The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is an illustrative source of rich prose, deep character development, and strong literary themes. Use two of the book's key chapters, which focus on Waverly's relationship with chess and with her mother, to...

Improve readers' comprehension with a pair of visualization opportunities. First they listen, eyes closed, as you read a description from Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, and discuss ideas about what they "see." After you read...

In this reading worksheet, 4th graders answer multiple choice questions by reading 1/2 page passages and answering comprehension questions. Students complete 25 questions.

In this reading worksheet, 3rd graders complete multiple choice questions by reading passages and answering comprehension questions about them. Students complete 25 questions.

Jacque's soliloquy from Act II, scene ii of As You Like It sets the stage for a close reading exercise that models how to approach difficult, dense text and enables readers to practice reading comprehension and analysis...

In this Regents High School Examination Comprehension Examination worksheet, students read an excerpt from a nonfiction work and a poem and answer reading comprehension questions.  Students then write a unified essay using evidence...

In this Regents High School Examination Comprehensive Examination worksheet, learners read an essay and a poem and answer reading comprehension questions.  Students then write an essay based on both passages.

In this Regents High School Examination Comprehensive Examination worksheet, students read a poem and an excerpt from a memoir and answer reading comprehension questions.  Students then write a unified essay using ideas and evidence...

In this Regents High School Examination Comprehensive Examination worksheet, students read a short story and a poem and answer reading comprehension questions.  Students then write a unified essay using ideas from both passages.

In this Regents High School Comprehensive Examination worksheet, students read a poem and an excerpt from a short story and answer reading comprehension questions.  Students then write a unified essay in which they use ideas and...

In this Regents High School Examination comprehensive Examination in English worksheet, learners read an excerpt from a short story and a poem and answer reading comprehension questions.  Students then compose an essay using...

Good literature can be much like an iceberg requiring readers to presume that the bulk of the meaning may be inferred to be found below the surface. Here's a lesson that asks scholars to conduct a close reading of passages from The...

Guide readers to think about what they are reading with a comprehension activity. Using John Steinbeck's The Pearl, learners predict what is coming, verify and judge their predictions, and analyze what they are reading more closely.

Investigate the concept of phrases and how they are a crucial element for successful reading comprehension. High schoolers identify key phrases in reading selections. Afterward, they engage in writing exercises regarding what they have...

A guided imagery exercise draws class members into a particularly intense scene in Edward Bloor's Tangerine. After listening to a reading of an excerpt from the text, participants respond to a series of questions and then share their...

Accuracy, phrasing, flow, and pace, the four traits of of oral reading fluency, are the focus of a series of exercises that are designed to help readers develop these comprehension and literacy skills.

Learning to recognize the importance of the features of information text (i.e., titles, subtitles, endnotes, sidebars, etc.) is the focus of a reading activity designed for middle schoolers. Learners examine how these text features...

Encourage good reading habits with an activity that asks class members to examine the title and cover of Out of the Dust, and then make predictions about the setting of and events in the tale.  

If your class will be reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this guided reading worksheet may increase their comprehension. It asks them to re-read passages (provided) from the book and then answer numerous short answer questions. A...

Signal words are one way that authors make the relationships between their ideas clear. Allow your learners the chance to investigate cause and effect in texts by identifying signal words. They locate and analyze cause-and-effect...

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.

What will happen in Hatchet by Gary Paulsen? Kids read a series of possible events that will occur in the novel and mark whether they agree or disagree with the probability of each event happening.

As part of a study of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, class members respond to, and craft, higher-level comprehension questions based on passages from the text. 

Individuals read a series of passages from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, rank the statements from the least to the most racist or stereotypical, and share their rankings and rationales in small groups before a whole class...