Curated OER
Reading Poetry
Present your class with an overview of poetry-related information. The slides are clearly organized by topic, starting with reading poetry, ending with myths, and touching on everything from the five senses to open and closed forms of...
PB Works
George Washington’s Socks: Short-Answer Questions Chapters 1-9
Build a literature unit around the book George Washington's Socks with this series of short answer questions. Broken up in two- and three-chapter increments, these reading comprehension questions allow young readers to demonstrate their...
Curated OER
What Can I Write About When I Can't Think of Anything To Write About?
Third graders write, illustrate, and publish a collaborative story. In this writing lesson plan, 3rd graders review story elements by reading stories written by professional authors and other students. They work in groups to write a...
Curated OER
Reading Assessment/ Test Preparation
In this reading test preparation worksheet, students read the stories and answer 36 multiple choice questions about them. This is an on-line interactive reading comprehension test.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension Assessment
In this reading assessment learning exercise, learners complete a 42 question, four story passages test. Students read about Stephen Spielberg, Lois Lowry, a shy boy in high school, and Haleakala volcano. Learners answer the multiple...
Santa Clara County Office of Education
The Rainbow Fish: Activities for Parents to Do with Children at Home
The Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister's award-winning story about the joys of sharing, is the inspiration for this resource loaded with fun. Suggestions for language and language arts, math, science, and social studies activities are included...
Anti-Defamation League
8 Ideas for Teaching National Hispanic Heritage Month
Here are eight ideas to celebrate National Hispanic Month! Scholars have the opportunity to read and discuss literature, include people and events in history, examine art, watch and discuss films, listen to and dance to music, explore...
Curated OER
Asking and Answering Lower-Level Questions
Help your kindergartners with reading comprehension using this simple sentence strips approach. They answer basic questions about a simple sentence, determining the who and what of the story. Use the graphic organizer during whole-class...
US Citizenship and Immigration Services
Thanksgiving 2—The Pilgrim Story and My Immigrant Story
The tradition of the First Thanksgiving is really a story of immigration. Connect the feelings and customs of the early Pilgrims to the experiences of the immigrants in your class with an introduction to the 13 colonies, the Mayflower,...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Main Idea
Readers are presented with a list of three questions and asked to actively listen to a story or article to answer them. They verbally answer the questions to learn the strategy. Next, read a story to them or have them silently read a...
For the Teachers
Cause and Effect Matrix
Study cause and effect in both literature and informational text with a lesson plan 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
Elements of a Short Story (SMART Board)
Seventh graders view a PowerPoint presentation about short story elements. They complete a plot diagram using a previously read short story. Students brainstorm events in the story. They discuss the difference between major and less...
Curated OER
"The Gambler" and "The Journey": A Comparison of Worlds in Two Short Stories
“The Gambler” and “The Journey” offer readers an opportunity to experience two very different views of Jewish life in Poland between WWI and WWII. Whether used as a part of a study of the Holocaust, or as a compare/contrast exercise, the...
Curated OER
Water Cycle Reading and Writing
Here is a great way to get pupils to express a scientific concept in a fun way. After hearing the story of Walter the Water drop and learning facts about the water cycle, the class will write a creative expository piece describing what...
Curated OER
Reading Strategies: Main Idea
Identify the main idea and the supporting details of a story in a literacy resource from Discovery Education. Complete with procedures, vocabulary, and assessment activities, this is a great way for pupils to practice their outlining...
Curated OER
Shared Reading Book Trailer Creation
Scholars summarize sections of a book and compile them to create a book trailer. They are assigned sections of a book to read and summarize before recording as short video segments. The segments are put together in order to create a book...
Curated OER
Writing a Personal Letter Using the Short Story "Eleven"
Challenge your class to connect to the text of "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros with this activity, which prompts them to write a personal letter from the main character's point of view. The story, prompt, and letter template are all included...
Curated OER
The Grimm Truth—Comparing & Contrasting Children’s Stories and Fairy Tales in Cross-Cultural Texts at Different Points in Time
Students explore world literature through completing several varied exercises. In this compare and contrast lesson students compare and contrast stories and how time and culture impacts the stories.
Curated OER
Water Cycle Reading and Writing
After listening to a story about the water cycle, learners create their own versions of this tale. This is a great way to have your class review the concepts of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.
Curated OER
Counting Up/Down Stories
Mirroring Jerry Spinelli's style in Wringer, chapter 5, pupils use the "counting up/down technique" to recall an important moment in their lives. In the book, the character is being punched, and between blows he remembers details that...
Curated OER
Same Theme, Different Story Using Fox by Margaret Wild
Middle schoolers work with themes in this lesson, which is based on Fox by Margaret Wild. Because the book has multiple themes, it is a great way to transition into exploring literary analysis and writing stories. A Six Trait writing...
Curated OER
Post-Reading Questions: "Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
If your class has finish reading Edgar Allan Poe's "Cask of Amontillado" here's a great post-reading activity. Whether used as a reading assessment, as the basis of group discussion, or for whole class response, the fact-based,...
Curated OER
The Clark Family Story: Tracing the Cause of Hemophilia
Ms. Strohfeldt did not omit anything when she designed this comprehensive lesson plan on DNA mutation and sex-linked traits. Begin with a pretest as an anticipatory set. Read a case history of the Clark family and the occurrence of...
Curated OER
Text Features of Fiction, Poetry, Drama: Story Matrix
How do novels differ from plays? Explore with your class the text features of fiction and drama by reading The Hidden One: Native American Legend and then performing a reader’s theater script based on the story. Class members create a...