Curated OER
The Flower and the Fly
It's like a biological "Beauty and the Beast!" The fascinating mutualism between a South African meganosed fly and a deep-throated geranium builds a case study in coevolution for your biology buffs to analyze. After reading about this...
Curated OER
Beginning Critical Reading - The Sun
In these critical reading worksheets, students read the short story about the sun. Students then answer 3 critical reading questions about the passage.
Curated OER
Intermediate Critical Reading - The Robin
In these critical reading worksheets, students read the short story about robins. Students then answer 3 critical reading questions about the passage.
Curated OER
Beginning Critical Reading - Nuts
In these critical reading worksheets, 3rd graders read the short story about nuts. Students then answer 3 critical reading questions about the passage.
Minnesota Literacy Council
Introduction to Historical Thinking
Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.
Novelinks
The Westing Game: Anticipation Guide
Are all criminals bad people? Pupils answer this and other compelling questions in an anticipation guide for The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Designed for learners to complete before reading the text, the...
Student Handouts
Logical Fallacies
Help your learners grow their critical thinking and analytical skills by asking them to examine logical fallacies. After reading an example, pupils determine if two sets of premises and conclusions are logical fallacies or not and...
Writing Educators Symposium
Asking the Right Questions
It can be difficult to find the theme of a book or story if you don't know the questions to ask. Teach your kids to discern the universal theme in works of literature with a set of activities that promote critical thinking and...
Curated OER
Daily Mind Builders: Social Studies
In this critical thinking worksheet, 5th graders create a conclusion. Students read a short passage and use the given information to synthesize their own conclusion from the presented material.
Curated OER
Critical Reading: Intelligence Augmentation
In this critical reading worksheet, students read a short passage regarding intelligence augmentation and then answer five questions based on the reading.
Curated OER
Famous Quotes Interpretation
In this quote interpretation worksheet, students must use critical thinking skills to respond to a prompt regarding a quote by Charles Dickens.
English Worksheets Land
Compare and Contrast
Even though two passages discuss the same topic, they contain different facts and details. Scholars analyze two reading passages about the Gettysburg Address and list the ways they are the same and different.
Curated OER
More Analogies Volume 3
In this recognizing analogies activity, students read sentences with two analogies at the beginning, determine how they are related, and complete the analogies by choosing the best multiple choice answers. Students write 16 answers.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension: Voice of Nature
Understanding a text can be a very interesting task. Fourth graders read a passage describing the origin of an Aboriginal myth. They answer 11 comprehension questions that require them to pull key details, use context, and think...
Curated OER
Critical Reading #1: "The Myth of Doomed Kids"
In this critical reading learning exercise, students establish the context, author, and purpose of the piece then sum up the ideas that the author is trying to convey.
Curated OER
Walk Two Moons: DR-TA, Chapter 17: “In the Course of a Lifetime”
Use this question and answer worksheet as an assignment for Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons. The questions listed support better comprehension and critical thinking of chapter seventeen.
Curated OER
Making Connections
In order to maximize reading comprehension levels, young readers must learn to make connections to the content. This learning exercise applies to any reading and provides spaces for readers to document relevent personal experiences,...
Curated OER
Why did the Aztec and Inca civilizations disappear?
Middle schoolers can analyze primary source documents to answer the question, "Why did the Aztec and Inca civilizations disappear?" They will read the provided excerpts then answer 11 different questions to uncover the ultimate answer.
Curated OER
Questioning Strategy for Les Miserables
After reading or watching the musical Les Miserables, challenge your high schoolers with these analysis questions. The sheet provided suggests having class members record the answers to these questions, but they would also be good...
Curated OER
Fast Food Nation: Study Questions
Are you introducing your class to the horrors of eating unhealthy? This lesson contains 24 reading comprehension questions relating to the non-fiction book. Readers are encouraged to copy these and answer them in their reading...
Curated OER
17 - Cells
The first of three pages in this handout provides a brief history of our understanding of the cell. It also differentiates between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The second is a collection of true and false, multiple choice, and short...
Curated OER
The Learning Network: Reactions to Rating Teachers
Meant to be used in connection with the article "In Teacher Ratings, Good Test Scores Are Sometimes Not Good Enough" also available on The New York Times website, this resource provides 12 short-answer writing prompts that ask both basic...
Curated OER
Excerpt from Edward Bain's The History of Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain (1835)
Great Britain was where the industrial revolution began. The class reads an excerpt from a document written in 1835 describing cotton manufacture in Great Britain. They then answer two critical analysis questions.
Curated OER
Critical Reading Exercise
In this critical reading exercise, students evaluate the credibility of a piece of writing. Students read descriptions of various interest groups and lobbies and identify the group that made a quotation.