K20 LEARN
Things Are Lit at Thornfield: Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre offers scholars an opportunity to practice reading comprehension skills. Pairs are assigned a word from the text, use their prior knowledge, and consider the context, connotation, and denotation of the word to posit a...
K12 Reader
What is a Tribal Government?
What is life like on a Native American reservation? Learn about the ways a tribal government works with a reading comprehension activity. After reading a short passage, kids use context clues to answer five comprehension questions.
K12 Reader
Different Perspectives: The American Revolution
Prompt your young historians to hone in their reading comprehension skills by considering the fascinating perspective that Rudyard Kipling offers in his poem, "The American Rebellion", which provides an alternative...
University of North Carolina
Book Reviews
Reading goes beyond taking in information—it also involves forming impressions about what we read. Sometimes we share those impressions through book reviews, a specific type of writing outlined in a handout on the topic. Using the...
Curated OER
Comprehension: Answering Questions then Rereading the Text to Identify Details in Support of the Answers
Even first graders can be exposed to good reading strategies and comprehension skills. The teacher demonstrates how to read informational text, look at the questions, reread the text, locate answer, then locate supporting details to...
Curated OER
End-of-Year Practice Test (Grade 10 ELA/Literacy)
Common Core testing is approaching, so why not provide your pupils with appropriate practice? This practice assessment includes both literary and informational passages for class members to examine and answer questions about. Also...
Curated OER
End-of-Year Practice Test (Grade 11 ELA/Literacy)
Set up a solid foundation for learners going into Common Core testing by taking some time to complete this practice test. Class members answer questions about both literary and informational texts, with an emphasis on textual evidence....
Have Fun Teaching
Making Inferences (20)
As an exercise in reading comprehension, kids use a colorful worksheet to record what they know, clues they have found in a story, and the inferences they can draw from this information.
K20 LEARN
Ichabod and Brom - Ghostfacers: Credibility and The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow
A headless horseman? Really? A reading of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" launches a study of how to use the A-CLAP strategy to determine a story's credibility. Writers employ these techniques to craft their ghost stories and make them...
University of North Carolina
Commas
Every time you pause while reading, you should insert a comma, right? Not necessarily. Using a comma to indicate a pause is just one of the myths addressed in a handout related to the pesky punctuation mark. After reviewing common...
K20 LEARN
Deconstructing Reconstruction: The Reconstruction Era
High schoolers examine the Reconstruction programs instituted following the American Civil War, the potential for change these efforts offered, and the realities that occurred. Guided by a PowerPoint presentation, class members read a...
K20 LEARN
Taking a Bite! Exploring Cultural Identity Through Food
High schoolers are asked to consider the connections between food, culture, and identity. They read articles and share what they learned in a jigsaw activity, read a short story, and make a claim about the story's theme, backing up their...
K20 LEARN
More than Meets the Eye: Direct and Indirect Characterization
Willy Wonka takes center stage in a lesson plan about direct and indirect characterization. Scholars read a passage from the story about Wonka's Grand Entrance and watch a film clip of the same, noting examples of direct and indirect...
K20 LEARN
Of Mice and Men in the Great Depression: Background and Setting
What were living conditions like in the United States during The Great Depression, and how do those conditions compare with today? That's the question young scholars consider as they prepare to read John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men....
Curated OER
MTV's Poetry
Students use several strategies in poetry to convey tone and speaker. In this language arts lesson, students read and build vocabulary as they gain a larger understanding of how to write poetry. Students then work in groups in order...
Curated OER
Act It Out!
An effective way to demonstrate understanding is by synthesizing one's own work. Use a creative lesson designed for a unit on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun for small groups to show what they know about the play,...
National Gallery of Canada
Reading Sculptures
Consider the elements and principles of design closely while examining works of art. Learners select an image from the provided pieces to write about in relation to the elements and principles of design. They then sketch and sculpt their...
EngageNY
Preparing to Write Historical Fiction: Determining Characteristics of the Genre
A language arts instructional activity helps young writers identify elements that make up historical fiction. First, it guides them through elements of fictional pieces with vocabulary cards. Then, pupils work collaboratively to...
University of North Carolina
Passive Voice
Why was the road crossed by the chicken? Because the writer forgot to write in active voice. Many myths surround the use of passive voice. Thankfully, an informative handout explains how to recognize passive voice and when it's okay to...
EngageNY
Comparing and Contrasting: Seeing and Hearing Different Genres
Let's compare and contrast! Scholars use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the experience of reading a poem and listening to its audio version. Next, they complete graphic organizers, comparing two different genres: a poem and a...
EngageNY
Seeing, Hearing, and Comparing Genres: A Poem and a Letter
One can never be too prepared. Pupils prepare for their upcoming mid-unit assessment by writing their group norms for small group discussions. Additionally, scholars read and listen to a poem, comparing the two experiences using a Venn...
EngageNY
Organizing an Opinion, Reasons, and Evidence: Expert Group Text 3
Let's race to the finish line. Scholars read an informational text about a chosen athlete. While reading, they add evidence and reasons to a graphic organizer to support their opinions about how their athlete broke barriers.
EngageNY
Conducting Research: Analyzing Expert Texts about the Mary River Project
Pupils read informational texts about the Mary River Project, searching for the gist. As they read the expert texts, they complete a graphic organizer to identify and analyze point of view.
K20 LEARN
Mob Mentality and "The Outsiders": Integrating Fiction and Nonfiction
S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders allows middle schoolers to reflect on mob mentality. After reading an article and watching a video about herd mentality, class members find examples in the novel of when characters go along with the...