Refugee & Immigrant Transitions is an organization that helps newcomers adjust to life in the United States through education and community leadership opportunities. As part of a mid-unit assessment, pupils independently read a...

Scholars complete an assessment, read an informational article, and answer text-based questions. Also, pupils use the Painted Essay technique to write a draft editorial about a topic they studied throughout the unit, the Mary River Mine...

After re-reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma using a Reading Closely: Guiding Questions handout, class members use sticky notes to annotate and determine the gist of the text. Finally, they use an Author’s Purpose graphic organizer to...

Readers use sticky notes and a close reading guide to identify the gist of "My Pig" on pages 240–245 of The Omnivore's Dilemma. After reviewing their thoughts with peers, they answer text-dependent questions about the section.

Pupils consider the varying perspectives of people in different cultural groups as they read an informational text about the Dinka tribe of Southern Sudan and complete graphic organizers. They also respond to a constructed-response...

Some things are better the second time around. Scholars reread an article about Hawaii's happy face spider, answering text-dependent questions as they read. Then, they use a Venn diagram to compare the text features of interviews and...

Shout it from the rooftops. Scholars take a mid-unit assessment of their reading thus far in The Most Beautiful Roof in the World. Learners answer multiple choice, short answer, and fill in the blank questions relating to pages...

Part one of a mid-unit assessment relating to The Omnivore’s Dilemma includes listening to and analyzing a speech by Birke Baehr. Part two involves analyzing an excerpt from the text. The assessment ends with short response questions.

Letters ... a lost art or good resource? Scholars add letter writing to their informational text chart and describe the features of a letter. They then look at page 38 in Promises to Keep and complete a Perspectives Venn...

What would it be like to sell your eggs to a couple who can't have children on their own? Could you even imagine it? As most of us have never been in this position, this descriptive essay is really quite interesting. The reading itself...

Let's get to the gist. As scholars continue their study of Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst, they practice writing the gist of the text. Additionally, pupils add notes about the industrial uses of water to their researcher's...

How do athletes break barriers? Pupils consider the question as they continue looking for evidence to support their opinions about how their chosen athlete created a legacy. In small groups, they read an informative article about either...

Only a thorough understanding of history can save us from repeating it. Practice close reading skills with an eighth grade unit that focuses on 19th century America, including European immigration into Ellis Island and Frederick...

Determine the author's point of view in a text. Young readers read Dr. Seuss' The Sneeches and identify the author's purpose in the story. They identify persuasive techniques in writing, asking and answering questions to better...

Young scholars explore Cherokee legends. They read The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac, and then do several activities to help comprehension. They discuss the book and answer comprehension questions. In addition, they retell the...

Following the reading of the book Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, the ninth lesson in this unit involves emerging experts in a science talk about how bullfrogs survive. Looking back through the text, young scholars prepare for the...

Readers make personal connections to Saturday Market by Patricia Grossman and answer comprehension questions while reading the book. Comparing and contrasting the different characters in a Venn diagram leads to a kinesthetic...

After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...

Is interacting with people from different backgrounds part of a well-rounded education? A big question awaits young readers as they explore two New York Times articles that discuss modern-day segregation, population statistics, and...

Good readers have internalized a system of strategies to understand text. While most reading programs explicitly teach these strategies, this presentation could be used as a discussion starter to help students understand such things as...

Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida is used in an activity that models how to develop questions to aid in comprehension of a text.

Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage provides the text for a reading comprehension activity that asks class members to develop questions based on the novel.

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...

Examine different types of questions while studying Peter and the Starcatchers. After learning about the different types of questions, pupils read passages from the text, answer the questions, and label each question with its...