Scholastic
The First Thanksgiving Feast
Following an online activity, scholars listen to a read-aloud of If You Were at the First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma. Pupils discuss their family traditions and complete a T-chart comparing the holiday then and now. Collages are made to...
Curated OER
Giraffe Comprehension using Eric Carle as the Feature Author
Students demonstrate reading comprehension by drawing a picture and writing a sentence about giraffes. In this early reading comprehension lesson plan, students listen to a read aloud and watch a video about giraffes before drawing a...
PBS
Master of the Airwaves: How FDR Used Radio to Ease the Public’s Fears
The political and economic climate during the 1930's was uncertain and tumultuous. But Americans' minds and hearts were eased with the reassuring words of their president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and addresses over the radio. High...
Curated OER
Picture This: Visualization
Sixth graders practice visualizing and understanding that visualization is an important comprehension strategy. They share their visualization of the story through original artwork and determine that ideas, and cultural settings can...
Curated OER
Debating Iraq
Students analyze the main themes of President Bush's UN Speech and discussion of the NewsHour report on the Iraq Debate. For this debate lesson, students answer pre-listening questions and view a transcript of the speech. In groups of...
Curated OER
Tall Tales and Urban Legends
Students identify and interpret what tall tales, urban legends, and cyberlore are and to find them in their own lives. They practice telling and listening to these types of tales and explore why people tell them. Students also identify...
Curated OER
How Does Power Affect Conflict?
Learners use several short stories to analyze different types of power. While discussing the role of power in these short stories, students will practice communication skills essential to conflict transformation, specifically attentive...
Curated OER
Class President
Fourth graders develop vocabulary to aid in comprehension as they read the novel, Class President.
Missouri Department of Elementary
Safe and Healthy Life Choices (Part 2)
Scholars listen to a presentation by a health care professional and then submit three questions they would like the speaker to discuss further.
California Education Partners
Gettysburg Address
Looking for an assessment that reveals how well readers understand complex text? Check out an assessment module based on "The Gettysburg Address." Pupils are asked to craft an essay that demonstrates their understanding not only of...
California Education Partners
Letter From Birmingham Jail
To demonstrate their ability to comprehend complex text, ninth graders are asked to craft an essay in which they use evidence drawn from "Letter From Birmingham Jail" to analyze how Martin Luther King, Jr. uses rhetorical devices...
California Education Partners
Hope Despair Memory
Elie Wiesel's "Hope, Despair and Memory" provides ninth graders an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to analyze complex text. Individuals craft an essay that draws evidence from the text of the speech to show how Wiesel develops...
California Education Partners
Bud Not Buddy
A two-day assessment challenges scholars to read an excerpt from the story, Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis then complete a series of exercises in preparation for a writing assignment. Day one includes an independent...
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...
California Education Partners
Follow the Water by Arthur Dorros
Assess scholars' reading and writing capabilities with an exam that challenges learners to respond to an informative text. Through note-taking and peer discussion, pupils analyze a passage from the story, Follow the Water from Brook to...
Curated OER
Comprehension: Create a Summary from an Expository Text
Children can learn to analyze expository or informational texts at nearly any age. This scaffolded and scripted resource provides teachers with the support needed to facilitate a thoughtful lesson on summarizing informational text...
US Institute of Peace
Mediating Conflict
Two's a negotiation, but three's a mediation! Demonstrate the differences between the two processes through a role-playing lesson. The activity familiarizes pupils with the role of a mediator and examines the types of situations that...
Franklin Covey
The Habits of Highly Effective Teens
Sally and Joe both want the last cookie in the jar, so they split it in half. That's an example of a win-win situation, one of the many principles Sean Covey outlines in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Using the...
Curated OER
Girders and Wrecking Ball Activity
As learners build the "girders" of conversation by staying consistent on a particular topic, they avoid the "wrecking ball" of an off-topic comment. To help students develop this important conversation skill, this resource provides...
Leadership Challenge
Paper Airplanes
The first activity in this leadership forum asks pairs of participants to design and build a paper airplane and then fly this plane from one partner to the other. The debrief of the activity asks these future leaders to consider how they...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
What's My Sound?
Students follow a power point presentation to practice the sounds each letter of the alphabet make. In this 'what's my sound' lesson, students apply word recognition strategies and demonstrate listening and comprehension skills to build...
Curated OER
Picture It!
Students participate in visualization exercises as a reading comprehension strategy. As the teacher reads a poem, the students visualize the setting, then read the poem "Daddy's Making Dinner" and create a drawing of what they visualize...
Curated OER
Silence for Solo Reading
Students examine how to read silently after listening to a number of teacher given book talks. They review the silent reading techniques of cross-checking, and the cover up method. Next, they complete independent silent reading each day...
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.