+
Worksheet
National Endowment for the Humanities

Close Reading Worksheet

For Students 9th - 12th
A passage from Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome provides the text for an assessment that asks readers to use evidence from the excerpt to decide if Ethan is a victim of his social and physical environment, or of his own personal choices and...
+
Unit Plan
2
2
Odell Education

Reading Closely for Textual Details: Grade 7

For Teachers 7th Standards
Enhance the reading experience with a set of lessons designed to improve textual analysis. Seventh graders use guiding questions to read both informational text and literature closely in the first part of the unit. Next, they work on...
+
Lesson Plan
4
4
Maryland Department of Education

The Concept of Identity Lesson 1: Close Reading/Socratic Seminar

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
John Knowles' A Separate Peace provides readers with an opportunity to develop their close reading and analytical skills as they look for what Knowles feels are the factors that shape our identity.
+
Lesson Plan
2
2
Hyperion Publishing

Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
The language of the Constitution can feel quite ominous to young learners, but there are a variety of strategies you can utilize to help your class grasp the important concepts and ideals in our nation's founding document. This lesson...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading of Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Predators and Prey

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Reading is fantastic, especially when it's reading about bullfrogs. Kids get cozy with predator/prey relationships as they hone their information-reading skills. They start out as they read a portion of the text aloud, then they...
+
Activity
Curated OER

The Sun Also Rises: A Close Look at the Cloze

For Teachers 10th - 12th
A passage from Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises offers class members an opportunity to demonstrate their reading comprehension skills.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Because of Winn-Dixie

For Teachers 2nd - 4th Standards
Take an in-depth look at a passage from Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie. Included here is the reading passage as well as a step-by-step procedure for reading the text, a set of text-dependent questions, and a final writing...
+
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

"Three Stones Back": Using Informational Text to Enhance Understanding of Ball Don't Lie

For Teachers 8th - 11th Standards
"Three Stones Back," a passage from Matt de la Pena's best-seller, Ball Don't Lie, allows readers to practice their close reading skills as they compare the passage to an information text about wealth inequality. 
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
K20 LEARN

Lord of the Flies Unit, Lesson 2: Leader of the Pack

For Teachers 9th Standards
The second lesson in the Lord of the Flies unit asks scholars to consider the characteristics of a good leader. After generating a list of these qualities, they annotate a passage from the novel highlighting the leadership qualities of...
+
Lesson Plan
2
2
Student Achievement Partners

"The Glorious Whitewasher" from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain with Mini-Assessment

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It's the classic scene: Tom Sawyer is whitewashing a fence. Expose your learners to Mark Twain's humor while reinforcing reading comprehension. Eighth graders are encouraged to read and reread, achieving as much exposure to the text as...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Ideal for Which I Am Prepared to Die

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
English language learners have an opportunity to closely examine the academic language in portions of Nelson Mandela's famous 1964 Court Speech, "An Ideal for Which I Am Prepared to Die," with a lesson that looks at key passages from the...
+
Worksheet
K5 Learning

Fire Alarm

For Students 2nd Standards
Read about the safety of a fire alarm in a five-paragraph reading passage. After reading, pupils respond to four short answer, comprehension questions.
+
Assessment
Pearson

Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 7 ELA/Literacy)

For Students 7th Standards
Give your class a taste of the Common Core with a practice test that includes both literary and informational reading passages. Pupils respond to related multiple choice questions and longer written response questions. See the materials...
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Advanced Critical Reading: Biomimetics

For Students 8th - 11th
Instruct your class on biomimetics while practicing reading comprehension with this worksheet. Learners read a passage that describes the efforts of scientists, starting with Leonardo da Vinci, to emulate nature to solve issues in...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tangerine: Instructions for Guided Imagery

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A guided imagery exercise draws class members into a particularly intense scene in Edward Bloor's Tangerine. After listening to a reading of an excerpt from the text, participants respond to a series of questions and then share their...
+
Organizer
Polk Bros Foundation

How to Summarize a Non-Fiction Passage

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
After reading a text, one way to find out how much your class comprehended is to ask your pupils to summarize. This worksheet helps class members prepare for writing a summary of a nonfiction text. They note down the topic, up to eight...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"As You Like It" by William Shakespeare

For Teachers 7th Standards
Jacque's soliloquy from Act II, scene ii of As You Like It sets the stage for a close reading exercise that models how to approach difficult, dense text and enables readers to practice reading comprehension and analysis skills. Learners...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, Written by Himself

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Foster reader confidence when encountering complex text and reinforce the skills readers have acquired to build and extend their understanding of text. The plan uses a section of Douglass’ narrative as an exemplar text. Directions for...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Student Achievement Partners

Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken" and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston's "Farewell to Manzanar"

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
Passages from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar provide the context for a study of the historical themes of experiencing war, resilience during war, and understanding the lasting trauma of war. Appendices include extension activities,...
+
Activity
Green Hope High School

Close Readings from The Tempest + New World Readings

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
What was Shakespeare's intent? That is the question at the heart of a summer assignment designed for AP English Literature. Class members focus on five scenes from The Tempest and compare the interactions of Prospero, Caliban, and...
+
Activity
Novelinks

Touching Spirit Bear: Directed Reading Thinking Activity

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
What experiences lead people to change and how do they do it? After reading about Cole's encounter with Touching Spirit Bear, readers complete the second out of a series of five activities to predict future events in the text. The...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Because of Winn-Dixie

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Readers analyze an excerpt from Kate DiCamillo's novel Because of Winn-Dixie. They read silently, and then hear it read aloud. Definitions for underlined vocabulary words are in the margin, and other potentially difficult words are in...
+
Assessment
California Education Partners

Grapes of Wrath

For Students 9th Standards
To demonstrate their ability to comprehend complex text, individuals analyze the details, syntax, and diction John Steinbeck uses in a passage from The Grapes of Wrath to reveal the develop and evolution of Mae's character.
+
Assessment
California Education Partners

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer

For Students 1st Standards
Conduct a lesson that leads into a writing assessment. After reading an excerpt from From Seed to Pumpkin, first graders demonstrate their interpretation of sections of the passage by sketching the details from each part.