decide who and what Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is about with a prediction activity. Before reading the first three chapters of the book, kids answer questions based on their interpretation...
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Concept/Vocabulary Analysis
Clarify the setting, literary themes, and potential vocabulary issues with a concept analysis resource. With thoughtful explanations of many parts of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the reference sheet will be a great...
Curated OER
Hoot: Bloom's Taxonomy- Questioning Strategy
What better way to examine a text than to ask your own questions? Use Bloom's taxonomy to guide kids through Carl Hiaasen's Hoot by asking questions based on knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Curated OER
Monster: Guilty or Not Guilty
Is Steve Harmon innocent or guilty? Examine the evidence with a worksheet based on Monster by Walter Dean Myers. As kids read the book, they note particular passages that they believe indicate whether or not Steve committed the crime.
Curated OER
Monster: Compare and Contrast
Helpful for a unit on Walter Dean Myers' Monster, or any novel that you are teaching, a graphic organizer prompts learners to compare and contrast different character traits. The first box has one set of lines to jot down what two...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Locate and Classify Information About a Topic
After reading a text, ask your pupils to recall and organize what they've just learned into a blank three-column chart. Class members write the topic and fill in the columns with information. The sheet also prompts students to write a...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Identify/Infer Motive
Why do people and characters act as they do? Require your class figure out the motivation of two people or characters they read about in a given text. In the short charts, pupils note down who, what they do, and why they do it. After...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Sequence Important Events
After reading any short informational or fictional text, ask your class to analyze the important events. They note down three important events on a short timeline, describing the events with either words or drawings. After this, pupils...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Analyze a Story or History Completely and Carefully
Start off analysis of a text with a activity that asks pupils to complete several tasks. Class members note down a couple of characters or people and their distinguishing traits, describe the most important event, summarize the text...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Analyze Cause and Effect
Examine cause and effect by asking pupils to fill out a basic graphic organizer. The template is for any story or event and provides a line for writing in the story or event title. Pupils write in two causes in the circles and the change...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Compare and Contrast
Work with your class to fill out this Venn diagram. Pupils can compare and contrast any two things and then write a short paragraph about the relationship demonstrated in their diagram.
Curated OER
Post Assessment: Plot Elements and Characterization
Learners use the provided worksheet to identify plot elements and then fill in these elements on a plot diagram. Also included is a template for a character map that asks readers to choose a character, identify two traits, and supply...
Curated OER
"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury: Questions
These questions are designed to accompany Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," and could be used to guide and focus readers or as an assessment of reading skill and knowledge of the elements of a story. Page one focuses on questions of...
Curated OER
Are You Thirsty? The Effects of Pollution on Drinking Water
Discuss the availability of clean, plentiful water and the causes of water pollution. In groups, sixth graders discuss problem-solving methods for keeping water clean. They explore the function of water treatment plants and perform...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Writing With Scientists With the American Museum of Natural History
Follow this six-step method and you'll have a good understanding of what a good scientific research paper involves and how it is organized. There are plenty of samples for you to look at. This explanation is also very helpful for...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Predicting the Future
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read an informational text about the predictions of a futurist and answer questions on comprehension, text support, main idea, vocabulary, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text...
Other
Pde: Sas: Identifying and Understanding Use of Testimonials in Advertising
In this lesson, 8th graders analyze and compare the propaganda techniques used in informational texts, with a particular focus on the use of testimonials. Includes links to recommended resources, scaffolding suggestions, and an...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Annotating Text
This slideshow focuses on the reading strategy, annotating text. It defines the term and purpose, lists types of annotation, explains what to annotate, and suggests how readers develop their own method.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Critical Reading as a Learning Strategy
This tutorial focuses on critical reading using a downloadable PowerPoint presentation, "Critical Reading 101," which includes separating fact from opinion, 6 propaganda techniques, and 6 common fallacies in reasoning. Also provided is...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Financial Literacy
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...
Other
Warren County Schools: Citing Textual Evidence
Well-organized and in-depth instructional activity on citing textual evidence and understanding inferences. Many examples are included, as well as exercises for the students to practice what they have learned. [PDF]
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: First Lines
First Lines is a strategy in which students read the beginning sentences from assigned readings and make predictions about the content of what they're about to read. This pre-reading technique helps students focus their attention on what...