EngageNY
Inferring About Characters Based on How They Respond to Challenges (Chapter 3: "Las Papayas/Papayas")
Start off your day with a quick reading comprehension quiz about chapter three of Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. After they complete the quiz, pupils participate in a discussion and look closely at the text. A strong Common Core...
Curated OER
Poetry As Oral Performance
Reciting poetry is a great way to build oral language skills and build classroom community. Pupils look at the text elements of poetry and choose a poem to read aloud. They focus on rhythm, fluency, and expression. This is a great way to...
Curated OER
Using Compare and Contrast Key Words
Compare and contrast while challenging your class with this higher-level thinking and reading comprehension lesson. After observing the teacher model comparing and contrasting bats and birds, learners read passages about two towns. They...
EngageNY
Summarizing Complex Ideas: Comparing the Original UDHR and the "Plain Language" Version
The eighth lesson plan in this series continues the focus on vocabulary and increasing young readers' awareness of academic language. Pairs of learners participate in a short vocabulary review activity called Interactive Words in which...
Curated OER
Sippin' on Smoothies
Why is calcium good for the body? Where is it stored? Young chefs discover the importance of calcium and review a list of foods that are rich in the material. They then make delicious smoothies high in calcium! Teaching kids how to make...
Curated OER
Predicting a Mystery's Solution
Practice making informed predictions. Have your class create a paper fortune-teller and ask questions about the future. They compare the fortune-telling process to the more informed kind of predictions they make while reading. They...
Curated OER
Comparing and Contrasting: Fact vs. Opinion
Elementary schoolers investigate nonfiction stories by analyzing facts and opinions. They read nonfiction stories about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Pupils utilize a T-chart to list the facts and opinions on opposite sides, and then...
Have Fun Teaching
Inferences (2)
Encourage young readers to use their prior knowledge, as well as text clues, to draw inferences from text. Provide them with this worksheet that asks them to record a passage, the background information they already have, the text clues...
EngageNY
Expert Research Groups: How the Traffic Signal and Airplane Met Society’s Needs, Part 3
Pupils work in expert research groups, reading an informational article about an invention and completing a note-catcher worksheet. Afterward, scholars work in triads to answer questions based on the text.
Curated OER
Retelling Information
This scripted instructional activity suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and...
Curated OER
Classifying Information About a Main Idea
Elementary learners explore language arts by completing a text identification activity. They discuss the importance of a main idea in a story or paper and how to present it properly. Then they practice identifying the main idea in sample...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Exploring Character Development in The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
How did the Civil Rights Movement affect young people in the United States? Scholars read Christopher Paul Curtis' novel, The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963. Next, they write compare and contrast essays showing how the main characters...
Curated OER
Headings and Titles
Fifth graders explain the difference between the title of a text and the headings. In this language arts instructional activity, 5th graders discuss how the heading is related to the main idea of a text. Additionally, students write...
Curated OER
Weaving a Story of Cooperation: The Goat in the Rug
Weaving is an important part of Navajo culture. Read The Goat in the Rug to your fourth and fifth graders, and give them a glimpse into the process of rug making from the point of view of a goat! They will learn new vocabulary words and...
University of Kansas
Newspaper in the Classroom
Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...
EngageNY
End of Unit 1 Assessment: On-Demand Analysis of a Human Rights Account
The last instructional activity in this unit about human rights consists of a final assessment. To demonstrate the skills your class has acquired throughout this unit, they will work with a new article entitled "From Kosovo to the United...
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Section Three: What's the Status of Biodiversity?
Biodiversity is essential for every habitat, but many species are at risk due to pollution and other factors. Explore several different species native to Illinois in a gallery walk with posters that learners have created after research...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Civil War on Sunday
Reading Mary Pope Osborne's Civil War on Sunday? Here's a packet crammed with activities, exercises, reading guides, and project suggestions. A must-have for your curriculum library.
Teacher Printables
Character Web
Character webs are a great way for readers to collect information and observations about characters. Here’s a template that asks individuals to record the title and author of the book, the character’s name, and observations about the...
Curated OER
Study Guide for Missing May
Use this comprehensive packet to accompany a study of Missing May by Cynthia Rylant. Starting out with a brief author biography and background information about the novel, this guide includes materials to use throughout the entire novel....
Curated OER
Note-Taking: K.I.S.S. "Keep It Short and Simple"
Note-taking is an essential study skill, and it needs to be taught! In the context of a research project on energy sources, learners find multiple sources, evaluating, paraphrasing, and citing them correctly. Two lists with note-taking...
Curated OER
Letter of Complaint
Learners analyze this letter of complaint to the city council by answering nine short-answer questions. They examine author's purpose, word choice, claims, rhetorical questions, and general observations. There is a focus on constructive...
Curated OER
Playing Vocabulary Basketball
Learners view a slide show featuring famous athletes and educational institutions that have played a part in the history of basketball. They participate in a game in which a basketball is tossed from person to person as facts and...
Curated OER
Nonfiction Text elements
Students research Lewis and Clark and use the information for a book. In this Lewis and Clark instructional activity, students gather information and complete worksheets in an activity to write a book. Students use a variety of text...