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 completion of...
California Education Partners
Telescopes
An assessment challenges scholars to read an informative text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins as participants read a text passage twice then take notes, making sure to jot down key details. Following the...
Curated OER
Introducing the Memo
Examine the text structure of a memo with this worksheet. Eighth to twelfth graders decide if the purpose of a memo is to motivate an action or to provide information to the reader. They explore new vocabulary and make predictions prior...
Curated OER
Performance-Based Assessment Practice Test (Grade 5 ELA/Literacy)
Check in on the development of your fifth graders' reading and writing skills with this Common Core-designed assessment. Given a series of six reading passages ranging from narrative stories to informational texts, young learners answer...
University of North Carolina
Figures and Charts
Sometimes words aren't the best way to get information across to the reader. The eighth handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series describes different type of figures and charts to display complex information in a paper....
Curated OER
Introduce: Main Idea
Begin exploring main idea in a text by telling the class an interesting story. Can they recall the main idea after you finish? What clues told them this was it? Explain that you will apply this concept as you read a nonfiction book....
Novelinks
The Tempest: QAR
Asking questions about a text is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Apply the Question Answer Response strategy to your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read each passage, they decide if the answer can...
College Board
Reading—Synthesis and Paired Passages
Good readers make connections between texts. The SAT regularly assesses the ability to make those connections using paired reading passages, a topic discussed in an official SAT practice lesson plan on synthesis. During the lesson,...
Do2Learn
Nonfiction Report
After reading an informational or biographical text, have learners fill out this worksheet to check for basic understanding. Pupils write down the title of the text, the topic, a brief description, and the purpose.
Curated OER
End-of-Year Practice Test (Grade 7 ELA/Literacy)
Prepare your pupils for Common Core testing with this practice test. The test includes one fictional text and four informational texts for learners to read and answer questions about. Also included are answer keys, an online version, and...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Sorting (Pluckrose)
Find guidance to introduce math vocabulary in context using Henry Pluckrose's book Sorting. This text is an excellent cross-curricular resource for budding readers. Before starting, review some new vocabulary words: collect, common,...
Curated OER
Art Around the World
The non-fiction book Art Around the World by Heather Leonard serves as inspiration for learning how art reflects cultures and values. New vocabulary and background knowledge are fleshed out before reading the story. Afterward, the class...
Curated OER
Nonfiction Books: Table of Contents and Index
How do you find what you're looking for when reading a nonfiction book? Even first graders can learn how to use a table of contents and an index. They use the provided images of each to locate information and answer nine questions.
Roseburg Public Schools
Library Skills and Literature
The library is such a valuable resource for kids of all ages. Help elementary readers learn all about parts of the library, text features for both fiction and nonfiction text, and different ways to find books that they want to read.
Bantam Books
The Tempest: Think-Aloud Annotation
It can be difficult to refer back to a text when analyzing it, so annotation is a great tool for kids to track what they are reading. A thorough and well-organized activity guides learners through the process of annotating William...
New York State Education Department
Comprehensive English Examination: June 2015
Heroes rise from adversity. That theme forms the focus of the critical lens essay in a sample comprehensive English examination. The exam, which is part of a larger series of sample standardized tests, also includes two short response...
New York State Education Department
Comprehensive English Examination: June 2016
Those in positions of authority don't always have the best interest of their people in mind. As part of a sample assessment question, readers must consider how works of literature they read apply to a quote from Edmund Burke—"The greater...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 1
What was Shakespeare's youth like? Virginia Woolf considers the question in her nonfiction text, A Room of One's Own. Scholars begin reading Woolf's work before analyzing some of the text. Next, they write an objective summary and...
Mr. Nussbaum
Rainbows
Test scholars' reading comprehension skills with interactive practice. Learners read a short informative text about rainbows, then answer eight multiple-choice questions. A report details their progress after the exercise is complete.
Curated OER
End-of-Year Practice Test (Grade 11 ELA/Literacy)
Set up a solid foundation for learners going into Common Core testing by taking some time to complete this practice test. Class members answer questions about both literary and informational texts, with an emphasis on textual evidence....
Curated OER
Investigating the Swissair Flight 111 Tragedy
Middle schoolers read two articles about the same event: "Plane from J.F.K Crashes off Canada" from the New York Times and "No Survivors from Crash of Swissair Jetliner Off Nova Scotia" from the Associated Press. They then compare the...
Penguin Books
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Young Readers Edition
As the saying goes, you are what you eat. A useful set of lesson plans encourage young readers to take a second look at their eating habits. Pre- and post-reading questions bring in reflective writing and discussion while extension...
Curated OER
Reading Activities Using Bloom's Taxonomy
This short, yet effective, presentation gives pupils many great tips on increasing their enjoyment of what they read and improving their comprehension. The categories of tips include analyzing, remembering, understanding, applying,...
K12 Reader
Identifying Geometric Solids
After reading a short passage that identifies different types of geometric solids, kids answer a series of questions using information found in the article.