Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Grade 4 Reading Item Specifications
Is it the end of the school year and you're in need of test practice? Use a set of reading passages to challenge fourth graders to answer questions based on what they read. Some of the questions require readers to compare and contrast a...
Teach-nology
Author’s Purpose: Inform
Why does an author write an informative article? Learners examine passages of a short reading on Spain and determine what the author wanted to inform the reader about.
Teach-nology
Writing with More Than One Purpose
It's not very hard to find the author's purpose in narrative, informative, or persuasive writing, but what happens when an author's purpose includes all three types of writing? Determine which sentences in three paragraphs are meant to...
Novelinks
Tuck Everlasting: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Encourage close reading for young learners with a lesson based on Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting. The first part of the resource guides readers through a Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA), prompting them to make predictions...
Teach-nology
Author’s Purpose: Entertain
How does an author entertain his or her audience? Read a short fairy tale and find the most evocative passages to discover more about author's purpose in narrative writing.
Ideas From Suzi
Guided Reading: Beyond the Basics
Elevate children's reading comprehension skills with this collection of guided reading resources. From paper dice with basic comprehension questions printed on them to a system for using sticky notes to identify key parts of a story,...
University of Texas
Essential Reading Strategies for the Struggling Reader
Beneficial for beginning readers, struggling readers, and those in need of review, a set of language arts activities is a great addition to any foundational reading unit. Focusing on phonological awareness, fluency, instructional...
Brigham Young University
HOOT Directed Reading Thinking Activity
It's helpful to encourage kids to make predictions when beginning a reading unit. Before reading Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, have kids read Susan Barlow Broggi's Am I Grown Up When I'm Not Afraid of Spiders in My Shoes? to make predictions...
The New York Times
New York Times Reading Log
Inspire your pupils to read the news and make connections between articles and another text, event, or experience with a straightforward reading log. Learners note down the article information at the top of the worksheet and then respond...
Curated OER
In Cold Blood: Cloze Procedure
What is the reading level of your language arts or English class? If you're not sure if In Cold Blood would be an appropriate reading level for your kids, give them this cloze procedure. They read the complete reading selection once, and...
Novelinks
The Count of Monte Cristo Cloze Procedure
Is your class ready to read The Count of Monte Cristo? Use the Cloze procedure to determine if the text is a good level for your readers. The first page details the procedure and how to score the text. The following two pages are the...
Curated OER
Reading For Information
To help learners better comprehend informational texts, they work through a series of activities. They discuss strategies, make predictions, skim passages, focus on key words, and practice taking notes. This lesson focuses on what to do...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
A read-aloud anthology boosts reading comprehension with classic tales. Thirteen lessons introduce and present a reading; pupils discuss the reading, then participate in extension activities. Take-home materials are available for most...
Curated OER
The Pearl: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
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.
Curated OER
Reading and Responding: Lesson 3
Reinforce comprehension of informational text. This is a one-on-one lesson intended to build an internal dialogue the reader can use to boost overall comprehension. They work independently with a tutor or teacher to read a nonfiction...
K12 Reader
What's the Purpose? FDR's Pearl Harbor Speech
FDR's December 7, 1941 address to the nation is the focus of a reading comprehension exercise that asks middle schoolers to read an excerpt from the Pearl Harbor speech and determine the president's purpose.
Curated OER
Author's Purpose
Readers identify the author's purpose. First, they read a passage and utilize details from the piece to determine the author's purpose. Then they will explain how they arrived at their conclusion. Links to materials are provided.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 7
Use this reading comprehension assessment to prepare for a state test, or to assess your students' reading. After reading a four-paragraph passage, young learners answer seven questions on literary devices, tone, and author's purpose. An...
Curated OER
Pairing Picture Books with Edith Hamilton's Mythology
As a before reading strategy, class members select a tale from mythology, examine several picture book versions of the myth, and fill out part of a Venn diagram with observations about the hero in particular and the myth in general.They...
Curated OER
Reading For Meaning
Select an article that explores people of another culture. After reading it as a class, distribute copies of this worksheet. It asks for a brief summary, encourages readers to make text-to-self connections, and asks learners to identify...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 7
Develop reading comprehension! With this resource, your kids will read a passage and focus on reading comprehension. There are a list of seven questions to answer after reading, but consider offering your class a specific strategy to...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Preamble to the Constitution: A Close Reading Lesson
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." These familiar lines begin the Preamble to the Constitution, but do learners know what they mean? A close reading exercise takes a look at the language of the...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 6: Level 12
Although designed as an assessment, consider using this resource as the basis for a lesson on reading comprehension strategies or as a practice exercise. The five multiple choice questions, based on a short passage about stock market...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 5: Level 10
Whether used as a reading comprehension assessment, as the basis of a mini-lesson on reading strategies, or as extra practice, this exercise will prove to be valuable because of the answers and explanation key that accompanies the...