Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
The Backpack Travel Journals
Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record interesting...
Ideas From Suzi
Guided Reading: Beyond the Basics
Elevate children's reading comprehension skills with this collection of guided reading resources. From paper dice with basic comprehension questions printed on them to a system for using sticky notes to identify key parts of a story,...
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities
Second and Third Grade Explicit Phonics Intervention
Support all young learners on their journey to literacy with this five-lesson reading intervention unit. Following a clearly outlined format, each lesson first engages children in practicing their phonemic awareness and phonics skills...
Curated OER
Mo Willems Author Study
Who is Mo Willems? Explore the author with your class. Learners read books written by Willems, compare and contrast the characters therein, and make predictions about what will happen. Finish off this author study by having small groups...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Asking Questions
Here is a reading strategies lesson in which learners use post it notes to create a bulletin board. They post their new questions on the bulletin board and look back at questions they have already learned the answer to. A great idea,...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Monitoring for Understanding, Simple Summary
Can your class sum up a text in a few sentences? Help them build this skill by starting nice and slow. For this summarizing activity, the teacher marks the main ideas with sticky notes. Learners read and reread the text, pausing at the...
For the Teachers
Main Idea Outline
Find the main idea in an informational text with a versatile lesson. Three levels of differentiation help you implement the strategy in any age or class level, based on the ability and objectives of your learners.
Ideas From Suzi
Responding to Literature
Guide your class through a text with resources for before and after reading. Learners ask questions, discuss characters and plot points, point out elements of the reading that stood out, and compose brief summaries.
Curated OER
Anticipation Guides Improve Reading Comprehension
Beginning with anticipation guide strategies is a powerful method for improving reading comprehension. First, list initial ideas for a topic the class will be reading about. These ideas are formulated into statements, some of which are...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Working with Words Teacher Directed Activity by Mark Cogan for Elem. Test Prep
Young scholars build word families. In this interactive language arts activity, students visit a website where they play a game creating word families. Young scholars may print out their work when finished.
Achievement Strategies
CCSS Unit Design Template for PE
From baseball and tennis to capture the flag and four-square, here is a great document that will help you design your next unit on a sport-related activity.
Curated OER
ELA Unit Planning Template Style One
Work with your department or on your own to create organized unit plans that connect to all parts of the Common Core standards. The three-page template includes space to summarize the unit, list standards for each category of the ELA...
Curated OER
Story Quilts-For the Classroom
Learners create a classroom story quilt. For this literacy lesson, students recall events from a text and illustrate their favorite part of the story on a quilt piece. The quilt is sewn together to form a classroom quilt.
Curated OER
Mercy to the Rescue! Maze Activity
In this maze worksheet, learners complete a maze, helping "Mercy find some sugar cookies." Students draw a route from one house to another to complete the activity.
Curated OER
Geo Jammin' By DeSign - Day 7, Lesson 37: Summarizing for the Summative
Students listen for specific information during summary presentations. They practice giving feedback on given topic according to a set of standards. The speaker reports to the rest of class from a report and listeners determine if...
Curated OER
Nonfiction Genre Mini-Unit: Persuasive Writing
Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.
National First Ladies' Library
Fitness for Life
Students discuss their favorite activities and determine which activities are suitable for older people. In groups, students research the benefits of aerobic exercises and the equipment needed. Students share their information with the...
Curated OER
Making Inferences
Students discover how making inferences helps people solve problems. In this inference instructional activity, students read a story aloud and discuss problems as they occur in the story. Students work in small groups and use events in...
Curated OER
Remembering Reptiles
Students will learn to use outlines as a comprehension strategy. Summarization is the most important comprehension strategy, and should be taught to maturing readers. During this lesson learners use the story of a reptile to practice...
Curated OER
My Guide to Summing It Up
Students are broken into reading groups based on reading ability and rotate one group at a time reading with the teacher at a table. They discuss the function of the Table of Contents and find a story using it and predict what the story...
Curated OER
Running the Road to ABC
Second graders, while reading and discussing the book, "The Best Older Sister," by Sook Nyul Choi, practices predicting the meaning of a passage based on its title and illustrations. They experience determining the main idea from text...
Curated OER
The Cat Came Back
Students are read the story "The Cat Came Back". Using Spanish, they communicate the context of the story with each other. They practice using new vocabulary, identifying main characters and putting the events into order. They use the...
Curated OER
Rattling Review
Second graders watch a PowerPoint presentation, and distinguish between facts and myths about snakes. In this snakes lesson, 2nd graders discuss and review facts about snakes and summarize what they have inferred from the PowerPoint...
Curated OER
Hero Or Zero?
Students investigate science and technology by reading a children's book. In this reading comprehension instructional activity, students read the story Archibald Frisby and discuss the ways we use science and technology in everyday...