Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this instructional activity about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the...
Curated OER
Sparrow Hawk Red - Attribute Web
A useful scaffold to help your class with character analysis and text interpretation. Questions about characters from Sparrow Hawk Red by Ben Mikaelsen guide your young readers to describe a character literally, along with interpreting...
Curated OER
Using Social Studies in Five Shared Reading Lessons: Geography
After several short 15-minute mini-lessons, your learners will gain an understanding of the characteristics of a non-fiction text. Using the book Map It by Elspeth Leacock, your class will become acquainted with non-fiction terms such as...
Curated OER
Discussion Questions for Shakespeare's Julius Caeser
Do not let Julius Caesar be Greek to your pupils. Rather, make the play a dish fit for hungry minds. Encourage your class members to lend their ears to a series of rich discussion questions so that they can become masters of the play, as...
Curated OER
Collaborative Literature Circle For the 21st Century
Using ichat or Edmodo 4th -6th graders participate in an inter-school literature circle. Students from two different schools pair up online through ichat and use a blog to conduct a book circle. This lesson is wonderful; it fully...
Curated OER
The Noughties
Take a look back at a decade your class will actually remember: the noughties. Guide discussion about events your class recalls from those years, and then have them analyze an article (included). Although not specified, learners need to...
GED Testing Service
A Close Look at Close Reading
Take a close look at this 14-page resource that contains everything you want to know about close reading, from what it is and is not, to suggestions for how to choose a text and craft text-dependent questions that encourage readers to...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 1: Contemporary Fiction - They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems by David Bowles
They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems by David Bowles is the focus of a five-week language arts unit unit. Fifth graders listen to various poems and participate in thoughtful discussions, examining vocabulary and learning new words in...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Ecology Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
A read-aloud anthology provides informational texts about ecology to boost reading comprehension. Third-graders listen and discuss readings where they answer questions and focus on vocabulary. Pupils complete extension activities,...
Curated OER
America’s Early Colonies: John Smith and Jamestown, Va
John Smith's 1616 letter to Queen Anne of England offers ELLs an opportunity to learn about a bit of early American history. The four-page packet includes the full text of the letter. In addition, the packet includes a worksheet that...
Curated OER
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: Concept Analysis
Make sure you are well-informed before embarking on a study of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. This resource includes an analysis of the text that a teacher can use to prepare a unit of study. It covers plot elements, themes,...
Novelinks
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Concept Analysis
Ready yourself for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with this analysis of the novel. Included here is a summary of the plot, a list of themes, notes on vocabulary and other issues, a brief analysis of plot elements, and project ideas that...
Curated OER
Persuasive Arguments
Examine persuasive writing using this informational excerpt about natural habitat conservation. Readers examine the headings of three paragraphs to determine their effect, then copy the first sentences of each. They use these topic...
Curated OER
The Last Lecture: Concept Analysis
Designed as an overview for instructors using The Last Lecture for the first time, this packet provides an overview of Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow's book.
Syracuse City School District
Reading Comprehension Unit Plan
A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...
Novelinks
The Wednesday Wars: Concept Analysis
The Wednesday Wars is the focus of this resource designed for first-time teachers of Gary Schmidt's Newbery Award winning novel.
EngageNY
Clarifying Thinking on Water Management: Revisiting the Gallery Walk
One, two, three, go! Scholars gather in triads and number themselves one to three. Each number is responsible for sharing a section of the map homework completed the night before as learners discuss domain-specific vocabulary terms using...
EngageNY
Launching Frightful’s Mountain: Building Background Knowledge and Establishing Reading Routines
Welcome to Frightful's Mountain. The teacher introduces scholars to the text Frightful’s Mountain by reading the first chapter aloud. Learners then talk with a partner about the text. The instructor models answering focus questions as...
Curated OER
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 4 ELA/Literacy)
Track the progress of your fourth graders' reading and writing skills with this practice Common Core assessment. Based on a collection of six reading passages that include narrative stories, poetry, and a series of informational...
Preswick House
Teaching Unit: Invisible Man
Invisible Man is a core text in high school literature classes and one of the most cited works on the AP Literature and Composition exam. Instructors new to using Ralph Ellison's novel and those who have long included it as part of their...
Novelinks
The Tempest: List-Group-Label (After Reading)
Collaborate with your class after reading William Shakespeare's The Tempest with a group labeling activity. As you note key concepts or words from the play on the board, class members suggest associations and connections to each one, and...
EngageNY
Reading for Gist: “Middle Ages” Excerpt 1
Dig deep. Scholars dig deep for meaning while reading Middle Ages Excerpt 1. They begin by finding unfamiliar words and adding them to a word catcher. Pupils then take a close look at adversity in the text and complete an anchor chart.
EngageNY
Writing Narratives from First Person Point of View: Imagining Meg Lowman’s Rainforest Journal
I spy with my little eye! Learners observe page 23 in The Most Beautiful Roof in the World and practice what they would add to a field journal. They discuss how details from the text help add to their thoughts. To finish, readers use...
Wordpress
The Inn of Lost Time
Test understanding of "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namoika with an assessment that includes true/false, multiple choice, vocabulary, short answer, and essay questions. The test is not entirely traditional since, for the first 10...