California Education Partners
Telescopes
An assessment challenges scholars to read an informative text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins as participants read a text passage twice then take notes, making sure to jot down key details. Following the...
California Education Partners
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
A 3-day exam assesses readers' comprehension. After hearing a passage from the story Kittens First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes, scholars work with a partner to discuss and sketch what they found memorable. Peers share their final products...
EngageNY
Research: Identifying Categories for Our Research About the Wheelwright
Here is a fine lesson on reading and understanding expository text designed for 4th graders. With a partner, learners read a passage of text about a machine called a wheelright. This machine was commonly used in the colonial...
Curated OER
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 11 ELA/Literacy)
Support your eleventh graders with a practice assessment for the Common Core tests. The practice test features a series of literary and informational passages and related multiple choice and essay questions. An online version is also...
Curated OER
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 10 ELA/Literacy)
Get an idea of how your class members might perform on the Common Core tests with a comprehensive practice test. The assessment includes literary and informational passages for learners to read an analyze. Pupils respond to a series of...
Curated OER
End-of-Year Practice Test (Grade 10 ELA/Literacy)
Common Core testing is approaching, so why not provide your pupils with appropriate practice? This practice assessment includes both literary and informational passages for class members to examine and answer questions about. Also...
Curated OER
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 9 ELA/Literacy)
Ready your pupils for Common Core testing by providing them with practice. For this assessment, learners read and respond to a variety of different passages in both multiple-choice and essay format. An online version is also included.
National Endowment for the Humanities
“Read All About It”: Primary Source Reading in “Chronicling America”
Can investigative journalism become too sensationalistic and accusatory, or is it vital for the survival of a democracy? Middle schoolers analyze primary source documents from early 20th-century newspapers as well as Theodore...
Curated OER
End-of-Year Practice Test (Grade 5 ELA/Literacy)
The end of the year has arrived, which means it's time to find out exactly what your fifth graders have learned over the past few months. With the help of this Common Core-designed assessment that includes two narrative passages and...
Curated OER
Where in the World is Mrs. Waffenscmidt? # 15
Where can that globe-trotting teacher be? Is your class ready to read an informational passage to find out where Mrs. Waffenschmidt is hiding this week? If they are, then they'll discover she's checking out the Rock of Gibraltar. A great...
New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: January 2015
Successful arguing is a learned skill. Pupils read four passages and craft a text-based argument about the return of extinct animals. The resources provides writers with specific guidelines on how to create a well-rounded essay and how...
Voice of America
Henry Ford, 1863-1947: He Revolutionized the Auto Industry
How did Henry Ford change the world? One word: automobile. After reading a two-page passage about Henry Ford's contributions to society with the invention of the automobile, readers respond to a series of 10 reading comprehension...
NET Foundation for Television
1850-1874 African American Settlers
Go West, young man! Scholars investigate the impact of African American settlers moving to the Nebraska territory, following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in the mid 1800s. Using primary sources, timelines, maps, and...
Curated OER
Where in the World is Mrs. Waffenschmidt? #22
Mrs. Waffenschmidt has traveled to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Learners must read the informational passage to identify this fact. The text uses facts to help learners determine the teacher's location.
Read Works
Columbus Was an Explorer
Get the inside scoop on the European explorer, Christopher Columbus, with a response to reading activity that requires scholars to answer who, what, why, when, and a variety of other questions about the word crew.
Curated OER
The Birth of the Ancient Games: The Olympics
This exercise includes a lengthy article on the history of the Olympics as well as a map of Ancient Greece. The last page includes 15 reading comprehension questions about the passage. A fairly thorough look at this topic - geared toward...
Curated OER
Nov. 17, 1973 | Nixon Declares 'I Am Not a Crook'
Connect events of the past to events of today. Budding historians read an eight paragraph passage describing the Watergate scandal. They then connect the Nixon scandal to sex scandals of recent times. There are six critical thinking...
New York State Education Department
Comprehensive English Examination: January 2016
Poetry and prose often have more in common than it initially appears. A sample comprehensive English exam has test-takers compare and contrast two passages to answer short response questions. The exam, which is part of a larger set of...
Curated OER
The Diary of Anne Frank: Selected Passages
Students read the novel, "The Diary of Anne Frank". Using the internet, they gather information on the effect of the Versailles Treaty, formation of the Weimer Republic and the Nazi Party on the Holocaust. They view propaganda...
Curated OER
Reading: Johnny Appleseed
In this Johnny Appleseed worksheet, students read information about Johnny Appleseed and answer comprehension questions. Students answer eight true and false statements.
Curated OER
Retell And Summarize Text
Help your learners read a text and summarize it using their own words. The main idea and important details of an article are discussed before individuals write their summaries. To support discernment about what to include in a summary,...
Curated OER
Can You Get the Signal?
What is a signal word? Recognizing these words is an important step in both reading and writing formal text. Review a list of signal words (provided and organized into specific categories), and then have your class play a game to...
Curated OER
The Outsiders: Anticipation Guide
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is always a favorite for middle and high school readers because it addresses issues that hit home to them, decades after the book is set. Have learners fill out an anticipation guide that encourages them to...
Curated OER
Ernest Hemingway: Inside Out
Introduce class members to basic biographical information about Ernest Hemingway. Groups read three brief paragraphs, and then respond to fact-based questions using material drawn from the readings. The exercise would work well with...