Curated OER
Wordless Picture Books
Students use wordless picture books to examine elements regarding a story, the plot, and characters. In this wordless picture books lesson, students select a book to creatively discuss. Students then listen to the teacher read the story...
Curated OER
Reading the newspaper
Students read articles related to local, state, national, and world events using word maps.
Curated OER
Advanced Critical Reading: Ethanol
In this advanced critical reading instructional activity, students read a passage about ethanol then answer questions. Students make inferences, determine author's purpose and use context clues to find the meaning of unknown words in the...
Curated OER
Communicating My Ideas; Developing Self-Expression in Writing
Fifth graders identify new vocabulary. In this vocabulary lesson, 5th graders predict the meaning of unfamiliar words. Next they find them in a dictionary and use them in a sentence.
Curated OER
Fill-Them-In Fairy Tale
In this language arts worksheet, students personalize their own fairy tale by filling in blanks with their own words in a 3 page story. Students read the context clues and decide which words they wish to insert in the fairy tale which is...
EngageNY
Using Quotes to Explain Relationships: The Invention of the Electric Motor
Read it and read it again. Scholars do multiple reads of the text The Electric Motor. During the first pass, they read to discover the gist of the text. In the second, pupils use quotes from the article to explain the use of the electric...
For the Teachers
Cause and Effect Matrix
Study cause and effect in both literature and informational text with a lesson designed for several different reading levels. After kids review the concept of cause and effect, they read an article or story and note the causes and...
Curated OER
What Category do I Best Fit Into?
Use this pre-reading exercise to help learners sort familiar objects into categories. For each of these three sets, they draw a line from the object to the category in which it belongs. There are two categories for each set. If...
Curated OER
Tangerine: Vocabulary
Here's a great way to make vocabulary words drawn from Edward Bloor's novel Tangerine memorable. Kids create a word square, and in one quadrant write the word. A picture goes in a second quadrant, the definition in a third, and a...
Curated OER
Introducing Synonyms to Early Writers
Upper elementary schoolers examine the concept of synonyms and how using a variety of vocabulary through synonyms can expand their writing skills. They revise a paragraph using synonyms located on the Visual Thesaurus and participate in...
Curated OER
Heroes in Art
Students examine the life, portraits and speeches of Frederick Douglass. They consider what made his speeches effective and why he is regarded as a national hero. They write an original speech.
Curated OER
Studying Idioms and Word Meaning
Idioms are really confusing, but learning them will help your readers deepen their understanding of a variety of texts. This 11-slide presentation offers several examples (like "break a leg" and "mind your manners") to help readers use...
Curated OER
Idiom Exercise
Don't let your pupils bite off more than they can chew! Comprehending idiomatic speech can be very perplexing to language learners. Readers must use context clues, common sense, and knowledge of the connotative and denotative meanings to...
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Knowledge Rating Scale
How well do your kids know key terms from Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori? Have them review a list of words that they will encounter in the novel, and mark which words they know well, which words they've seen before, and which...
Curated OER
Flat Stanley Guided Reading
Second graders listen to their teacher read the book, "Flat Stanley". They relate the activities in the book to activities in their own life. They can also create their own pictures of Stanley.
Curated OER
Shhh! Be Quiet
Teach the digraph sh with your learners. First, model the sound the digraph makes. Then, have learners spell a variety of words that use the target sound. Finally, read Shoe Man, where learners can hear the words in context.
Curated OER
Reading for Comprehension on the GED
Students preparing for the GED test practice the components of reading for comprehension. Students complete a practice test activity and use a calculator to score the practice test.
Curated OER
African Slaves in Haiti
Sixth graders examine how Africans were treated in the Caribbean and Haiti after reading about the Atlantic Slave Trade. From a multicultural information passage, they complete a time line on Toussiant L-Ouverture and write an obituary.
Curated OER
Act It Out!
An effective way to demonstrate understanding is by synthesizing one's own work. Use a creative lesson designed for a unit on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun for small groups to show what they know about the play,...
Curated OER
Spanish 2 Fluxx En Espanol
Ninth graders investigate the mastering of Spanish while playing the card game of Fluxx. They follow directions in the target language, maintain a conversation, and solve problems using Spanish. Students use context clues while reading...
Curated OER
Making a Case for Beginning Wigh Suprasegmental Features in Pronunciation
Students explore the ways in which voice quality and intonation can convey meaning.
Book Units Teacher
Skill Lessons – Prefixes and Suffixes
Sometimes the best way to understand a concept is to break it down. Young vocabulary pupils work with word parts in a hands-on activity that prompts them to connect flash cards with affixes to their root and base words....
Secondary Solutions
Of Mice and Men: A Literature Guide
Whether you are planning on using Of Mice and Men for whole-class reading or as a selection for literature circles; whether you are new to John Steinbeck's novel, or it has long been a part of your curriculum, you...
Curated OER
The 44th and 45th USA Presidents
The transition of power between former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump may be the first political process that your students have followed. Fill out the details between these two leaders with a set of vocabulary...