Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (Priceman)
Ask budding readers, "How do you make an apple pie?" You may get many answers, but Marjorie Priceman takes the cake with her idea in How to Make an Apply Pie and See the World, an adventurous tale full of wonder and new vocabulary. Using...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? (Yolen and Teague)
If you are reading Jane Yolen's fun story How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, use these strategies to enhance the experience for budding readers. What new words will they learn? Find detailed comprehension questions for these in-text words:...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: In the Small, Small Pond (Fleming)
Explore pond life and action words through Denise Fleming's In the Small, Small Pond, which you can find online if you don't have it on hand. Learners explore the following verbs: doze, hover, plunge, scatter, swoop, and wade. Go over...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: One Hungry Monster (O'Keefe)
Combine counting and vocabulary practice with Susan O'Keefe's engaging story One Hungry Monster, which you can find on YouTube if needed. Introduce learners to the following in-text words: doubt, gargle, rude, swear, and underneath....
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Puff, the Magic Dragon (Yarrow and Lipton)
Puff the Magic Dragon remains a childhood landmark for budding readers (and singers), but did you know it also makes an excellent vocabulary study? By focusing on several in-text words (in this case: billow, cease, fearless,...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Red Riding Hood (Marshall)
It's the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood retold by James Marshall; scholars listen for six new words as you read: bouquet, charming, escort, horrid, tarry, and wicked. Introduce the words before reading so they can listen for...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Tar Beach (Ringgold)
Anyplace can become a beach! Budding readers explore Faith Ringgold's world of imagination in her book Tar Beach, which can be found on YouTube if you don't have it. What words will budding readers learn? They focus on the following...
Teach-nology
Language Arts Activity - Cloze
Using context clues is an important skill when mastering reading comprehension. A cloze activity prompts learners to read each sentence in a short passage and fill in the blanks, based on what the rest of the sentence says.
Curated OER
The Time Machine
Challenge your class with this lesson! Learners read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, discuss context clues, identify main ideas and details, and analyze story elements. Discussion questions and activities are broken down for each chapter...
Curated OER
Identifying Missing Words
How do you figure out the meaning of a word you don't know? Young readers develop skills to identifying missing words in a story using context clues. Picture clues are used to identify covered words in the story I Can’t Get My Turtle to...
EngageNY
Point of View: Comparing Esperanza's and Isabel's Perspectives About Life in the Camp (Chapter 7: "Las Cebollas/Onions")
Explore point of view and more with a Common Core-designed instructional activity. Learners experience different points of view by representing one of two characters from Esperanza Rising during a partner discussion. They must use...
Curated OER
Movie Riddles: An ESL Activity to Get Student Talking About Movies
Enjoy the thrill of the movies with this ESL activity! Not only can learners talk about their favorite films, but in creating riddles about their chosen movies, they can practice the skills of context clues and deductive reasoning. This...
Curated OER
Word Roots 7: SPECT, STA, VERT Beginner Context Story 1
Read this paragraph out loud to your class to demonstrate pronunciation of and introduce context for the given vocabulary words. You might also use this as a cloze activity and have class members read each vocabulary word or repeat each...
Curated OER
"A Sound of Thunder" Vocabulary in Context
Ray Bradbury does it again, providing a story full of symbolism and interest. After your class reads "A Sound of Thunder" and studies the difficult vocabulary, quiz them with this sheet. Example words include aurora, expendable, and...
Curated OER
Quick and Sticky Context Clues
Discuss strategies for defining word your young readers don't know. They read sentences with key words covered by sticky notes and guess from the context what the word might be. They peek at the first letter and guess again.
Curated OER
What Do You See at the Pond?
With What Do You See at the Pond?, young readers explore pond life and practice reading strategies. Learners first make predictions and then read the simple story independently. After a second read-through with a partner, kids come...
Curated OER
Mini-Lesson Planning for Inferences
Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...
Have Fun Teaching
Who Am I? (14)
What's the difference between a clown and a cashier? Use context clues to infer what each character does for a living in five different reading passages. Kids mark their choices on the space provided.
Teach-nology
Elves in My Garden
Perfect for springtime, Christmas, or any other unit in which elves play in the garden, a cloze activity is a great addition to your language arts curriculum. As kids read the story, they fill in the blanks with words from the word bank.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension - Short Stories
Much more than a simple reading assessment, this resource can form the basis of a review of comprehension strategies, as a activity that models for readers how to employ strategies to answer questions based on passages, or as a practice...
Curated OER
Which Story Matches the Given Theme?
Model for young learners how to determine the theme of a story. Read aloud Aesop’s The Fox and the Stork. Chart the plot and the main idea of the fable, showing class members how these elements support the theme. Fable titles for guided...
Curated OER
Context Clues
In this context clues activity, students read the sentences and choose the best meaning of the underlined word. Students complete 10 online questions.
Curated OER
Build Mastery: Making Inferences
Do your youngsters realize that they are constantly making inferences? Expose this inner process by bringing out the book they will be reading. Ask scholars what they think the plan is, and explain that their answers are the product of...
K5 Learning
Sennin the Hermit
Introduce learners to the magical Japanese hermit named Sennin with a reading response activity. As fifth graders finish the story of Sennin and his mystical powers, they answer four short-answer questions.