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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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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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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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Organizer
Polk Bros Foundation

A Way to Analyze Paragraphs to Figure Out the Main Idea of a Nonfiction Text

For Teachers 5th - 10th Standards
Shrink up a section by asking pupils to write down the main idea for each of seven paragraphs. There is a space provided for each main idea. When students have completed this portion, they write down what they think to be the central...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: Analyzing an Author’s Argument and Text Structure

For Teachers 8th Standards
William Shakespeare: a writer, a poet, a fake? For their mid-unit assessments, scholars read an excerpt from the article "The Top Ten Reasons Shakespeare Did Not Write Shakespeare" by Keir Cutler. Next, they analyze the author's argument...
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Lesson Plan
National Council of Teachers of English

Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
With the emphasis on incorporating more nonfiction in language arts classes the question arises about how to design activities that motivate kids to engage with informational text. How about an assignment that asks class members to...
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Unit Plan
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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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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing the Significance of the Novel’s Title: Connecting the Universal Refugee Experience to Inside Out and Back Again, Part 2

For Teachers 8th Standards
How does poetry help people better understand societal issues? Pupils participate in a jigsaw activity to analyze poems from the novel Inside Out & Back Again. Next, they connect the poems to real-life refugee experiences from the...
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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 activity is split into two parts. In the first part, pupils note down the main idea and supporting...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Text Structure: “The Shakespeare Shakedown”

For Teachers 8th Standards
Pupils continue reading and discussing Simon Schama's article "The Shakespeare Shakedown." They work together to analyze the article's paragraph structure, completing a note-catcher worksheet.
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Baruch College Writing Center

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Workshop

For Teachers 7th - 10th Standards
What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based on two...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

"Three Stones Back": Using Informational Text to Enhance Understanding of Ball Don't Lie

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
"Three Stones Back," a passage from Matt de la Pena's best-seller, Ball Don't Lie, allows readers to practice their close reading skills as they compare the passage to an information text about wealth inequality. 
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Unit Plan
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Thoughtful Education Press

Compare and Contrast

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Encourage readers to compare and contrast the information that they find in informational text with a variety of reading passages and worksheets. Learners read all about subjects in science, social studies, and literature before...
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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

Creating a Newspaper

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...
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Lesson Plan
Media Smarts

The Newspaper Front Page

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Hot off the presses! A perfect instructional activity idea for a journalism class or even a language arts class looking to incorporate some informational texts. Young writers analyze the front pages of various newspapers to determine the...
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Activity
Lee & Low Books

Classroom Guide for Sacred Mountain: Everest

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
The most famous climbers of Mount Everest could never have made it to the summit without the assistance of the local Sherpa. Christine Taylor-Butler's nonfiction children's book Sacred Mountain: Everest is the focus of an extensive...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Let There Be Peace: Nobel Prize Winners

For Teachers 6th - 12th
What is the Nobel Peace Prize? After they establish criteria for great leadership, secondary learners read a New York Times article about President Jimmy Carter's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Individuals research the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

The Authorship of Shakespeare: “The Shakespeare Shakedown”

For Teachers 8th Standards
Pupils conduct a close reading of "The Shakespeare Shakedown" by Simon Schama, and identify evidence the author uses to support his claims. Finally, they discuss and answer text-dependent questions before completing a Quick Write about...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Launching the Module: The Universal Appeal of Shakespeare, Part 1

For Teachers 8th Standards
Class members participate in a gallery walk, viewing images of Shakespeare and his plays. Additionally, pupils complete a T-chart to consider the advantages and disadvantages of learning about Shakespeare with images and text.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading: Paragraph 4 of “Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison”

For Teachers 8th Standards
Why is reading a text closely a helpful skill? Using the 13th of 20 lessons from the Grade 8 ELA Module 1, Unit 2 series, scholars continue reading the informational text "Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison." They work with...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Basil Heatter, "The Long Night of the Little Boats"

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
“It was a miracle.” Basil Heatter’s “The Long Night of the Little Boats,” which details the miraculous rescue of the British army from the shores of Dunkirk in 1940, is featured in a series of exercises that ask class members to read,...
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Printables
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Curriculum Corner

8th Grade ELA Common Core Checklists

For Teachers 8th Standards
How close are your eighth graders to mastering the ELA Common Core standards? Keep an eye on progress with these charts, which include every eighth grade identifier and full standard text. As you move through the year and teach, reteach,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fears and Phobias

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Take the fear out of reading with this series of three lessons from HotWire Magazine about fears and phobias. Each lesson contains pre-reading and post-reading activities aimed at improving learners' reading comprehension skills with the...

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