De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Read to Learn, Share What You Learn [Pdf]

Students will use this graphic organizer to show their understanding of what they have read. Afterward, students will share the illustrations with their peers and explain how their pictures connect to the text. The directions for this...

"Letter to the Mayor" is a one page, nonfiction letter written to the mayor by 2000 school children in Chicago. In the letters, the children addressed issues such as trash, gangs, computers, playgrounds, and safer streets. After reading...

Students will use graphic organizers to help them make inferences about historical figures' feeings and motives. Students will summarize the information during an extension activity.

"How the Firefly Got Its Light" is a one page, myth about the fly who wanted to be special; he made a deal with the moon to be his friend and, in return, the moon shared the secret of shining. It is followed by constructed-response...

"Community Meeting" is a one page, fictional reading passage about the needs of a community and how they need to work together to meet those needs. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide...

"See Our Progress" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about students who turned a vacant lot into a prairie garden and then were interviewed and shown on the television news. It is followed by questions which require students to...

"What is Your Own Big Plan?" contains excerpts from a speech by President Barack Obama, Arlington, Virginia, September 8, 2009, concerning the need for a good education regardless of vocational plans. It is followed by a writing...

"Changing Transportation Routes" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about how the problem of public transportation could be solved through the process of surveying the community, developing a workable solution, and presenting it...

This site contains 17 nonfiction articles that are appropriate for students with a 6th grade reading level, as measured by the Fry Formula. Questions for each passage are provided. Graphic organizers are available for these copyrighted...

This learning module contains three nonfiction reading lessons that will assist student understand how to apply context clues when they encounter new vocabulary words.