Curated OER
Writing Summaries
Practice summary writing with informational texts. Young readers create summaries after reading magazine articles, newspaper articles, or other forms of informational texts. Readers use the GRASP strategy (read text, write what you...
Curated OER
Writing An Article
Young writers compose an article on the benefits of healthy eating. They are coached on how to use the passive voice in their writing. On the whiteboard, they brainstorm ideas of why healthy eating is important, then use those ideas to...
University of North Carolina
Abstracts
Some of the best information to include when writing a research paper doesn't come from books, magazine articles, or informational websites—it comes from dissertations. However, reading an entire dissertation is often a daunting task....
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
The Columnist Project
Imagine a list that includes Alan Abelson of Baron's, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and Mother Jones. High schoolers select a national columnist, read and annotate five columns by this author, noting the rhetorical strategies,...
For the Teachers
Fact vs. Opinion
Many informational texts are written as factual, but can your learners determine when an opinion is presented as fact? Have your kids read several articles on the same topic and record the statements that contain either facts or...
Curated OER
Science Current Events
Seventh graders write science current events articles using various media sources.
Curated OER
Sum Stuff
Students are introduced to informational text. Students explore nonfiction as a genre. They identify the components and text structure of text nonfiction. Students read a nonfiction passage and write a summary of the passage.
Curated OER
Summarize This!
Students explore how to summarize a reading passage. They read non-fiction books. Students use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the two animals they read about. They write a summary using the information in their Venn Diagram.
Curated OER
Summary, Note Taking, Main Idea and Details
Pupils take notes from oral readings and lectures to create a summary of the material. They use different sizes of post-it notes to complete the activity. They practice pulling the main ideas out of the given material.
Curated OER
Middle East Related
Eighth graders find a current event related to the Middle East. In this current event lesson students write a brief summary of a new story related to the Middle East. They give their opinion and tell how it affects their life or who it...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Curated OER
Canada
Students examine a variety of issues that affect the geography of Canada. In small groups they read a magazine article about a specific issue related to Canadian geography, answer discussion questions, and present a summary of their...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 18: Art Project! Design Your Own Book Cover
Finished your novel? What’s next? Designing the book cover, of course. But how to begin? After examining the covers of published books and noting the common elements of these jackets, young novelists design a front and back cover for...
Curated OER
Summing Up SuperCroc
Students read an article in a magazine about crocodiles silently, remembering not to make a sound, and trying hard to understand what the author is trying to tell them. They then write down some important facts they have read on a piece...
Curated OER
Super Summarizers
Young scholars examine the process of summarization by creating an event map. They discuss the process of summarizing text, then silently read an article from "Time For Kids" magazine. Students observe the teacher create a map for the...
Curated OER
Science in the News
Young scholars explore science in the news through articles, magazines, and internet news sites. They select articles, read them and summarize them to identify the audience that would care about their topics. As they present their...
Curated OER
Synonymous Sharks
Students locate and read an Internet article on sharks. They write a summary of the article, and complete a Concept of Definition Map using information from the article.
Curated OER
Current Events Poster
In this language arts worksheet, students choose a current event topic and look for newspaper and magazine articles. Students read the articles, highlight key points and important words, take notes and write a summary. Students design a...
Curated OER
Super Summarizer!!!
Emerging readers summarize a nonfiction text using a five step process. After a brief demonstration of the five-step method for summarizing text, they read a nonfiction article and write their own summary. A checklist of each summary is...
Curated OER
War With Iraq
Students research a variety of magazine articles on the issue of Iraq and conflict resolution. Students chart the costs and benefits of the military action. Students prepare a rough layout and draft some content findings on the...
Curated OER
SIRS Discover: Native American Biographies
Fourth graders work in cooperative groups to select and evaluate appropriate magazine articles on Native Americans. They view the program SIRS Discoverer, complete activity sheets then perform oral presentations.
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Summing It Up Can Be Fun!!
Students observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. As a class, they silently read an article about panda bears from "Ranger Rick" magazine and answer comprehension questions. They answer the five "W" questions, and write...
Curated OER
I Think, Therefore I See
Students participate in a memory experiment to discover how the eye works. After reading an article, they analyze a new technique which examines how the brain registers sight. They develop their own memory game and conduct trials using...
Curated OER
Some Simple Rules to Sum it Up!
Students observe and demonstrate three steps to summarize text. They read and discuss the three steps to summarizing, then silently read an article about dugongs from "National Geographic Kids" magazine. Students demonstrate the three...