Curated OER
Decoding US Foreign Policy: The Iran-Contra Affair
This is a really good lesson plan. Learners explore US Foreign Policy, the Reagan Administration, and the Iran-Contra Affair through various documents and readers theater. Worksheets, script, and web links are all included. Teaching...
Curated OER
1984 by George Orwell
Readers of Nineteen Eighty-Four engage in a close reading exercise that directs their focus to the key details Orwell provides in the opening paragraphs to introduce his dystopian society. The included worksheeet is divided into three...
Penguin Books
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Young Readers Edition
As the saying goes, you are what you eat. A useful set of lesson plans encourage young readers to take a second look at their eating habits. Pre- and post-reading questions bring in reflective writing and discussion while extension...
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Tip O'Neill, "Epilogue: What I Believe" from Man of the House
The epilogue to former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill's memoir provides readers with an opportunity to practice their informational text reading comprehension skills.
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 1
The complex relationship between a teacher and his student takes center stage in an instructional activity that asks readers to pay close attention to how author Ethan Canin introduces his characters and how he develops the character of...
Poster-Street
A Smart Reader
Teach your class what it means to be a smart reader with this simple classroom poster. Including short I am statements describing seven different reading strategies, this is a great resource for improving students' reading...
Curated OER
Inspector Readers: The 002 Book Club
This unit introduces book clubs/literature circles to lower elementary classes, but could be adapted to higher grades. It outlines the anticipatory activity that includes a WebQuest, a discussion to clarify questions about the unit,...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 1
Where does a writer find inspiration? "Go into yourself," says Rainer Maria Rilke in "Letter One" from Letters to a Young Poet. Readers of Rilke's letter to Franz Xaver Kappus examine the words and figurative language Rilke uses to...
Reed Novel Studies
Hello Universe: Novel Study
Every neighborhood has its own unique cast of characters, and the crew in the novel Hello Universe is no exception. The characters in Erin Entrada Kelly's novel take center stage in a study guide based on the text....
National Endowment for the Humanities
Courage “In the Time of the Butterflies”: A Common Core Exemplar
The courage of Las Mariposas, the Mirabal sisters, is the focus of a series of activities designed to accompany a reading of In the Time of the Butterflies that ask readers to consider what it means to be courageous. Beautifully crafted...
The New York Times
Anatomy of a Scene
Casting, setting, context, frame, camera angle, lighting, soundtrack. Every choice a writer or director makes is conscious. Here's a activity that asks readers/viewers to examine these choices and consider how they are used to to...
Curated OER
QAR: Question Answer Relationships with an example from Canyons by Gary Paulsen
As you're reading Gary Paulsen's tale of self discovery and adventure, Canyons, bring this questioning strategy into your classroom. The QAR questioning strategy is meant to encourage a deeper analysis of the text, as some questions are...
Ingram
Teaching Guide Charlotte's Web
Enrich your study of Charlotte's Web by E.B. White with this useful resource. Included here are 22 discussion questions, 15 extension ideas, and 10 curriculum questions that cover characters, plot, farming, and much, much more.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Monitoring for Understanding, What Do You Know?
An activity promotes reading comprehension. Readers analyze a text of their choice while activating prior knowledge and asking and answering questions. Scholars enforce multiple strategies to improve comprehension.
Curated OER
Paradise Lost: Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking Processes
Chapter II of John Milton's Paradise Lost provides the text for a series of comprehension questions crafted using Bloom's Taxonomy.
Curated OER
Macbeth: Act IV Study Questions
The value in this Macbeth study guide is that it asks readers to not only chart events, but to also consider the significance of those events. The worksheets could be used as preparation for a full class discussion or the basis or a...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nature: Friend and Foe: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 6)
If readers don't understand key portions of a text, it may seem more like a foe than a friend. The second resource in a series of three ESL lessons designed to accompany the texts in Nature: Friend or Foe makes the texts easier to...
EngageNY
Text-Dependent Questions and Making a Claim: Digging Deeper into Paragraphs 20–23 of Steve Jobs’ Commencement Address (and connecting to Chapter 11)
In preparation for the unit exam, groups employ the strategies they have been practicing to formulate an interpretative claim about the connections between Christopher Paul Curtis's " Bud, Not Buddy, and Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 5
People should always choose their words carefully. Scholars examine the words used by Martin Luther King, Jr. in paragraphs 10 and 11 of his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Readers answer questions about word use, think about synonyms,...
National Endowment for the Arts
Reader Resources: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A handy guide offers high schoolers support as they read the American novel, The Great Gatsby. Complete with a biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, a timeline of the Roaring Twenties, discussion questions about the novel, and more, this...
Pearson
Practice Test English Language Arts: Grade 7
Practice makes perfect. A practice test designed for the ELA MCAS Assessment gives seventh grade learners the opportunity to answer reading comprehension questions and respond to essay prompts. Questions involve general fiction and...
K5 Learning
Fortune and the Beggar
Enhance reading comprehension strategies with a tale about a beggar's run in with a fortune. Scholars read, answer comprehension questions, and consider the moral of the story.
Curated OER
What Do You See at the Pond?
With What Do You See at the Pond?, young readers explore pond life and practice reading strategies. Learners first make predictions and then read the simple story independently. After a second read-through with a partner, kids come...
Curated OER
Guided Reading with Elizabeti's Doll
Practice reading strategies using Elizabeti's Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen. Readers utilize decoding and comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading the story. A detailed list of text features, high frequency words,...