Curated OER
Exploring Contrasts in "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins
Middle schoolers analyze the speaker's ideas and tone in the Billy Collins poem "The Lanyard." After identifying how each of the five senses is addressed in the poem, they compare images to draw conclusions about the speaker and his...
E Reading Worksheets
Making Predictions #3
Sometimes it's helpful for kids to predict what is coming next when reading a story. Show your learners how to use evidence from the text they are reading to predict what happens next in five short passages.
Scholastic
Drones Take Off
Ever wonder what drones are doing high above us in the sky? This article gives your class an insight to what those robots in the sky are doing. After reading an article on drone technology, pupils are prompted to respond to a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Defense of the Electoral College
Each presidential election year, the debate about the electoral college rages. Michael C. Maibach's "A Defense of the Electoral College" offers young political scientists an opportunity to examine a reasoned argument for why the...
New York City Department of Education
Grade K Literacy in Social Studies: Thinking About Families
Family is a wonderful subject for little learners to get excited about. Family is also the theme for a social studies unit that uses literacy standards throughout. The guide outlines approximately three weeks of instruction and breaks...
Curated OER
The Flower and the Fly
It's like a biological "Beauty and the Beast!" The fascinating mutualism between a South African meganosed fly and a deep-throated geranium builds a case study in coevolution for your biology buffs to analyze. After reading about this...
Curated OER
Defining success: A debate about success encourages critical thinking skills
Pupils develop critical thinking skills while exploring new ideas about success, discuss people they consider to be successful, and identify how they measure or define their own personal success.
Curated OER
Read a Transportation Story
Young scholars explore a transportation story. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read The Thumb in Box and discuss the provided discussion questions regarding the plot of the story.
Curated OER
Critical Thinking Strategies
Students explore critical thinking strategies. In this critical thinking lesson, students evaluate multiple choice answers. Students note similarities between incorrect answers and discover how to compare and contrast incorrect and...
Curated OER
Beginning Critical Reading - The Sun
In these critical reading worksheets, students read the short story about the sun. Students then answer 3 critical reading questions about the passage.
Curated OER
Intermediate Critical Reading - The Robin
In these critical reading worksheets, students read the short story about robins. Students then answer 3 critical reading questions about the passage.
Curated OER
Critical Reading Exercise
In this critical reading exercise, students evaluate the credibility of a piece of writing. Students read descriptions of various interest groups and lobbies and identify the group that made a quotation.
Curated OER
Beginning Critical Reading - Nuts
In these critical reading worksheets, 3rd graders read the short story about nuts. Students then answer 3 critical reading questions about the passage.
Curated OER
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: Pre-Reading Strategy
Get your class ready to read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard with an anticipation guide. This document describes exactly how to create and implement an anticipation guide.
Curated OER
Reading and Thinking About Evolution
Students are given a science reading assignment outside the text followed by a discussion on the content. The reading is augmented with a series of thought questions for students to consider prior to class discussion. They direst the...
Minnesota Literacy Council
Introduction to Historical Thinking
Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Questioning Strategies
Readers learn to ask questions about text with an activity based on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. As they read, class members craft questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy and then find the answers themselves.
Penguin Books
Teacher’s Guide: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man tops the reading list for the AP Literature exam. A five-page guide offers instructors and book clubs discussion questions designed to get readers to think deeply and critically about the inspection of...
Curated OER
When Is a Noun a Verb? Examining Double Duty Words
The New York Times' Learning Network provides great lessons! This one uses articles from the paper to help readers understand homonyms like mail (verb and noun). It also includes an exercise in reading informational text. Links to the...
Curated OER
Sentence Completion 12: Low-Advanced SAT Level
Desiccate, despoil, devise, descry! You would be remiss if you did not use this sentence completion activity to challenge even your best pundits. The SAT level words and the beautifully detailed explanations key would help to ameliorate...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Pre-Reading Strategy: 4 Corners
A four corners pre-reading activity introduces class members to the major themes in Victor Martinez's award winning novel, Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida.
Bantam Books
The Tempest: Linked Text Set (Pre-Reading)
Before you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, introduce the themes of the play with a lesson based on the biblical story of Joseph. Taking your high schoolers through selected text from Genesis 17-44,...
ReadWriteThink
What is Poetry? Contrasting Poetry and Prose
Introduce middle schoolers to the different strategies used when reading prose versus poetry. Groups use a Venn diagram and a poetry analysis handout to compare the characteristics of an informational text and a poem on the same...
Novelinks
The Tempest: List-Group-Label (After Reading)
Collaborate with your class after reading William Shakespeare's The Tempest with a group labeling activity. As you note key concepts or words from the play on the board, class members suggest associations and connections...