Curated OER
Bill Pickett, Bulldoggin' Cowboy
Who was Bill Picket? Interested readers work through an informational passage to find out about a famous "bulldogger" from the old West. They answer several reading comprehension questions and use a seven step process to decode new...
Curated OER
Oliver Twist Goes to Hollywood
How does Oliver Twist, the novel written by Charles Dickens, compare with its screenplay adaptation? Although the activity doesn't require learners to have read the novel, the similarities and differences of the highlighted passages...
Curated OER
Getting to Know Government
Students read a passage about the government and identify why the seat belt law was created and then fill out a graphic organizer about the main idea and details they read. In this government lesson plan, students also create a poster...
Curated OER
Cite Right
What do you need to cite, and how can you avoid plagiarizing? This presentation is aimed at beginning writers, and it details some of the ways people plagiarize (even accidentally) and what sort of information needs to be cited. The...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Learning About the Historical and Geographical Setting of Esperanza Rising (Chapter 1: “Aguascalientes, Mexico, 1924”)
Set up your class to read Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, through a class read-aloud and exploration of the setting. The detailed instructional activity outlines each step. First, class members read over the first few pages and...
Curated OER
Doyle Online Writing Lab: Paper Editing Worksheet
Both the writer and the reviewer contribute to this editing worksheet. Before handing the paper to a partner, the writer lists specific areas of concern for the reader to address. The editor addresses these concerns and offers detailed...
Curated OER
The Florida Manatee: Reading Comprehension
Five multiple choice questions test early readers on their understanding of a one-page passage on the Florida Manatee. Answers on page 3.
Curated OER
Retelling Information
This scripted lesson suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and rubric are...
Curated OER
Summarizing Story Events
Here is a way to build your pupils' public speaking abilities. The lesson plan describes a reader's report chair, which is used each week by a student who has just finished reading a book. The featured reader sits in the chair and talks...
Curated OER
Map Me a Paragraph
There are so many great reading strategies. In this lesson, learners practice decoding. They break down two paragraphs to analyze and determine main ideas and details. They each observes ways to model as they map their paragraphs.
Curated OER
Summarizing Story Events
After reading a book on their own, pupils prepare an oral report on the book, and sit in the "Readers Report Chair" when giving the report to the class. They are taught to briefly summarize the book by talking about one of two...
Curated OER
Learning To Summarize
In this learning to summarize worksheet, learners interactively answer 10 multiple choice questions about summarizing information from a given passage, then click to check their answers.
Friends of Fort McHenry
A Just War or Just a War?
What, if anything, makes a war "just"? This is an interesting and important question to explore with your class, and you can utilize an excellent lesson plan to support your group inquiry. The American Revolution and the War of 1812...
Curated OER
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
In this story structure activity, students read the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and identify the characters, setting and main themes of the book. They answer a list of study questions about the book.
Curated OER
Characteristics of Anne Frank
Eighth graders read selected passages from The Diary of Anne Frank. Working in pairs, 8th graders determine what qualities and characteristics they would assign to her from their selected diary entry.
Curated OER
Cloze Instruction And Herringbone Technique
Learners sort out important information and create a visual framework for reviewing in the future. They organize a large quantity of information thus helping with learning and remembering details, cause and effect, comparison and...
Curated OER
Let's sum it all up!
Young scholars identify that comprehension is the main goal in reading. Then they read the words in a text, but also draw information from what they read. Students also identify and practice summarization. They read a piece of text...
Curated OER
The Juicy Stuff Matters
Students explore and practice the strategy of summarization and scaffolding while mastering how to recap the details from a story and/or singling out what is important to recall from a story. They summarize the book, "How the Grinch...
Curated OER
Retelling and Summarizing
Having students use a rubric to score a piece of writing is an excellent practice. They read a passage titled, "Firefighters," and discuss different summaries that were written about it. They evaluate several summaries then score them...
Curated OER
The Long and Short of It: Summarizing Important Details
Students practice their summarizing skills while listening to a brief biography of Amelia Earhart. Students take notes while the teacher reads the article and write a paragraph that summarizes the important events from Amelia Earhart's...
Curated OER
Transcendentalism and Epiphany in Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine
Twelfth graders examine the characteristics of transcendentalism. In this transcendentalism lesson, 12th graders determine what this type of writing entails before reading a passage from, Ray Bradbury's, Dandelion Wine. They cite three...
Curated OER
Tales From Around the World
Students read stories. In this culture lesson, students read stories from different regions around the world. Students look for each region on the map and listen for interesting cultural details in the story. Students then discuss the...
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Propaganda
Students discuss wartime propaganda after viewing the World War II film "Christmas Under Fire." They answer discussion questions, identify passages of propaganda from a transcript of the film, and write a brief from the Ministry of...
Curated OER
Get in Order
Students practice putting events from a written passage in chronological order, both in groups and individually.