ReadWriteThink
Word Recognition Strategies Using Nursery Rhymes
As a class, scholars read the poems, Humpty Dumpty, Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, and Jack and Jill, in order to identify words with the same ending sound. Using their rhyming skills, learners brainstorm additional words...
Novelinks
The Hobbit: Vocabulary in the Round
Blundering, audacious, obscurest. Class members develop strategies for teaching each other vocabulary words drawn from The Hobbit.
Curated OER
Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA): Pre-Reading In Cold Blood
Start your unit by reading the "Ballade des Pendus," by the character Villon. The class makes predictions, discusses what they might already know about the text, and reads the selection together. There are step-by-step plans detailed...
Novelinks
The Little Prince: Brainstorming Activity
What do you think of when you hear the word adult? Or friend? Learners brainstorm with a group of peers to list the words they think of when they hear seven words from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.
Curated OER
The Metamorphosis: List-Group-Label Strategy
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is one of the most prominent and influential books to come out of the existential movement. Host a group discussion in which learners list different characteristics of existent art, group...
The New York Times
Making Do: Learning and Growing Through Adversity
What is it that makes people keep going when they face challenges in life? Ask your class to consider this question in relation to their own experiences and as they read material from The New York Times. Using personal experiences...
EngageNY
Notices, Wonders, and Vocabulary of the Third Stanza of “If”
How does one's experience reading a poem's text differ from listening to its audio version? Delve into the insightful question with the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, as pupils compare and contrast their experience using a note-taking...
Curated OER
Flipped: After Reading Strategy
Everyone can be an expert! After finishing Wendelin Van Draanen's book Flipped, divide your class into small groups. Then, assign each group a topic to become experts on. The resource suggests topics such as characters, themes, setting,...
University of Tennessee
Listen Actively
Listening is a skill, and with the help of the communication activities in this packet, class members improve their active listening skills.
Mr. Nussbaum
Redwood National Park Reading Comprehension
An interactive tests scholars' reading comprehension skills. Young learners read an informative passage about redwood trees then respond to five questions. Feedback appears instantly.
Curated OER
We Love to Read!
Students find ways to share their favorite books. In this reading strategies lesson, students advertise books, create a top ten countdown, give a video book talk, simmer story stew, make book medals, play name that book, design a...
Curated OER
Wuthering Heights: Questioning Strategy
Readers of Wuthering Heights use the DRTA strategy to formulate predictions about the actions of characters in Bronte's novel.
Novelinks
The Book Thief: Cubing Strategy
Whether used to review prior to a reading assessment or as a way to generate ideas for an essay, this activity is sure to encourage critical thinking about Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. Kids create a six-sided question cube with each...
Curated OER
The Pearl: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Guide readers to think about what they are reading with a comprehension activity. Using John Steinbeck's The Pearl, learners predict what is coming, verify and judge their predictions, and analyze what they are reading more closely.
Guam Community College
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
Spruce up a class reading of the children's book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback with this fun series of activities. Starting with a list of reading comprehension questions and key vocabulary to address during a teacher...
Novelinks
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Guide your pupils through The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with a directed reading exercise. The teacher asks questions as the class reads a chapter to help lead learners toward making well-supported predictions.
Curated OER
Making a Ten
An addition table supports third graders as they learn strategies to improve their math fluency. When finding sums greater than ten, students are taught how to first make a ten and then add on the rest. A similar method is also...
Curated OER
Hatchet: Before Strategy- Problematic Situation
If you were stranded on a desert island, what items would be the most important to have with you? Decide whether you'd want a five gallon can of water, a radio, shark repellent, or any other item with an activity designed to prepare kids...
Curated OER
Practice Book O
Whether you need resources for reading comprehension, literary analysis, phonics, vocabulary, or text features, an extensive packet of worksheets is sure to fit your needs. Based on a fifth-grade curriculum but applicable to any level of...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Clique
Mean girls and bully packs are favorite topic for films and TV shows that focus on the destructive power of cliques. High school freshmen are asked to reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of cliques by reading a short...
Curated OER
Maus: Making a Visual Representation
How do you represent a tragic event? Are stories of tragic events better left untold? After reading chapter two of Maus and studying other representations of the Holocaust (suggestions are included), class members create a representation...
Mr. Nussbaum
Susan B. Anthony
An interactive reading practice focuses on Susan B. Anthony. Scholars read an informational text, then answer 10 questions.
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Folktales
Following a reading and thorough discussion of books—Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott and The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons—scholars complete three activities. First, they use playdough or cookie dough to create...
Curated OER
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Before Reading Strategy
Spark interest in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with an anticipatory exercise that begins with a brainstorm around the words heroic and good boy. Pupils then complete an anticipation guide, discuss the results in groups, and...