Conneticut Department of Education
Instructional Strategies That Facilitate Learning Across Content Areas
Imagine 28 instructional strategies, appropriate for all subject areas and all grade levels. Directed Reading-Thinking Activities (DRTA), Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) activities, KWL charts, comparison matrixes, classification...
Lee & Low Books
First Come the Zebra Teacher’s Guide
Accompany a reading of First Come the Zebra written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch with a teacher's guide equipped with before reading, vocabulary, and after reading activities. Additional social studies, science, music, art, math, and...
Curated OER
Reading in the Science Content Area
Help your students internalize scientific ideas by teaching strategies for reading in the content area.
Curated OER
Stellaluna
First graders discuss the strategy of asking yourself questions while reading. in this Stellaluna instructional activity, 1st graders write questions on a chart about the story. Students turn and talk after reading chunks of text....
Thoughtful Education Press
Compare and Contrast
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...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension: History of the Periodic Table
Although the article that launches this lesson is about the history of the Periodic Table, the objective is reading comprehension. Using the eight-page informational text, learners answer five comprehension questions and craft one essay....
K12 Reader
World Climates
Why is weather different around the world? Learn about world climates with a reading comprehension passage. Kids read a short passage before answering five comprehension questions based on context clues.
Curated OER
Reptile and Amphibian Defense Strategies
Students study the stages of the Eastern newt either by collecting a live specimen or from pictures. They note the colors of the eft stage before reading the "Eastern Newt Species Account" that shows the newt's life stages, migration,...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
How Much Water Do You Use?
Incorporate reading strategies, math, research, and the scientific method into one lesson about water conservation. After reading a story about a landlady trying to determine how many people are living in an apartment, learners develop a...
British Council
Water for All
It's time to take action. In small groups, scholars read texts about the global water crisis. Next, they create campaign posters to inform the community about the issue, as well as possible solutions.
K20 LEARN
No Imitations, Please! Avoiding Plagiarism
With all the stuff available online, good essays are just a click away. But talk about tracking! Writers beware! New tech can now identify plagiarism, and the consequences of presenting someone else's work as your own are severe. Here's...
Curated OER
Reading Chemical Formulas
Students interpret basic chemical formulas. When class begins, students interpret a "chemical formula" for fruit salad. After they interpret the recipe, students use the same strategies to identify chemical formulas. They evaluate the...
Curated OER
Recognizing Litter
When does trash become litter? Use this litter awareness instructional activity to help them understand the importance of trash disposal. Get learners engaged by reading Nancy Loewen's Lady Lulu Liked to Litter (not included). After...
Curated OER
Graphic Organizers for Good Science Reading and Writing
Learners use reading and writing strategies to explain informational text in science. They create and use different types of graphic organizers to understand, interpret, and analyze informational text.
Curated OER
Critical Thinking Strategies
Students explore critical thinking strategies. For this critical thinking lesson, students evaluate multiple choice answers. Students note similarities between incorrect answers and discover how to compare and contrast incorrect and...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Understanding the Food Web
Building on prior knowledge of the pervious lesson in the series, pupils explain the previous lesson to each other. Then they write a simple guide for a young child to read on the same topic.
Curated OER
Reading The Periodic Table
Eighth graders examine the Periodic Table. In this science lesson plan, 8th graders categorize a group of shells and unknown elements using different characteristics as they read and interpret the Periodic Table.
Curated OER
My Car Has Potential
Seventh graders investigate how changes in the mass or height of a ramp can affect the change in potential energy. They discuss the concepts of work and energy, then using the four question strategy, they design an experiment that...
Columbus City Schools
Asexual and Sexual Reproduction
Can you name a type of reproduction that produces no variation in the offspring? The multimedia lesson covers both sexual and asexual reproduction through videos and discussions. It includes topics such as genetic modification, meiosis,...
Curated OER
Graphic Organizers Aid Comprehension
Students create story webs to aid comprehension of ecosystems. In this reading strategies lesson, students discover the importance of organizing information while reading a nonfiction text. Students produce story webs to communicate...
Curated OER
Dinosaur Tracks and Critical Thinking
Get your young scientists excited about geology through the study of dinosaur tracks! They will use their power of observation to learn how tracks are made and use critical thinking strategies to suggest a scenario in which they were...
Curated OER
Rachel's Life is in a Hole
Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...
Curated OER
Exploring Hybrid Cars
Students explore GreenHybird.com and develop a list of questions car buyers might have. Students also attempt to answer the questions on GreenHybrid.com and then explore the answers with car dealers in the area before writing a clear and...
Curated OER
Animal Communication
Students use three nonfiction selections in order to investigate the concept of animal communication. They use a graphic organizer for the information as it is gathered in the reading.