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Printables
Polk Bros Foundation

Comprehensive Nonfiction Reading Questions

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Analyze any nonfiction text with the set of questions on this sheet. Class members practice inferring by noting the main idea and purpose of a passage. They also analyze an opinion in the passage and write a brief summary. See the...
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Organizer
Curated OER

Reading Study Guide: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

For Students 8th - 11th
Meant for use with Maya Angelou's first autobiographical volume I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the materials here are designed for a homeschool setting, but they'd suit any classroom or text. Graphic organizers, chapter summary guides,...
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Lesson Plan
5
5
National Math + Science Initative

Reading an Informational Text: "It All Started with Sputnik"

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Sputnik was one of the greatest scientific advancements of the 1950s, and this reading lesson does it justice. Pupils start off with pre-reading questions and a video. They then read an excerpt from an article, which is accompanied by...
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Writing
Curated OER

Student Opinion: Do You Spend Too Much Time on Smart Phones Playing 'Stupid Games'?

For Students 7th - 12th
This versatile resource from The New York Times website provides a short opinion piece on smart phones and the amount of time we spend playing games on them as well as several possible writing prompts pupils could consider in response to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Compare and Contrast Nonfiction Texts

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Explore nonfiction writing by comparing and contrasting two different texts. After reading two nonfiction books, articles, or magazines, students utilize a graphic organizer to record their similarities and differences. They answer study...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wrinkles ESL Lesson

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Practice English vocabulary and dialogue. An ELD class completes a true/false worksheet about aging and wrinkles, then read an article entitled "Wrinkles Give Clues to Bone Condition" using context clues to determine vocabulary...
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Writing
Curated OER

The Learning Network: The First Middle School Chess Champs

For Students 7th - 8th
Introduce some nonfiction reading into your classroom! This resource contains seven comprehension questions pertaining to an article from The New York Times website about the first middle schoolers to ever win the United States Chess...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Nonfiction Text: Comprehension Practice

For Students 7th - 10th
A New York Times article about a 15-year-old style maven who in 2011 launched the fashion magazine "Rookie," based on her blog, makes high-interest nonfiction reading for secondary learners. This page asks 9 comprehension questions...
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Unit Plan
3
3
Curated OER

Farewell to Manzanar

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Examine human resilience across two texts with a detailed unit. Over the course of a week, learners will conduct a close reading of excerpts from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar. The resource includes clear procedures for reading and...
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Organizer
Polk Bros Foundation

How to Summarize a Non-Fiction Passage

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
After reading a text, one way to find out how much your class comprehended is to ask your pupils to summarize. This worksheet helps class members prepare for writing a summary of a nonfiction text. They note down the topic, up to eight...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ready-Set-Go-Whoa!

For Teachers 7th - 8th
The Apaches: People of the Southwest offers readers a chance to employ the “Ready-Set-Go-Whoa!” strategy (an adaptation of the KWL) to test what they know and summarize what they learn as they read Jennifer Fleischner’s nonfiction...
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Organizer
1
1
Polk Bros Foundation

Meet the Nonfiction Main Idea Challenge

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Help your class develop the ability to determine a main idea with a packet of materials that you can introduce and use over a period of time. The packet includes some information for the teacher and rationale for the exercises. There are...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using a Magazine/Non-Fiction Texts

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Working with magazine articles and other informational texts, learners identify the parts of a non-fiction work. The learners use SMART board files to guide instruction, as well as a transition to writing their own non-fiction article in...
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Organizer
3
3
Polk Bros Foundation

I Can Identify a Nonfiction Writer's Main Idea and Supporting Examples

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Use this page to quickly identify the central idea of a text and organize ideas for writing an informational or explanatory text. The worksheet is split into two parts. In the first part, pupils note down the main idea and supporting...
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Lesson Plan
Media Smarts

Media Awareness Network: Hate or Debate?

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Discuss the difference between legitimate debate on a political issue and arguments that are based on hate through a science-fiction scenario that shows how a controversial issue can be discussed in both ways. Then learn how purveyors of...
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Writing
Curated OER

Student Opinion: What Are You Afraid Of?

For Students 7th - 12th
A great resource for informational texts as well as writing topics, the New York Times website provides writing prompts about various news articles through The Learning Network. This particular worksheet provides a very short reading...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

During Reading Strategies (Visualization)

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Pupils develop and apply strategies using visualization. For this reading lesson, students listen to sounds and draw images that depict the audio recordings. Pupils then apply this visualization strategy to nonfiction material read aloud...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Purpose and Power of Persuasion

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Examine the power of persuasion and have learners consider how it influences events in their own lives. After reading and analyzing informational texts to understand the author's purpose, class members take a written test and craft a...
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Writing
Curated OER

The Learning Network: More Like Disney

For Students 7th - 12th
A great source of high-interest reading for the language arts classroom! Meant to be used with an article also available on the New York Times website, this worksheet provides 10 comprehension questions about the reading as well as one...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Supporting Opinions: Handling the End of a Friendship

For Students 7th - 11th
Four thought-provoking questions encourage readers to develop and support their opinions about strategies to end a friendship after exploring excerpts from a New York Times article. The reading is brief so this could be a lead-in to...
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Lesson Plan
University of Arizona

Found News Poems

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Combine informational text and creative writing with one fun activity! Middle and high schoolers write found poems based on newspaper headlines that they find. The resource includes a thorough lesson plan and many links to articles that...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Short and Sweet Science

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing Irony in Nonfiction

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students examine the use of irony in non-fiction works. In this literature lesson, students read non-fiction war texts and explore the use of irony in the piece as they respond to discussion questions.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Nonfiction Assignment Sheet

For Students 8th - 10th
In this nonfiction genre worksheet, students read a nonfiction story and then complete a summary, vocabulary, interpretation, criticism, and a personal response.

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