EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Identifying Author’s Opinion and Supporting Evidence: Sports in American Culture
Quiz time! Serving as the mid-unit assessment, scholars complete a Two Opinions Word Sort activity. In addition, they read an article about the importance of sports in America and answer text-based questions.
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge, Predicting, and Focusing on Key Vocabulary: “Refugees: Who, Where, Why”
Using the fourth of 20 lessons from the Grade 8 ELA Module 1, Unit 2 series, scholars discuss refugees' challenges when finding a place to call home. They also read and answer text-based questions about the informational passage...
New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: August 2017
Reading and comprehending a poem is a lot different than doing the same for a piece of fiction or an informational text. As part of a sample English language arts examination, readers put their skills to the test by reading passages in...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Text-Dependent and Short Answer Questions: Excerpts from “A Limited Supply”
There's no such thing as an unlimited resource. Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment by reading A Limited
Supply. They answer text-dependent questions and complete a graphic organizer about key terms in the text.
EngageNY
Close Reading: “Natural Resources and the Canadian Economy”
Readers continue to learn how natural resources are important to Canada's economy. They read, annotate, and answer text-dependent questions about Natural Resources and the Canadian Economy. They then discuss key terms in the text.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension: History of the Periodic Table
Although the article that launches this lesson is about the history of the Periodic Table, the objective is reading comprehension. Using the eight-page informational text, learners answer five comprehension questions and craft one essay....
Curated OER
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Bloom's Taxonomy
Take a moment in your Harry Potter unit to assess comprehension. Readers use knowledge gained for the text and from their own experience to answer seven questions based on events in chapters four and five of Harry Potter and the Prisoner...
Curated OER
Picture This
A unique writing instructional activity, this plan begins with learners talking about multiculturalism in small groups. Each learner will choose a picture from a newspaper, describe it to their small group, and think about how it relates...
EngageNY
End of Unit 1 Assessment: Analyzing an Excerpt from Barack Obama’s Back-to-School Speech
In order to assess their mastery of the concepts taught in a 12-lesson plan unit study of Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy, individuals read excerpts from President Barack Obama's 2009 Back-to-School Speech and use the strategies...
EngageNY
Connecting Informational Text with Litearature: Building Background Knowledge About Mexican Immigration, California, and the Great Depression
Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...
Curated OER
Reading Questions: Alex Haley's "My Furthest Back Person: The African"
Based on Alex Haley's moving essay "My Furthest Back Person: The African," these 11 questions support comprehension and prepare readers for discussion of the text. Use this tool, and the essay, as a nonfiction addition to units on...
Curated OER
Post-Reading Questions: "Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
If your class has finish reading Edgar Allan Poe's "Cask of Amontillado" here's a great post-reading worksheet. Whether used as a reading assessment, as the basis of group discussion, or for whole class response, the fact-based,...
EngageNY
Reading Literature about Natural Disasters: Inferring about the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on People Living in New Orleans
I survived! Scholars read a firsthand account from a natural disaster survivor in the text Save Bella! They record the gist of the text in their journals and answer text-dependent questions. They then take notes to more deeply analyze...
EngageNY
Analyzing Main Ideas and Details: Why Care about Water?
Pay attention to details! After completing text-dependent questions about paragraphs 10-12 of "Water is Life," scholars view the video "Why Care about Water. "They view the video three times and use a Main Idea and Details note-catcher...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Claim in The Big Thirst
Quench the class's thirst for knowledge while building analytical skills. Scholars listen as the teacher reads excerpt from the book The Big Thirst. They then complete a close read and answer text-dependent questions from pages one...
EngageNY
Reading Literature about Natural Disasters: Inferring about Human Impact through an Analysis of Eight Days: A Story of Haiti
This is a disaster. Scholars look through the book Eight Days: A Story of Haiti and discuss their wonderings about the text and natural disasters. They then complete a first read to determine gist and second read to answer text-dependent...
EngageNY
Close Reading: Paragraphs 1–5 of “Water Is Life”
Be more specific. Scholars take a look at domain-specific vocabulary by discussing an anchor chart. They then look at vocabulary words recorded from paragraphs one through five in Water of Life. After analyzing the vocabulary used in the...
Curated OER
Science Questions
Explore the concept of generating questions. Your curious learners choose a scientific question from a bowl and, as they listen to an article being read, they use that question starter to come up with their own questions. Then, they have...
Curated OER
Making an Inference from an Implied Message Within a Text
Show your scholars that they make inferences every day and might not even know it. Through scaffolded instruction, they break down the process of drawing information from context. Using example sentences and didactic questioning,...
Curated OER
Afghanistan: Country Report with Questions
Building fluency in reading informational text is part of the common core. Get learners reading information about past and current issues related to the country of Afghanistan. They read the seven paragraph passage, then answer four...
Novelinks
Count of Monte Cristo: Questioning Strategy – Tossed Terms
Do you know the setting of The Count of Monte Cristo? What about the main characters? Explore the elements of Alexandre Dumas' novel with a reading comprehension activity. Kids toss boxes with literary elements written on each side, and...
Curated OER
Fast Food Nation: Study Questions
Are you introducing your class to the horrors of eating unhealthy? This lesson contains 24 reading comprehension questions relating to the non-fiction book. Readers are encouraged to copy these and answer them in their reading journals.
EngageNY
Conducting Research: Asking and Answering our Questions about Rainforest Arthropods
Let's ask an expert. Scholars divide into groups to research and become experts on either ants or butterflies. Learners use task cards and text on their topic to complete a note catcher. At the end, they share their information with a...
Curated OER
The Outsiders: Question Answer Relationships Strategy
Kids learn best when asking questions about what they have read. Encourage active reading with a comprehension activity based on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, in which kids read passages from the beginning of the book and identify...