The country of Egypt is more than just big pyramids and ancient pharaohs. After reading a brief overview of this African nation, young learners will demonstrate their understanding of the text by identifying the main idea and supporting...

Summarizing a text means being able to identify supporting details. Your class can learn about transportation workers in Chicago as they read a one-page informational passage. When they are finished reading they'll explain what they've...

Do you know what a fallacy is? Discuss this term and its meaning with your class. Then, talk about why making generalizations about a large group of people isn't the best thing to do. As a group, study the included letter excerpt. It...

Learners exercise the strategy of summarization to recall important information in a text. They read to summarize the passage, "Ways the Ocean Helps Us," by Katherine Jones Carter, from "Oceans." Each student follows a list of...

Young scholars use examples of narrative and expository text to analyze and compare the two styles. Students read articles on life in Lesotho and Madagascar and use graphic organizers and discussion to compare them. Young scholars write...

Students examine how to summarize information from expository text. They read an expository text and identify the important information from the reading. Students identify the topic sentence and write their own topic sentences.

Let’s learn about frogs! Young readers are led through “Freaky Frogs,” a non-fiction article. Teach learners how to edit an article so there are fewer details to sift through. After talking through the article, they learn the six steps...

Using informational text to make cross cultural comparisons is a great way to build a global understanding and comparative analysis skills. With several handy worksheets and a Venn diagram the class will read to make cross textual...

Improve the reading ability of your intermediate and advanced Spanish speakers. As they read, they record 10 words they deem important to the text. Then, they summarize the main points, and finally they write an entire paragraph...

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...

When your class members have completed the novel Esperanza Rising, they will be ready to write an expository essay on how Esperanza responds to events and what this says about her character. Set your pupils up for success by...

Use picture cues as a tool in order to create meaning along with text. With a wordless comic, young illustrators discuss the main idea and character traits, and independently write a summary for a page of a wordless comic. This strategy...

Learners research the western movement in order to learn note taking strategies with nonfiction texts. They use the Internet to search for important information about the western movement using the Cornell Notes note-taking system. They...

Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...

Have your class participate in an interview activity using an informational text about the Amazon. After reading a Cultural Connections story about a person from the Amazon, middle schoolers write interview questions based on the text....

Meant for use with Maya Angelou's first autobiographical volume I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the materials here are designed for a homeschool setting, but they'd suit any classroom or text. Graphic organizers, chapter summary...

Bring some informational text into your high school classroom with this worksheet. As your pupils read Gender in the Classroom by Deborah Tannen, provide them with this analysis sheet. They study specific quotations and sections of the...

As your class finishes the novel Dragonwings, use these culminating projects. A vocabulary list is given for chapters eleven and twelve and either an epitaph or letter activity concludes the book. The final project consists of creating a...

Dive into journalism with your high schoolers! The resources provided here will help your learners write unbiased, clear, and succinct newspaper articles. First they spend time sifting through stacks of articles, filling out a graphic...

To gain a better understanding of Hispanic heritage and culture, as well as to build informational comprehension skill, learners explore facets of Hispanic American History. They engage in a class discussion, research three facts, and...

Use this exceptional resource to examine the discourse and debate that occurred at the start of the War of 1812 with your class. Learners will first consider their own position on the war in a silent journal writing activity. Then after...

Drafting a strong first sentence for a summary is an important step. Writers can use the formula presented on this handout to get started. The resource lists three steps to put together a strong topic sentence, as well as tips and hints...

Learners encounter the tools they need to begin their journey of reading. They must realize that they must gain comprehension skills to comprehend the meaning behind what is being read. Students use this strategy to pull out key...

Students discuss the importance of comprehension and the use of summarization. Through guided practice, they follow five steps in finding and highlighting important information, while deleting information that is not needed. They write...