Curated OER
Ag In The Outfield
Young scholars explore baseball. This is a cross-curricular plan that includes math, history, and agriculture. Pupils use their five senses to observe the materials a baseball is made from and identify the agricultural products used. In...
Curated OER
Wheat: From Field to Oven
How does wheat go from the seed to the table? While focusing on main ideas and supporting statements, class members read an excerpt about wheat production and complete a worksheet. The end goal is a display that shows the different...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Making a Storyboard
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a nonfiction text about a girl whose aunt is a children's book author and answer questions about comprehension, sequencing, supporting details, main idea, vocabulary, and more. Links to a...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: A Playground Problem
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a nonfiction text about building a model for a new playground and answer questions about comprehension, supporting details, main ideas, vocabulary, and more. Links to a paired text and...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Grade 2: A Brush With History
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read a non-fiction article about the history of a toothbrush and answer questions in comprehension, sequencing, inferences, main idea, transitions, and more. A link to paired text questions is...
![National Geographic: Informational Text and Young Children [Pdf] Professional Doc](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "National Geographic: Informational Text and Young Children [Pdf] Professional Doc")
Cengage Learning
National Geographic: Informational Text and Young Children [Pdf]
Research-based informative article on when, why and how to introduce and teach reading skills with informational texts to early-elementary students beginning as early as kindergarten.
Read Works
Read Works: Lesson 2: First and Last Sentences (Passage)
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students comprehension will be reinforced as they reading first and last sentences of paragraphs. Direct teaching, guided practice, and independent worksheets are available for this third grade lesson.
EL Education
El Education: Learning to Read Informational Texts: Building Background
In this comprehensive unit, students launch their learning about birds by using informational texts. As students read these texts, they build background knowledge and develop their skills as readers of informational texts. Included are...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Many Parts
Preparation for reading complex informational texts starts in K and First grade. Knowing the features of the genre, and how to navigate through it is one of the necessary stepping stones. This lesson introduces the student to different...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Text Feature Diagrams
At the end of this instructional activity, students will be able to identify and create diagrams associated with informational text. Included is a link to an eSpark video on diagrams, rules for group work, multiple examples of diagrams,...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Visual Representations in Informational Text
Students will look at examples of illustrations and diagrams in informational texts and discuss how each one helps enhance the text. Students gain the knowledge that sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words because a complex idea...
Other
Smekens Educational Solutions: Expose K 2 Readers to Annotation Strategies
This article discusses how to begin teaching students in K-2 to record their ideas about text using highlighters, colored pens, large graphic organizers, and sticky notes. Students can retell a story with a storyboard, use a web to find...
Read Works
Read Works: Grade 2: Three Lesson Unit: Main Idea
[Free Registration/Login Required] A series of three lesson plans designed to teach students to identify main ideas through headings and chapter titles, and then to write appropriate titles of their own. Lessons are based on the books...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: American Explorers [Pdf]
"American Explorers" is a one page, non-fiction, reading passage about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They traveled from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean with the help of Native Americans and made maps along the way. It is followed by...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Block Clubs [Pdf]
"Block Clubs" is a one page, non-fiction, reading passage about block clubs, which are groups of neighbors who work together to make rules and solve problems in their neighborhoods. It is followed by constructed-response questions which...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago Changes [Pdf]
"Chicago Changes" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about how Chicago changed from a small town to a large city. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: determining...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago's First Leader [Pdf]
"Chicago's First Leader" is a one page, biographical passage about Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the first non-native American to settle in Chicago. He started a trading post around which the city grew. It is followed by an open-ended...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Learn About Ghana [Pdf]
"Learn about Ghana" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the African country of Ghana including a discription and its history. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Saving Your Family's Energy Dollar [Pdf]
"Saving Your Family's Energy Dollar" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about ways to save energy and money by sealing windows and using insulation. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Settlement [Pdf]
"Settlement" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the hardships of the early settlers in Illinois. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes:...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Transportation Changes [Pdf]
"Transportation Changes" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the history of transportation across both land and sea. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes:...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet [Pdf]
"Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet" is a one page, biographical passage about Gwendolyn Brooks, an African-American poet from Chicago. It is followed by an open-ended question which requires students to provide evidence from the story; it includes...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Letter to the Mayor [Pdf]
"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...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Wacky "I Will Not" Chalkboard
Students can use this writing idea from the book Wacky We-Search Reports by Barry Lane to demonstrate understanding in any content area. Students use the idea of writing "I will not " sentences to show their knowledge of various...