Core Knowledge Foundation
Ray Charles
Introduce young learners to the read-aloud process with a short biographical passage about Ray Charles. After listening to the passage, class members respond to factual, inferential, and evaluative questions, and then create a timeline...
Curated OER
Center for Northwestern Art: Featured Objects
Each of the slides in this presentation provide learners with an image found at a northwestern art museum and a critical analysis of what can be seen in each piece. Learners can view this prior to a museum trip in order to build...
Curated OER
Body Language
The power of signs and signals. Viewers use various body parts to illustrate how gestures convey meaning and how the meaning of these gestures may differ among racial and cultural groups, between men and women, or have meaning to...
Curated OER
Picture This!
Students practice the strategy of visualization to aid in their reading comprehension of text. They paint mental pictures from readings from their history books, "The World and Its People: the US and It's Neighbors," and short stories...
Curated OER
Epic Improvisation
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
Curated OER
Hendrick Avercamp and the Winter Landscape
Students study the winter landscape art of Hendrick Avercamp. In this art history lesson, students read passages about the art and artist Hendrick Avercamp. Students learn about winter landscape art and write an acrostic poem about a...
Curated OER
Much Ado About Illumination
Young scholars analyze the language and characters in the Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. In this Shakespeare play lesson, students read section of the play and discuss the speech of Benedick and Claudio. Young scholars record...
Curated OER
The Diary of Anne Frank-Clash of the Clans
Middle schoolers read selected passages from The Diary of Anne Frank. They, in groups, discuss the television / movie characters and create character webs involving these characters and those in the Anne Frank book.
Curated OER
A Resource to Use with Call It Courage
Armstrong Sperry's Newbery Medal winning Call It Courage, the story of the journey of Mafatu, a young Pacific Islander, is the core text of a 26-page resource guide.
Curated OER
Making Movie Storyboards
Students explore the importance of images in telling a story in film, analyze movie clips and identify some visual cues that help them explain the story; students work collaboratively to storyboard a passage from a book and present them...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Word Choice
Students explore language arts by participating in a vocabulary usage activity. In this word choice instructional activity, students read examples of great word usage in literature and discuss with the class why some words appear...
Curated OER
Tudor Costume
In this Tudor clothing worksheet, 7th graders analyze pictures and read short passages about the costumes during the early and late Tudor period. Students also learn the 9 steps of putting on an Elizabethan gown.
Curated OER
Taming the Frontier
Students examine paintings by Thomas Cole and Jasper Francis Cropsey as windows into American frontier life. They consider the pioneer's relationship with nature and the role of Native Americans in the pioneer's lives and settlements.
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Jefferson Lab: Reading Passages: Movies and Filmography
Read and fill in the blanks of this passage explaining the history of movies and filmography. Each blank has a dropdown menu with choices. When you finish, click 'Check my answers.' If you pick a wrong answer, the right answer will be...
Read Works
Read Works: Breaking Home Ties
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage from the Philadelphia Museum of Art focuses on a painting by Thomas Hovenden in 1890. It is followed by a comprehension question set; a Step Read is also available.
Read Works
Read Works: Program Notes Rhapsody in Blue
[Free Registration/Login Required] This PDF is the Program Notes from The New York Philharmonic's production of "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin. It provides information about Gershwin and his writing of the "jazz concerto." It is...
Read Works
Read Works: Notes on the Program: Cuban Overture
[Free Registration/Login Required] This PDF is the Program Notes from The New York Philharmonic's production of "Cuban Overture" by George Gershwin. It provides information about Gershwin and his writing of the "Cuban Overture." It is...
Read Works
Read Works: The Life Line
[Free Registration/Login Required] This five-page PDF includes a picture of the painting "The Life Line" by Winslow Homer and text that discusses it. It is followed by 10 comprehension questions. Click double arrows to download, print,...
Read Works
Read Works: Walt Disney Goes to War by Lisa Briner
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage is about Walt Disney's contribution to winning World War II based on information provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Public Affairs. It is followed by a comprehension...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Bold Plans, Big Dreams, City Progress [Pdf]
"Bold Plans, Big Dreams, City Progress" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage celebrating the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham's plan for Chicago. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago Legacy: Burnham's Plan [Pdf]
"Chicago Legacy: Burnham's Plan" is a one page, nonfiction passage about Daniel Burnham, an architect and city planner for Chicago. He planned the layout of the city including Navy Pier, railroads, streets, and public buildings. It is...