Novelinks
The Tempest: QAR
Asking questions about a text is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Apply the Question Answer Response strategy to your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read each passage, they decide if the answer can...
K20 LEARN
Here's How I Heard It: Using Folklore To Improve Close Reading Skills
"X" is for exaggeration, and "F" is for fact. To encourage close reading and to improve literary analysis skills, class members annotate fables and tall tales, like Paul Bunyan, with symbols that identify key features of this genre.
Curated OER
Print & Go ESL
Improve reading comprehension with a set of ESL worksheets. Kids read through various passages, note which facts are true or false, mark their opinion on two statements, and write a short reply based on a writing prompt.
Missouri Department of Elementary
Stressed Out Sally
Life changes may cause stress. Here, scholars identify stressful situations in a peer's life and offer coping skills to make for a better day. A short story, "Stressed Out Sally," provides pupils with a look inside a bad day. After...
Curated OER
Understanding Other People's Decisions
Students analyze people's choices from different points of view. They read different scenarios and explain how they would react personally in that situation. Then they analyze what they would do in another character's position and...
Curated OER
Responses to Literature
Middle and high schoolers hone their writing skills by reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. They fill out a graphic organizer (included here), and use the organizer to write an...
ReadWriteThink
Literature Circles: Getting Started
Make reading more enjoyable and interactive with literature circles! Here you'll find detailed lessons to begin the literature circle process. Ten lessons introduce each role learners take on. Literature circle roles include...
Vancouver Island University
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain
A good story is a great way to support skills that are necessary for encouraging strong reading skills. Here is a class I do, You do, We do style lesson that stars the tale, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain. Included are two fun pre-reading...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Clique
Mean girls and bully packs are favorite topic for films and TV shows that focus on the destructive power of cliques. High school freshmen are asked to reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of cliques by reading a short...
Curated OER
Put a Stop to "Choppy and Stoppy" Reading
Students use a crosscheck strategy to improve their oral reading rate and fluency. They are timed reading "Bud the Sub" orally three times, and work to improve their time and expression each time through. Students encourage each other...
Curated OER
True Champions Practice Points-Responsibility
Students explore personal responsibility. In this character development activity, students discuss and analyze a quote from Mia Hamm, a U.S. soccer player. Students brainstorm short and long term personal and team member...
Curated OER
Free Reading Project
Students participate in a free reading project to improve their reading skills. In this reading project lesson, students spend 30 minutes reading each day and complete journal entries for the lesson. Students complete a short in-class...
Curated OER
Post-Reading Strategies
Students practice post-reading strategies. In this reading comprehension lesson plan, students review pre-reading strategies, then read a handout entitled "Thirteen Reasons Our Ancestors Migrated." Students complete a post-reading...
Curated OER
Email Buddies
Collaborate with another class (or school) and have your learners share ideas about their reading through the use of email. Perhaps you'll create a specific question or a few questions for writers to choose from. Not only will they...
Curated OER
Green Light
How is music like reading? First, listeners rank music from slowest to fastest. How does the music's pace affect your mood? How does this same theory compare to reading? Spark a discussion to identify the similarities.
Curated OER
Discussing the Findings and Implications
Learners read a Natural Inquirer article and present the findings and implications to the class. They discuss if the findings match the implications and whether they think they are important.
Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Parts of Argument II: Article Critique
Break down the parts of argumentative writing with a critical thinking activity. High schoolers read an article of your (or their choice), and use a graphic organizer to delineate the ways the author structures his or her arguments.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 19
Building on the previous discussion of the supplemental reading article "Where Sweatshops Are a Dream," class members use the provided Evaluating Argument and Evidence Tool to identify the claims and evidence Nicholas Kristof uses to...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 12
Anna McMullen's opinion piece "Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for our Cheap Clothes?" offers readers another opportunity to examine how writers craft and support their arguments. After reading McMullen's article, class...
Curated OER
Using Authentic Literary Text With Advanced Learners
Students practice reading for the gist of a text, improving reading speed, and fostering interest in reading authentic texts. They explore the use of figurative language.
Curated OER
Detective Fiction: Focus On Critical Thinking
Turn your 6th graders into detectives while growing their love of reading. Using critical thinking skills, they will be able to describe the five basic elements of detective fiction, read detective novels, make predictions, use the...
Curated OER
Pre Reading Strategies
Students use their journals in order to predict what will happen in a text for a prereading strategy. In this prereading lesson plan, students list the 5 strategies they learn and use them before they read.
Curated OER
Following the Footsteps of Einstein
Students inquire about creating inventions. For this inventions lesson, students read the biography of Albert Einstein and discuss ethics. Students brainstorm ideas that will change their community.
Curated OER
Cubby Bear's Big Responsibility
Students continue their examination of character by being introduced to the concept of responsibility. As a class, they are read a story and identify when the main character was being responsible. They share wha they are responsible...