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Organizer
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Mark Twain Media

Understanding Informational Text Features

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Everything you need to know about informational text features can be found in this resource. Recognizing these types of text features and how they are used in text allows readers to better understand information. Teachers can use this as...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Text Structure: “Water Is Life” Paragraphs

For Teachers 7th Standards
Water, water everywhere. Readers revisit paragraphs six through nine in the article "Water is Life" to answer text-dependent questions. They then pair up to reread the article focusing on its structure and record their thoughts on...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Text Structure: “Teen Slang: What’s, Like, So Wrong with Like?”

For Teachers 7th Standards
What did you say? Class members read Teen Slang: What’s, Like, So Wrong with Like and make notes in the margin to determine the gist. They then analyze the text to identify claims made and the evidence to support the claims. After ...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Strong Convictions

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
How can the rhetorical structure of an editorial help to develop its argument? Use this New York Times editorial to emphasize the importance of structure in a piece of informational text. Adolescent writers then use the editorial as a...
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Lesson Plan
Ontario

Reading Informational Text

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
Learning to recognize the importance of the features of information text (i.e., titles, subtitles, endnotes, sidebars, etc.) is the focus of a reading activity designed for middle schoolers. Learners examine how these text features help...
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Lesson Plan
Ontario

Reading Graphic Text

For Teachers 7th - 10th Standards
Do students really need to be taught how to read cartoons, comic books, and comic strips? Yes. Just as they need to learn how to read other forms of graphic text such as diagrams, photos, timetables, maps, charts, and tables. Young...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment: Analyzing the Structure of Chávez’s Wrath of Grapes Speech

For Teachers 7th Standards
César Chávez gave his 1986 "Wrath of Grapes" speech to educate consumers about pesticide use. Scholars complete an end of unit 2 assessment, applying what they learned throughout the unit to a new text. They then analyze the structure of...
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Unit Plan
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Savvas Learning

"The Digestive Process Begins" and "Final Digestion and Absorption"

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Want your class to digest text more thoroughly? Middle schoolers learn about the digestive system in the lesson and reinforce informational text reading skills through a variety of strategies. They engage in a close reading approach,...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Speech Structure: Part 2 of the Commonwealth Club Address

For Teachers 7th Standards
Scholars continue reading and analyzing César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." Working with partners, they answer text-dependent questions about how governments and consumers affect working...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Who Could Have Been Who

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Can word choice affect a candidate's likeability? Use a New York Times lesson to explore how a presidential candidate's likeability factor can fluctuate in public opinion polls. Young readers choose a presidential election from their...
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Printables
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Curriculum Corner

7th Grade ELA Common Core Checklists

For Teachers 7th Standards
Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess, and...
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Lesson Plan
For the Teachers

Story Strips Sequencing

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
What happens next? Work on story sequence with a lesson plan that prompts kids to put a story back in order. Additionally, they discuss what would happen if one event was missing from the sequence.
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Unit Plan
American Press Institute

Creating a Classroom Newspaper

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Hot off the press: a mini-unit for class members to create their own newspaper. Complete with graphic organizers, extension activities, and helpful learning targets that teach parts of a newspaper, the resource contains everything needed...
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Unit Plan
American Press Institute

High Five: Media Literacy and Newspapers

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Teach the five different types of media with the first of three in a media literacy unit. Learners create and propose a final newspaper project, which must address information covered throughout the unit. 
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Unit Plan
Newspaper Association of America

A Good Read

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Teach your readers strategies for breaking down informational texts. Pupils develop and implement the tools they'll need to decode texts for the rest of their lives with an informational resource that focuses on the structure and...