The tone is easy to hear but more challenging to detect in written texts. Users of this interactive learn how to closely observe the diction and words writers use to convey their feelings about their subject. They examine passages that...

An excerpt from Michel de Montaigne's essay "On Cruelty" provides advanced readers an opportunity to polish their close reading skills. Scholars read the passage twice and then respond to the provided questions.

Designed for teachers, this 12-page packet uses passages from Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" to model how to design activities that encourage close reading of complex text.

A passage from Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises offers class members an opportunity to demonstrate their reading comprehension skills.

Learners take a closer look at the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, including the Great Society and the passage of the Voting Rights Act, through image analysis and primary source worksheets.

Teach your readers how to engage with a text by using the request strategy. As kids read Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince, they choose a passage of text and formulate questions to stump their partners or their...

Determining the meaning of a word based on context clues or marking how the meaning of a term evolves in the course of a document can be a challenge in more complex text. Give your pupils an opportunity to practice this skill with a...

Strengthen the bonds of friendship within your class with a reading of E.B. White's award-winning novel, Charlotte's Web. Focusing on the unique characters in the story and the relationships they develop, young readers draw...

Track the changes and developments in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis with a reading comprehension worksheet. Individuals copy important quotations from each of the book's three parts, record their...

What do you imagine when you think of the sea? Put on some ocean sounds, close your eyes, and listen to a guided meditation based on the imagery from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. After class members listen to...

What experiences lead people to change and how do they do it? After reading about Cole's encounter with Touching Spirit Bear, readers complete the second out of a series of five activities to predict future events in the text. The...

[Free Registration/Login Required] The literary passage "Sandwich Money" features a young woman who works at a restaurant and lives on a tight budget, but splurges to free a bird. A Step Read, an easier version of the story, is provided...

[Free Registration/Login Required] The passage "Many Kinds of Dogs" by Rachelle Kreisman focuses on three breeds of dogs: beagles, boxers, and greyhounds. A reading comprehension question set is provided as well as a vocabulary worksheet...

[Free Registration/Login Required] The passage "First Day Folly" focuses on a pre-teen who is nervous about the first day of middle school. It is followed by a comprehension question set and answer key and a vocabulary worksheet for the...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This ReadWorks reading from the American Museum of Natural Anthropology's website called OLogy provides a curator's interview with an Zapotec urn. Visual cues are provided to support the passage, and...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This ReadWorks reading from the American Museum of Natural Anthropology's website called OLogy provides an interview with the archaeologist named Chuck Spencer. A paired passage entitled "Up Close with...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This two-page PDF nonfiction passage entitled "Volcanoes: Magma Rising: Studying Volcanoes" discusses how they study volcanoes to learn how they work. It is part of Paired Texts: "Volcanoes: Magma...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This seven-page PDF passage entitled "Face to Fossil" features an interview with ProtoAndy, a fossil of Protoceratops. It is part of a Paired Text with two other texts (see links above passage):...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This five-page PDF nonfiction passage "Nefertari's Tomb" by Alizah Salario discusses how the tombs of the Ancient Egyptians provide information about their culture. It is followed by 10 comprehension...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a five-page PDF nonfiction passage entitled "The Tang and Song Dynasties in China" which focuses on Chinese history including the Tang and Song Dynasties. It is followed by 10 comprehension...

[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...

[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...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This 5-page PDF is the nonfiction article "Truman and His Doctrine: Revolutionary, Unprecedented, and Bipartisan" by Elizabeth Edwards Spalding which discusses Truman's policy to provide aid to Turkey...

[Free Registration/Login Required] This PDF is an excerpt from Senator Joseph McCarthy's Speech before the Senate on June 14, 1951. It is part of Paired Texts (above the passage) with "Anti - Communism in the 1950s" by Wendy...