Joe Landsberger
Study Guides & Strategies: How to Read an Essay
Use this guide when reading an expository text or any type of essay, as it provides important questions you should ask yourself while you read. You can access this page in multiple languages from the English homepage.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Exp. Text Structure: Text Feature Find
A lesson plan in which students look through a book to find various text features including: a table of contents, sequence and format, charts/graphs/maps, diagrams/graphics/illustrations, print variations, an index, and a glossary....
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Explain the Controlling Idea, Purpose, and Distinguish Details
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, students will learn how to pinpoint the controlling idea, which not only identifies the main idea, but also answers questions about the author's goal or...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Picture Walk and Partner Talk
Students will participate in a picture walk through the expository text "Seasons and Weather". The purpose of the picture walk is to prepare the students for reading the story and gives them practice in using picture clues to make...
Other
Kid Bibs: Effective Use of Textbook Features
Here, parents and teachers can find tips for helping young readers understand the expository writing found in textbooks.
McGraw Hill
Mc Graw Hill:informational Text: Analyze Development of Text Elements:individuals
Read an informational piece, and learn how to analyze the development of individuals in the text. Includes practice exercises.
McGraw Hill
Mc Graw Hill: Informational Text: Analyze Development of Text Elements: Events
Read an informational piece, and learn how to analyze the development of an event in the text.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Expository Escapade: Detective's Handbook
Working on higher-level thinking skills with your readers is made easier with this lesson. You will have your students connect with and analyze a mystery story at their grade-appropriate level. Lesson plan, printable worksheets, and...
CPALMS
Cpalms: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, learners will use What Do You Do With A Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page to identify the main topic and key details using the illustrations and text. Students will work to...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Main Point Quick Guide
The first question in most Reading Comprehension sets will ask you to identify the statement that best expresses the central idea or the main point that the passage as a whole is designed to convey.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Changing the Ecosystem: Q & a [Pdf]
"Changing the Ecosystem: Q & A" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about how the loss of the prairie to farming and population growth impacts the ecosystem. It is followed by questions which require students to provide...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Prairie Ecology Questions and Activities [Pdf]
"Prairie Ecology Questions and Activities" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about prairie ecology the interdependence of its plants and animals. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Everglades
In this video segment from WILD TV, a scientist in the Florida Everglades talks about her research on the pig frog. [6:25]
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Fire Cloud
Firefighters fight a raging fire on a wild horse range in Montana in this video segment from Nature.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Analyze Use of Stylistic a Rhetorical Details
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, you are going to learn to comment on writing composed by writers who are aesthetic types, writers who use language to bring images to our minds as we read....
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago Changes [Pdf]
"Chicago Changes" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about how Chicago changed from a small town to a large city. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: determining...
Education Place
Houghton Mifflin: Eduplace: 5 Ws Chart [Pdf]
This site from Houghton Mifflin Company provides a simple, reproducible chart to help students gather details of Who, What, When, Where, and Why. This could be used as a reading comprehension tool, or as prewriting for expository writing.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Why Is Community Service Important? [Pdf]
"Why is Community Service Important?" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage is part of a report that the Obama-Biden campaign prepared about service and volunteering. It is followed by questions which require students to provide...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: New Leadership [Pdf]
"New Leadership" is Harold Washington's Acceptance Speech as Mayor of Chicago on April 12, 1983. It is followed by an assignment which requires students to provide evidence from the text; it includes comparing Washington's election as...