Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Taking Notes Using a Graphic Organizer: Inferring About Work and Play in Colonial America

For Teachers 4th Standards
What was life like in colonial America? Follow this lesson and your pupils will find out what people in colonial times did for work and for fun. Ask learners to compare and contrast the two texts and explain what the reading helped them...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Taking Notes Using a Graphic Organizer: Inferring About the Importance of Religion in Colonial America

For Teachers 4th Standards
Improve class understanding of colonial times by reading an informational text and filling out the accompanying graphic organizer. Class members work with a partner to read, take notes, make inferences, and synthesize information.The...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Conducting Research: Analyzing a Variety of Sources to Capture Information about My Insect

For Teachers 5th Standards
From picture to words. Scholars analyze a picture of an ant and then list two facts they observed and any questions that may arise. Expert groups from the previous instructional activity then look at a diagram about either an ant or...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: Text-Dependent Short-Answer Quiz—The Effects of Natural Disasters

For Teachers 5th Standards
Readers complete a mid-unit assessment by reading the text How Do Hurricanes Form? They answer text-dependent questions about hurricanes with short answer and sequencing. Learners then participate in a read aloud and text chunking...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fears and Phobias

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Take the fear out of reading with this series of three lessons from HotWire Magazine about fears and phobias. Each lesson contains pre-reading and post-reading activities aimed at improving learners' reading comprehension skills with the...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading of Nasreen's Secret School: How Do People Access Books in Afghanistan?

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Third graders continue to practice the close reading skills of capturing the gist and reading again for important details in the sixth instructional activity in a larger unit. This is a great beginning-of-the-year unit for establishing...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Discovering the Topic: Inferring and Confirming Using Evidence

For Teachers 4th Standards
Allow your class to figure out what they will be studying through an inquiry-based anticipatory set that involves analysis of mystery documents and practice with making inferences. The lesson plan document includes a detailed description...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 1 Assessment: Inferring and Synthesizing (From Two Texts) About Life in Colonial America

For Teachers 4th Standards
Close your colonial America unit with a performance-based assessment. Class members will show their proficiency in several skills including using details to back up inferences, determining the meaning of words in context,...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Paragraph Writing About Waiting for the Biblioburro

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Ask your learners to synthesize what they know about Waiting for the Biblioburro by writing a well-organized paragraph. Young writers focus on using transition words and including specific details in their paragraphs. The plan allows for...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading of Waiting for the Biblioburro: Finding the Main Message and Taking Notes

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Expose your class to Waiting for the Biblioburro, narrative nonfiction that will act as the bridge between ficiton and informational texts to come. Class members do a close reading of the text, looking at excerpts instead of the whole...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading of Excerpts from My Librarian Is a Camel: How Do People Access Books Around the World?

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Paragraph Writing: The Role of Religion in Colonial America

For Teachers 4th Standards
Informative writing is emphasized in the standards. Help your learners reach that goal with the plan for paragraph writing outlined here. After reviewing the work from the day before and adding to their vocabulary notebooks, class...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing Narratives from First Person Point of View: Imagining Meg Lowman’s Rainforest Journal

For Teachers 5th Standards
I spy with my little eye! Learners observe page 23 in The Most Beautiful Roof in the World and practice what they would add to a field journal. They discuss how details from the text help add to their thoughts. To finish,...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Taking Notes and Citing Quotes from Text: Gathering Information on our Rainforest Insects

For Teachers 5th Standards
In other words. Scholars practice using paraphrasing and quotes. They partner in pairs to write a paraphrase for an information text strip. Individuals then use their skills to paraphrase information from the text Fire Ants.
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Structuring The Search: Categorizing Our Research

For Teachers 5th Standards
What can you contribute? Scholars read text to determine how ants contribute to the rainforest. First, they categorize and sort facts gathered from reading. Next, readers focus on specific terms in each paragraphs of the text Ants by...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Peer Critique and Revision: Editorial Essay

For Teachers 5th Standards
Get those red pens ready! Using the Peer Critique protocol, scholars provide and receive feedback on their editorial essay drafts. They then use class time to work on revisions. 
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Synthesizing Information from Texts about Natural Disasters: What Makes an Earthquake a Natural Disaster?

For Teachers 5th Standards
Are all disasters natural? Scholars reread Earthquakes! to determine what classifies these events as a natural disaster. They label earthquake facts as N for natural or D disaster to support their ideas. They then discuss academic...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Organizing Evidence from Multiple Informational Texts to Prepare for Writing: What Makes an Earthquake a Natural Disaster?

For Teachers 5th Standards
Fifth graders prepare for their end of the unit essay assessment by continuing to look at what makes an earthquake a natural disaster. They complete a graphic organizer and write a topic sentence. To finish, they view a model essay and...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment: Perspectives on Natural Disasters

For Teachers 5th Standards
Caption this! Scholars complete the end of unit assessment by rereading In the Middle of the Storm. Learners answer written response questions about the text, and then create drawings to accompany their work. To finish, they caption...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Researching about the Red Cross: What Is a Multinational Aid Organization?

For Teachers 5th Standards
Lend a helping hand. Pupils read two informational articles about international aid organizations and how they help areas affected by natural disasters. Scholars attempt to uncover the gist of each text, discussing their thoughts in...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit 3 Assessment, Part I: Short Constructed Response and Organizing Notes for a Public Speech

For Teachers 5th Standards
It's time to put pen to paper. Scholars complete the first part of the mid-unit 3 assessment, writing a short constructed response about international aid following a natural disaster. Next, pupils use informational texts and note...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Researching about the Red Cross, Continued: How Did the Red Cross Aid Haiti After the 2010 Earthquake?

For Teachers 5th Standards
What a puzzle! Scholars participate in a Jigsaw discussion within their expert groups, determining the gist of an article about the 2010 Haiti earthquake. As they read and discuss the article, they record thoughts on their note...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Speech Writing: Identifying Reasons, Evidence, and Linking Words

For Teachers 5th Standards
Enjoy the view. Scholars continue viewing a video of an opinion speech, this time identifying the supporting evidence the speaker employs. After watching, they work in small groups on their shared writing projects, crafting a body...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Final Performance Task: Critique and Revision, Part I

For Teachers 5th Standards
Let's work together! Scholars engage in the peer editing protocol, giving and receiving feedback on their draft opinion speeches. They then use classmates' feedback to begin working on their revisions.