Curriculum Corner
Be the Expert Writing Activity
With the help of a prewriting activity, scholars reserach a topic and compose an expository essay to show what they know about a topic of their choice.
Curriculum Corner
Informational Text Graphic Organizers
Accompany informational text reading—independent or whole class—with a worksheet that challenges scholars to examine the text's main idea, details, take notes, and record vocabulary words and their meanings.
Curriculum Corner
Informational Text Graphic Organizers
Scholars delve into an informational text with the help of four pages that focus on the author's purpose, vocabulary words, summarization, and main idea.
Virginia Department of Education
Identifying the Main Idea in Fiction
Discovering the main idea in fiction is like uncovering buried treasure; one must persevere to locate it, and the reward is priceless. Scholars delve deep into leveled stories using three questions to aid in identifying the main idea.
CJ Hatcher & Associates, Inc.
Skill Building with the Newspaper
Extra, extra, read all about it! Use a newspaper as the primary resource in a special education classroom to teach reading, writing, and math skills. The activities help class members build their reading skills as well as their...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 12
As the first in a two-part, end-of-unit assessment that encourages readers to synthesize the unit's main ideas, class members review their notes for each of the three texts they read and develop three open-ended discussion questions...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 11
Who is to blame for Bernie Madoff's crime? Class members look for evidence Diana B. Henriques uses in The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust to support her claims that we share the responsibility with Madoff.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 8
Class members continue reading "How Bernard Madoff Did It" and annotate how the author refines his idea that the Madoff scandal grabbed the attention of a public fascinated with crime stories.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 3
"We need forgiveness and someone to blame." True? Class members continue their analysis of the central claims in Walter Mosley's essay and the support he offers for these claims about people's fascination with crime.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 2
"Everybody is guilty of something." As class members continue their close reading of Walter Mosley's essay, they examine how Mosley develops and supports his central ideas about Western civilization's relationship to guilt.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 1
Clear up the misconceptions about autism and individuals on the autism spectrum with an inquiry-based instructional activity. As ninth graders read the first four pages of Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 3
Class members listen to a masterful reading of Act 1, Scene 1, lines 203-236 of Romeo and Juliet and then break into groups to examine how Shakespeare uses figurative language to develop Romeo's idealized concept of beauty.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Around Town: Neighborhood and Community: Extra Support Lessons (Theme 3)
Neighborhood and community is the theme of a unit comprised of extra support lessons. Following practice pages and a teach, blend, guided practice, practice/apply routine, the series of lessons provide additional reinforcement...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 11
Is identity unchanging? Do events in our childhood forever influence our character? Groups ponder these questions as they examine Ethan Canin’s short story “The Palace Thief.”
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 9
Do our childhood circumstances significantly shape us? As the close reading of “The Palace Thief” continues, groups examine how the results of the first "Mr. Julius Caesar" competition influenced the development of the characters in...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 2
Class members continue their reading of Ethan Canin's "The Palace Thief," focusing on how the relationship between the narrator and Sedgewick changes after the narrator meets Sedgewick's father.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nature Walk: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 2)
Walking in nature is the theme of a unit designed to support English language development lessons. Scholars look, write, speak, and move to explore topics such as camping, woodland animals, instruments,...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 11
As an end-of-unit assessment, class members craft a formal, multi-paragraph essay identifying a similar idea found in Rainer Maria Rilke's collection, Letters to a Young Poet, and David Mitchell's Black Swan Green. Writers state and use...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 10
To prepare for the end-of-unit multi-paragraph essay, class members review Rainer Maria Rilke's collection, Letters to a Young Poet, and David Mitchell's Black Swan Green and identify central ideas in both texts. Writers then formulate a...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 9
Class members continue their discussion of David Mitchell's Black Swan Green, focusing on how the author uses the conversation between Jason and Madame Crommelynck to refine his central idea of the meaning of beauty.
EngageNY
Practicing Listening and Reading Closely: The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address
Thanksgiving doesn't occur only once a year for the Haudenosaunee. Weave an instructional activity about reading closely with an inspiring message about eternal gratitude for all of the elements of creation into a unit on Native American...
Library of Congress
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali was the greatest, as he'd tell you himself. A set of reading comprehension worksheets walks through parts of Ali's life and promotes individuals to become good readers and writers.
Curated OER
Mini-Lesson Planning for Inferences
Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...
Curated OER
8th Grade Reading Comprehension Success
Augment your eighth grade language arts curriculum with a thorough set of reading comprehension activities and assessments. Focusing on a variety of skills, including vocabulary in context, text structure, main idea, and author's style,...