SUNY Empire State College
Empire State College: Developing Ideas for Writing
Explains nine methods for developing ideas for writing, including freewriting, brainstorming, clustering/mapping, maintaining a personal journal, responding to a text, maintaining a response journal, responding to a specific assignment,...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Spiritual Waters
After analyzing primary source documents, pictures, and artifacts, students will use the describe, analyze, and interpret method to compare and contrast a sketch of Tahoe City in 1865 to a photograph of modern day Tahoe City. Then...
Other
Curriculum Associates: Determining Theme or Central Idea [Pdf]
In this reading comprehension lesson unit, students are guided in learning how to find the main theme or idea of a text and understanding how details in the text convey that. Includes lots of exercises and examples, as well as...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Comics in the Classroom: Introduction to Narrative Structure
Contains plans for four lessons that teach students about narrative plot structures by using "The Three Little Pigs" fairy tale or a similar story. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites...
University of South Florida
Fcat Express: Cause and Effect
Site provides extensive assistance in preparing 4th grade students for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. This section helps students identify cause and effect in literature.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Metamorphosis Stories of Change
The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp. Students realize that the narrative impulse underlies even...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Introducing Text Structures in Writing 5th Grade
This instructional activity engages students in learning about text structures. Graphic organizers are provided to assist students in planning writings that have the following text structures: problem and solution; sequence; cause and...
Education.com
Education.com: Compare and Contrast Non Fiction Stories: Extinct Birds
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will compare two informational texts about two extinct birds, the Great Auk and the Dodo. A Venn Diagram is provided to be used when comparing an contrasting tests.
Teachers.net
Teachers.net: The Gingerbread Man
Introduce your primary students to retelling and sequencing skills. Will also help move your students to higher-level thinking which deals with characters, setting, and plot. Site offers one week's worth of lessons.
CPALMS
Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: Integrating Information: A Titanic Challenge
Read about the sinking of the Titanic and learn to identify key ideas in multiple texts, review similarities and differences between those key ideas, and identify the difference between important and interesting key ideas. This...
Other
Curriculum Associates: Comparing and Contrasting Texts [Pdf]
In these activities, students are asked to compare and contrast two versions of each event with two pieces of writing that are about the same topic. Teaching notes with answer keys are provided as well.
![Scholastic: So That's the Reason! [Pdf] Unknown Type](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/32238-436f863b7c91b994bd9fe2e7c4a03769.jpg?1661264711 "Scholastic: So That's the Reason! [Pdf] Unknown Type")
Scholastic
Scholastic: So That's the Reason! [Pdf]
Simple, one-page printable worksheet to introduce your students to cause and effect. Gives one set example, and has space at the bottom to apply to any story you read.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: The Sketch N Write [Pdf]
This is a PDF lesson. After studying vocabulary words or concepts that have similarities and differences, students create a two-sided Sketch-n-Write for two or more words (or concepts). On the right-hand side of the Sketch-n-Write...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: Compare/contrast Essay [Pdf]
This PDF lesson focuses on writing a comparison/contrast essay, which is a great format for helping young scholars think deeply about two ideas or concepts with multiple similarities and differences. This type of essay has four-parts -1)...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Now & Then
Inspired by Gene Barretta's Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin this fantastic cross-curricular activity has students comparing or contrasting a particular topic of history with how things are in this day and age.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Part 2 Reading: Informational Text: Cause and Effect Text Structure
Cause and Effect is a text organization structure and knowing this structure can help you in comprehending a text. Learn about these strategies on this site.
E Reading Worksheets
E Reading Worksheets: Patterns of Organization: Order of Importance
This site provides an explanation of the order of importance text structure. A diagram is provided to provide to supplement the explanation.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
Depaul University: Center for Urban Education: I Can Compare and Contrast [Pdf]
This resource is a poster that includes cues that will help students compare and contrast information. These questions can be applied to fiction and nonfiction passages.
McGraw Hill
Mc Graw Hill:informational Text: Analyze Development of Text Elements:individuals
Read an informational piece, and learn how to analyze the development of individuals in the text. Includes practice exercises.
McGraw Hill
Mc Graw Hill: Informational Text: Analyze Development of Text Elements: Events
Read an informational piece, and learn how to analyze the development of an event in the text.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Part 2 Reading: Informational Text: Compare Text Structures
Compare the text structures in two nonfiction passages in this tutorial.
University of South Florida
Fcat Express: Compare & Contrast
Strategies to help students recognize similarities and differences provided by a standardized test preparation site intended for fourth grade. Includes strategies such as Character Frames, Character Mapping, Semantic Feature Analysis,...
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Part 2 Reading: Comparison and Contrast Text Structure
A reference article showing reading strategies to understand text structure of comparison and contrast.
Teachnology
Teachnology: Lesson Plan: It's All About Organization
In this lesson, third through fifth graders learn to organize their writing to form a cohesive paragraph. They began by making an art project such as a drawing; then they write sentences describing their art, and write an organized...