Curated OER
Are You Thirsty? The Effects of Pollution on Drinking Water
Discuss the availability of clean, plentiful water and the causes of water pollution. In groups, sixth graders discuss problem-solving methods for keeping water clean. They explore the function of water treatment plants and perform...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Writing With Scientists With the American Museum of Natural History
Follow this six-step method and you'll have a good understanding of what a good scientific research paper involves and how it is organized. There are plenty of samples for you to look at. This explanation is also very helpful for...
Read Works
Read Works: Passages: Predicting the Future
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read an informational text about the predictions of a futurist and answer questions on comprehension, text support, main idea, vocabulary, and more. Links to a paired text and paired text...
Other
Pde: Sas: Identifying and Understanding Use of Testimonials in Advertising
In this lesson, 8th graders analyze and compare the propaganda techniques used in informational texts, with a particular focus on the use of testimonials. Includes links to recommended resources, scaffolding suggestions, and an...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Annotating Text
This slideshow focuses on the reading strategy, annotating text. It defines the term and purpose, lists types of annotation, explains what to annotate, and suggests how readers develop their own method.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Critical Reading as a Learning Strategy
This tutorial focuses on critical reading using a downloadable PowerPoint presentation, "Critical Reading 101," which includes separating fact from opinion, 6 propaganda techniques, and 6 common fallacies in reasoning. Also provided is...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Financial Literacy
CommonLit.org is a wonderful resource to use in a Language Arts classroom. Each story or article is accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. In addition, students can click on words to see...
Other
Warren County Schools: Citing Textual Evidence
Well-organized and in-depth lesson plan on citing textual evidence and understanding inferences. Many examples are included, as well as exercises for the students to practice what they have learned. [PDF]
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: First Lines
First Lines is a strategy in which students read the beginning sentences from assigned readings and make predictions about the content of what they're about to read. This pre-reading technique helps students focus their attention on what...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Inferential Reading
Teaching students to "read influentially" helps them learn how to read more strategically. This technique is derived from the teaching model that learners develop knowledge via the process of interpreting new information in light of past...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Explicit Comprehension Strategy Instruction
Use explicit strategy instruction to make visible the invisible comprehension strategies that good readers use to understand text. Support students until they can use the strategies independently. Recycle and re-teach strategies...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Extended Discussion of Text Meaning and Interpretation
Teachers should provide opportunities for students to engage in high-quality discussions of the meaning and interpretation of texts in various content areas as one important way to improve their reading comprehension.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Five Areas of Instructional Improvement to Increase Academic Literacy
How can content-area, non-reading-specialist teachers contribute to academic literacy? They can incorporate these five techniques throughout their lessons: (1) provide explicit instruction and supported practice in effective...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Content Area Literacy: Science
The demands of comprehending scientific text are discipline specific and are best learned by supporting students in learning how to read a wide range of scientific genres. Besides text structures emphasizing cause and effect, sequencing...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Effects of Intensive Reading Intervention of Decoding Skills
This article summarizes a study that evaluated the effectiveness of intensive instruction in the Word Identification Strategy, a learning strategy for decoding multi-syllabic words. Results indicate that intense strategy instruction...
E Reading Worksheets
E Reading Worksheets: Summarizing Worksheets and Activities
In this instructional resource, students will learn more about summarizing texts. Worksheets and PowerPoint lessons are provided to reinforce understanding about ways to summarize nonfiction texts and to identify main ideas. This module...
Wisconsin Response to Intervention Center
Wisconsin Rt I Center: Close Reading [Pdf]
Teachers will learn about the importance of close reading. Teachers will learn how to implement close reading; measure progress of close reading; and find research to support close reading. A list of close reading activities are also...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: I Can Infer Character Traits and Support [Pdf]
Students can use this graphic organizer while making inferences about characters in a story or history text. Students will collect text evidence in the chart to support their character trait inferences.
InterLink Language Centers
Interlink Language Centers: Reading Exercises Science
An interactive exercise for students to use while developing an understanding of how to read scientific informational texts. The text is presented one paragraph at a time and difficult vocabulary words are defined as footnotes. Then...
Other
Text Help: Middle Grades Informational Text [Pdf]
A useful resource with ideas for teachers to meet the Common Core Standard 8.3 for informational text. The ideas are designed for use with the program Read and Write Gold, but could be implemented on paper.
Austin Independent School District
Austin Independent School: 10 Major Types of Inference in Literature [Pdf]
This printable worksheet helps students recognize the difference between an implication and an inference. Students are presented with quotes from the text and they practice with each of the ten types of inference: location, agent, time,...
Wisconsin Response to Intervention Center
Wisconsin Rt I Center: Cloze Passage [Pdf]
Classroom teachers will learn about cloze passages, a contextual analysis instructional strategy. Teachers will learn how to implement cloze passages, understand how to measure progress with cloze passages, find research that supports...
Michigan State University
Michigan State University: Intervention for Reading: Paraphrasing
Improve understanding of expository materials by getting the main ideas through paraphrasing. The paraphrasing strategy helps students recall the main ideas and specific facts of materials they read. There are three steps for teaching...
E Reading Worksheets
E Reading Worksheets: Implicit Character Traits Worksheet
In this learning module, students will practice making inferences about character traits. A worksheet is provided to practice with finding implicit character traits. This module is designed to support Tier I, Tier II, and Tier III students.