EngageNY
Video and Close Reading: “Developing a Vital Resource for Canadians and the World”
Scholars watch Developing a Vital Resource for Canadians and the World to learn about the supplement potash that helps plants grow. They watch the video several times, completing a note catcher to record key ideas along the way. Pupils...
EngageNY
Close Reading: Unpacking Specific Articles of the UDHR
Lesson 6 of this extensive unit finally has your class begin to work their way through specific articles from the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Before examining the rights actually detailed in the document,...
EngageNY
Close Reading: Becoming Experts on Specific Articles of the UDHR
A continuation of the previous lesson, which is part of a larger group of lessons on human rights (see additional materials). Here, in Lesson 7, your class will explore more articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After...
EngageNY
Researching Part 1: Reading for Gist and Gathering Evidence Using the Research Guide
If only life came with an owner's manual. Pupils assemble with their research teams to discuss which of Steve Jobs' rules to live by most resonates with them. Scholars also read informational texts in pursuit of finding the gist and...
Curated OER
Poetry Reading: Analysis Worksheet
Explore poetry by reading the poem "The Walloping Window Blind" by Charles E. Carryl, and completing an analysis with your class. The worksheet provides the entire poem, a graphic organizer to help with summarizing and paraphrasing, and...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 3
If you're looking to set your class up for writing effective arguments, try out this idea. While originally created with freedom as a guiding idea, the activity could easily be adapted for other themes. As a class, create a chart of...
Complete College America
The Marshmallow Reading/Writing Project
Which option would most children choose: One marshmallow now, or two marshmallows in 10 minutes? Learners watch the social experiment on video and discuss their observations. They then read articles and work in small groups to analyze...
Curated OER
A Year of Reading
Utilize literature books for youth as a means to engage new readers and celebrate reading accomplishments.
Curated OER
Read Between the Lines
Build comprehension, inference, and conclusion skills by encouraging learners to see the importance of reading between the lines.
Curated OER
Summarizing with Somebody Wanted But So
Teach your young readers how to summarize a text using a strategy called Somebody Wanted But So. Kids identify the character (Somebody), the motivation (Wanted), the conflict (But), and the resolution (So). The resource comes with...
Freeology
Summarizing
Scholars draft a summary using a graphic organizer featuring a story's characters, setting, main events, conflict, and resolution.
EngageNY
Summarizing a Data Distribution by Describing Center, Variability, and Shape
Put those numbers to work by completing a statistical study! Pupils finish the last two steps in a statistical study by summarizing data with displays and numerical summaries. Individuals use the summaries to answer the statistical...
K20 LEARN
#Summarize: Summarizing
What are the effects of one's life experiences? Class members view a slam poetry reading, a speech by President Obama, and read a short story by John Steinbeck about responding to tragedies. They summarize these events and then craft a...
Polk Bros Foundation
Comprehensive Nonfiction Reading Questions
Analyze any nonfiction text with the set of questions on this sheet. Class members practice inferring by noting the main idea and purpose of a passage. They also analyze an opinion in the passage and write a brief summary. See the...
EngageNY
Summarizing Informational Text: “Hawaii’s Endangered Happy Face Spider”
Put on a happy face. Using an interesting resource, pupils read an informational text about Hawaii's endangered Happy Face Spider. Next, they participate in a jigsaw discussion to find the gist of the article.
K20 LEARN
Slay the Slang! Summarizing Informational Texts
Middle schoolers get hip to the jive with a lesson about slang. They closely examine examples of slang and use context clues to infer the meaning of the terms. Groups read and summarize an article about a teacher who created a Gen Z...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge and Summarizing: “Refugees: Who, Where, Why” Part 2
What are some universal aspects of refugees' experiences worldwide and throughout history? Scholars read the text "Refugees: Who, Where, Why" and create two class anchor charts. Finally, they each write a paragraph that provides an...
EngageNY
Determining Main Ideas and Supporting Details and Summarizing: “Clothing”
Surviving winter. Pupils begin reading on page 18 of The Inuit Thought of It: Amazing Arctic Inventions and sketch how the people used animal skin clothing to survive the winter. Readers complete a main idea graphic organizer with...
PB Works
George Washington’s Socks Reader’s Guide
Dive into a class reading of the book George Washington's Socks with the help of this guide. Including a vocabulary list and series of comprehension questions for each chapter, this resource provides an excellent foundation for exploring...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Curated OER
Secrets of the Mummies
How did the ancient people of Egypt preserve their dead so well that their bodies are still recognizable today? Learn the painstakingly complex process they used for preservation. Young scholars read and summarize a narrative detailing...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Colonial Craftspeople
In the first lesson plan of this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders gain background knowledge of different jobs performed by early colonists. The class begins with a slide show presentation that includes a variety of great...
Curated OER
Bearstone
Use the story "Bearstone" by Will Hobbs to explore issues related to growing up. In this work, a troubled teen finds himself through an adventure in the wilderness. Learners practice summarizing, drawing inferences and conclusions, and...
Student Achievement Partners
"The Glorious Whitewasher" from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain with Mini-Assessment
It's the classic scene: Tom Sawyer is whitewashing a fence. Expose your learners to Mark Twain's humor while reinforcing reading comprehension. Eighth graders are encouraged to read and reread, achieving as much exposure to the text as...