Read Works
The Age of Exploration
Christopher Columbus did not have a lot of evidence to prove that he was in India, but language arts pupils have plenty of evidence to prove that he wasn't. Delve into the world of European exploration with a reading activity about...
Curated OER
Short But Sweet
After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...
Read Works
A Busy Bird
Kindergartners read a short passage and answer questions based on what they read. The question set involves circling pictures, writing words, and drawing pictures.
Prestwick House
The Sign of the Beaver Student Response Journal
Discuss the themes and events of Elizabeth George Speare's The Sign of the Beaver with a collection of journal topics. Each chapter contains two or three questions for kids to consider and write about, for a total of 24 questions.
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...
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...
Read Works
Plymouth Colony
Read about the tumultuous beginning to the United States with an informational text passage about Colonial America. As young researchers peruse an article about the arrival of the Mayflower, the settlers' relationship to the neighboring...
DePaul University
Chicago Changes
Scholars determine statements as fact or opinion in a practice page consisting of two reading passages followed by multiple choice and short answer questions. Fact and opinion passages detail information about Chicago and Ethiopia.
Curated OER
Reading Response Questions
In this readers response worksheet, students are posed 37 questions in response to a passage they've read. Students must write short responses to each thought provoking question regarding characters, events, and author's purpose among...
Novelinks
The Tempest: QAR
Asking questions about a text is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Apply the Question Answer Response strategy to your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read each passage, they decide if the answer can...
K12 Reader
Mom Will Find the Fox
Fox, box, shop, got... what do all of these words have in common? The short /o/ sound! Give your class some practice with the short /o/ poem by reading the poem on this worksheet. Learners also answer three included reading comprehension...
Tell City Schools
The Cay
Support your instruction of The Cay by Theodore Taylor with this extensive unit of materials. Provided here are prereading activities, worksheets and discussion questions for the entire book, and reading quizzes that you can use to check...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Ideas, Part 2: “The Border”
Writers use the Short Response Graphic Organizer: The Border to learn how to answer short response questions. After completing the organizer, they rotate among classmates conducting peer critiques of their work.
Novelinks
Things Fall Apart: Bloom’s Taxonomy
Promote critical thinking and literary analysis with a short activity. Readers of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart respond to a series of questions modeled on Bloom's Taxonomy.
Washoe County School District
Three Skeleton Key
Conduct a close reading of George G. Toudouze's well-known horror story "Three Skeleton Key." This plan breaks up the reading into several steps and provides text-dependent questions to ask along the way. Learners will have the chance to...
Curated OER
Piano Lessons
Playing the piano takes a lot of work, even before you touch the keys! Use a reading passage about learning to play the piano before answering five comprehension questions.
New York State Education Department
Comprehensive English Examination: June 2011
Get those pencils sharpened—it's time to see what the class knows! Using the resource, scholars complete a four-part English examination. They read passages and respond to multiple-choice comprehension questions. They also complete two...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Was that supposed to be funny? Scholars analyze The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County to determine if Mark Twain's story is indeed based on humor. Learners work through short response questions, vocabulary, and active reading to make a...
Curated OER
Responsible Youth in the News
Students research newspapers and magazines for articles about young people being responsible or being irresponsible. In this responsibility lesson, students discuss responsibility and the articles. Students answer questions in groups...
Curated OER
The Short Story: A Slice of Life
Learners are introduced to the characteristics of the short story. Individually, they use their own personal experiences to write a poem about their families to get them used to writing. Next, they practice reading various short...
Curated OER
Writing Questions
While this activity involving formulating questions was designed for older ESL students, it could be modified for use in upper elementary. Using this 15 questions instructional activity, students practice taking information and forming a...
Curated OER
Note-Taking: K.I.S.S. "Keep It Short and Simple"
Note-taking is an essential study skill, and it needs to be taught! In the context of a research project on energy sources, learners find multiple sources, evaluating, paraphrasing, and citing them correctly. Two lists with note-taking...
Novelinks
The Little Prince: Response to Art Exercise
Depending on your perspective, solitude can be lovely or very, very lonely. Kids take a look at the simple landscape illustrated in Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince, and write a short journal entry about their perception of...
Great Books Foundation
State of Affairs
Good verses evil. Scholars make inferences after taking a close look at the short story, State of Affairs, in which Daniel Defoe goes back and forth comparing good and evil thoughts through his writing. After reading the text, there are...