Curated OER
Third Grade Fluency Lesson
Looking for an activity to increase fluency? Third graders will practice reading comprehension by expanding their reading level. They will demonstrate for their teacher their current reading level and then decide on a goal to be reached...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 2: Religion and the Argument for American Independence
Young scholars examine how religion affected arguments justifying American independence. They read and analyze primary source documents, and write an essay analyzing how Americans used religious arguments to justify revolution against a...
EngageNY
Understanding Douglass’s Words: Learning to Read
How is a sentence like the human body? Scholars think about the comparison as they view an image of the human anatomy and begin to complete an Anatomy of a Sentence anchor chart. They review roots, prefixes, and suffixes and then begin...
Curated OER
Comprehension Strategy Instruction: Questioning
Providing learners with a solid armory of reading strategies is a good way to help them build better reading comprehension. The teacher will model how to use a questioning checklist to better understand what she is reading. Pupils will...
Curated OER
Fever 1793: Anticipation Guide
Introduce the themes of Fever 1793 and determine your class members’ level of background knowledge with an anticipation guide for Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel about the yellow fever epidemic that swept Philadelphia. For each prompt,...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Flora's Box
Young readers consider text-to-self connections. Learners discover the text-to-self connection as they read Flora's Box by Tina Althaide. They practice high frequency words, prepositions, and 1:1 correspondence.
Curated OER
Expression Direction: Growing Independence and Fluency
Looking to move children away from monotone reading? That's what they will practice here. In a guided learning lesson, the class reviews punctuation marks and practices what type of intonation should accompany each. They then listen...
Curated OER
Reading to Learn: Sum it Up!
Students practice summarizing texts they are reading to aid in their understanding of what they have read. After learning the steps involved in summarizing a text, students practice the five basic steps used in summarization.
Deliberating in a Democracy
Free and Independent Press
Young scholars determine how free press principles can be compromised. For this global studies instructional activity, students read an article titled "Free and Independent Press." Young scholars respond to discussion questions regarding...
California Education Partners
Seeing Eye to Eye
A performance task challenges scholars to read an informational text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins with an independent reading of Seeing Eye to Eye by Leslie Hall. A second reading follows with the...
Curated OER
Chapter 6: Christianity and the Transformation of the Roman World
The history of the Christian faith makes up a fascinating element of western civilization, as demonstrated in this comprehensive online resource. A chapter quiz features short-answer questions based on the ministry of Jesus, the spread...
Curated OER
Western Civilizations, Chapter 9: The High Middle Ages: Religious and Intellectual Developments
If you are looking for a comprehensive guide to western civilizations, explore this online resource! Although designed for use with the Western Civilizations text, this site can be implemented in any course. A chapter quiz challenges...
Curated OER
Western Civilizations, Chapter 12: The Civilization of the Renaissance
If you can't take your western civilization class to the Renaissance Faire, try this online resource to give them an idea of this era and others! While designed to accompany the Western Civilizations text, this tool can be utilized...
EngageNY
Introducing the Process for Close Reading: Meeting Frederick Douglass
To learn more about Frederick Douglass, class members complete close reads of excerpts from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. They complete a close reading guide and questions for each excerpt. Pupils then add to the...
EngageNY
Close Reading: The Introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
As part of a group of lessons, your class will return to the primary text for this unit, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Key vocabulary as well as close reading strategies continue to be the focus skills; however, this lesson...
Curated OER
Western Civilizations, Chapter 5: Roman Civilization
Investigate Ancient Rome with this comprehensive online western civilizations website. While designed for use alongside the Western Civilizations textbook, the tools on this site can be used to emphasize any study. A chapter quiz...
Curated OER
Classroom Guide for the Redwall Series
Students participate in cross-curricular activities and readings to become familiar with the works of Brian Jacques. In this heroes lesson, students discuss the character traits of legends and how their characters develop through events...
Curated OER
Jim Murphy, The Great Fire - Grade 6
The Great Fire by Jim Murphy provides the text for a study of the Chicago fire of 1871. The plan is designed as a close reading activity so that all learners have the same background information require for writing. Richly detailed, the...
Curated OER
Excited, Sad, Happy, Mad: Growing Independence and Fluency
Students observe and demonstrate a variety of strategies for reading with expression. They listen to the teacher read parts of the book "Owen" by Kevin Henke with and without expression and discuss the differences. In pairs, students...
Achieve The Core
Linda R. Monk, Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution - Grade 8
“We the people . . .” Thus begins the Preamble to the Constitution. Using a close reading approach, class members examine an excerpt from Linda Monk’s article that traces how the interpretation of these words has evolved. Some of your...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Ruta Sepetys
Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Ideas, Part 1: “The Border”
What is your strategy? Scholars read "The Border" and work with a partner to practice reading strategies to use while independent reading. They identify difficult parts where they practiced rereading by marking them with sticky notes,...
Penguin Books
Folklore and Fairytales: A Guide to Using Traditional Tales and Reimagined Classics
Every culture has its own stories to tell. An interesting educator's guide shares a large collection of fairytales and folktales, some from different cultures and some re-creations of classics. A summary and brief teaching ideas...
The Alamo
A Teacher’s Guide to Sam Houston
Need a teacher's guide all about Sam Houston and how he relates to the Texas Revolution? Look no further! The guide includes a timeline detailing Houston's life, important milestones, and relevant maps that include his movement around...