Activity
US Department of Education

A Close Reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

For Teachers 7th - 10th Standards
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...
Lesson Plan
Macmillan Education

Critical Thinking

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed Standards
Encourage learners to think deeply about the information they read or hear. Through a series of life skills worksheets, your pupils will consider the need for objectivity, identifying missing information, and problem solving.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reading a Comparison-Contrast Essay

For Students 4th - 6th Standards
Turn your passive readers into active readers with an engaging lesson on reading informational text. Focused on compare and contrast structured essays, the activity prompts elementary learners to jot down questions and think-aloud...
Lesson Plan
iCivics

Step Four: Working with Websites

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Almost every profession today relates to websites in some way! The resource tasks the class to fill out three individual graphic organizers to help them analyze each website they visit.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Print & Go ESL

For Teachers 4th - 10th
Improve reading comprehension with a set of ESL worksheets. Kids read through various passages, note which facts are true or false, mark their opinion on two statements, and write a short reply based on a writing prompt.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Old Man and the Sea: The K-W-H-L Strategy

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Make note of what readers know, what to know, and have learned during a unit on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. As class members read the book, they jot down their ideas on a KWHL chart, and consider what they have...
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...
Unit Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Hatchet

For Teachers 6th Standards
Accompany a novel study of Hatchet by Gary Paulson with a unit consisting of 16 lessons focused on physical and emotional survival. Reading the story along with a variety of informational texts, scholars compare and contrast reading...
Unit Plan
Curated OER

The Fisherman and His Wife

For Teachers 2nd - 4th Standards
Engage conversation and explore the journey as you challenge young readers to interpret the german folktale, "The Fisherman and His Wife" written by literary brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
Unit Plan
C3 Teachers

Reparations: Why Are Reparations Controversial?

For Teachers 8th
To understand why the topic of reparations is controversial, young scholars gather background information by reading articles, watching videos, and examining cases where reparations were made. Learners consider the lasting repercussions...
Unit Plan
C3 Teachers

2020 Protests: Is There Anything New about the 2020 Protests?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Are marches and protests an effective form of resistance? That is the question high schoolers seek to answer in this inquiry lesson as they compare the 2020 protests to historical ones. Researchers use Venn Diagrams to compare images...
Unit Plan
C3 Teachers

Emancipation: Does It Matter Who Freed the Slaves?

For Teachers 11th
Scholars generally agree on the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. This inquiry-based lesson asks high schoolers to consider more than the claims of who freed the enslaved people but the significance of the issues...
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

$20 Dot Map

For Teachers K - 2nd Standards
Challenge the addition skills of young learners with this open-ended math problem. The task is simple, get from start to finish by connecting a series of three numbers. The trick is that the sum of the numbers must be less than...
Lesson Plan
British Council

Smoking Stinks

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
There are lots of good reasons not to smoke. Make sure your middle and high schoolers understand each and every one with a lesson that prompts them to read anti-smoking posters, note the main points, and write a short response on the...
Assessment
Fluence Learning

Writing Informative Text: School Days

For Students 5th Standards
A three-part writing assessment challenges scholars to think critically about schools of the past and present. Learners read informative texts, answer questions to prepare for a discussion, research in small groups, complete a Venn...
Lesson Plan
Florida International University

Design Your Own

For Students 9th - 12th
Apply scientific principles to designing an experiment to study organisms living on the coral reef in our oceans. Through reading, individuals learn about the coral reef ecosystem and important factors that affect its function....
Unit Plan
New York City Department of Education

Grade K Literacy in Social Studies: Thinking About Families

For Teachers K Standards
Family is a wonderful subject for little learners to get excited about. Family is also the theme for a social studies unit that uses literacy standards throughout. The guide outlines approximately three weeks of instruction and breaks...
Interactive
US National Archives

WWII: Western Europe 1939-45 – Invasion

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Without the benefit of history, Western Europe in the 1940's had no idea what was about to befall them. Class members use primary sources, including political cartoons, videos, and internal documents, to analyze how much of a threat...
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Pick Two

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
Learning to break apart numbers into smaller pairs is a critical step young mathematicians take as they develop their number sense. To practice this skill, children are provided with sets of three numbers and are asked to pick the two...
Organizer
Arizona Department of Education

Be Independent / Life Management Skills

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Living independently is about more than managing money. Learn how to manage time, balance responsibilities, and calculate overtime and income with a set of activities about life management skills.
Lesson Plan
Roald Dahl

The Twits - Mr Twit Gets a Horrid Shock

For Teachers 3rd - 7th Standards
Mr. and Mrs. Twit do not treat each other very nicely. The sixth lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl explores the way the characters talk to and treat one another. Role play and writing activities...
Lesson Plan
1
1
Student Achievement Partners

Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken" and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston's "Farewell to Manzanar"

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
Passages from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar provide the context for a study of the historical themes of experiencing war, resilience during war, and understanding the lasting trauma of war. Appendices include extension...