Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Rl.4.10: Read and Comprehend Literature in Grades 4 and 5
Links to 94 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard RL.4.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4 and 5 text complexity band proficiently,...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Story Starting Participles
In this activity, Roni Schotter's picture book entitled The Boy Who Loved Words is used as the mentor text. This Language Arts Common Core Standards-aligned activity pre-writing task engages students in writing a collection of ideas of...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Cities in Mesopotamia: Understanding a Complex Text
In this instructional activity, 6th graders use details from a nonfiction article to create a visual representation and then, from that visual, provide evidence that demonstrates their understanding of the text. Includes samples of...
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Ascd: Building Literacy in Social Studies: Ch 1: Reading Social Studies Texts
Article provides excellent tips and strategies for building comprehension and critical thinking skills in Social Studies. It describes some of the challenges students have with reading and understanding their textbooks.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension
Comprehension strategies are conscious plans - sets of steps that good readers use to make sense of text. Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading...
Other
Ncrel: Reading Strategies: Before, During, and After [Pdf]
This page provides a detailed chart to aid students' understanding of texts. It goes through the steps of pre-reading, during reading, and after reading, outlining what students should be thinking about as they interact with a text. This...
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Personal Stories and Primary Sources
Students will explore the value of personal stories and first-hand accounts when exploring history, in this case, the events of the early twentieth century, which included World War I and the Great Depression. Through this five-unit...
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Craft and Structure: Determine the Meaning of Words and Phrases
Learn how to use context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word in a Social Studies passage.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: For Middle Schoolers: Activities to Build College Level Reading Skills
ACT has developed this list of activities to help middle-school students improve their reading ability. Parents and educators can use this information to help ensure that these students are on target for college and career readiness.