Read Works
Read Works: Non Colonists in the American Revolution
[Free Registration/Login Required] This ReadWorks passage gives information about the roles of some French, Native Americans, Hessians, and Polish citizens during the American Revolution. A question sheet is available to help students...
Read Works
Read Works: Give Thanks
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about Thanksgiving traditions in a Native American family. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in author's purpose.
TES Global
Blendspace: Text Connections Pompeii in Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
A fourteen-part learning module with links to texts, videos, and websites that demonstrate text connections through various texts about Pompeii.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Informational Text: Reading Response: Kwl Chart [Pdf]
This graphic organizer can be used with students when they read informational text. Students will write what they already know about the topic and what they want to know about the topic by reading. After reading, students will record...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Unit: Reading Comprehension and Structure
This unit focuses on reading comprehension and structure. It includes lessons on the main idea and supporting details, theme, sequence, fact and opinion, literary devices, character, text features, inferences, organization of nonfiction,...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: History/social Studies: Adapting and Modifying Sources
This interactive demonstrates how a piece of primary source text can be adapted or modified for readers at different levels of proficiency in order to ensure their understanding.
Read Works
Read Works: Water Woes
[Free Registration/Login Required] This nonfiction piece includes information about the world's water shortage. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and establishes...
abcteach
Abcteach: Nonfiction Reading Comprehension for Grades 2 4
[Free Registration/Login Required] With more than twenty pieces from which to choose, teachers can print out comprehension checks for their students. Each printable document includes an informational piece and questions to determine the...
Other
Definition: Fiction v. Nonfiction
This writing and reading tutorial provides a detailed explanation of the difference between fiction and nonfiction in rhetoric.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: History Comes Alive: Developing Fluency and Comprehension
Let the power of imagination and inference serve as a "time machine" to bring Benjamin Franklin into the classroom! History and science come to life in a dialogue with Franklin the inventor, developed through lesson activities that...
Read Works
Read Works: Genre 2nd Grade Unit: Encyclopedias
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which students use the book Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia edited by Jayne Parsons to learn to locate information and find facts about a subject in an encyclopedia. Lesson includes...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Text Features: Non Fiction [Pdf]
Compare the printed page to an electronic web page and use this activity to discuss the similarities and differences. A cross-curricular tie-in with ecosystems. Could easily be adapted to another subject area.
Education.com
Education.com: Compare and Contrast Texts on the Same Topic
[Free Registration/Login Required] Explain that even if two texts are written about the same topic, they can have different information depending on the author's perspective or the source of the information. When we compare two texts on...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
Depaul University: Center for Urban Education: Nonfiction Passage Questions[pdf]
This site contains questions for each passage are provided. Graphic organizers are available for these copyrighted materials that may be used for educational purposes.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Setting a Purpose for Reading Using Informational Text
This lesson engages students in using a two-column graphic organizer to take notes. Students will record titles and subtitles and list questions that will correspond with each one.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: For Middle Schoolers: Activities to Build College Level Reading Skills
ACT has developed this list of activities to help middle-school students improve their reading ability. Parents and educators can use this information to help ensure that these students are on target for college and career readiness.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
Depaul University: Center for Urban Education: Evaluate Support for a Claim[pdf]
This resource provides a downloadable worksheet to use after reading a nonfiction text. Students will evaluate an author's support for a claim by answering the questions and prompts provided on the worksheet.
Read Works
Read Works: Primary Source Texts About Slavery
[Free Registration/Login Required] This nonfiction passage provides two stories about slaves in America with question sets. This passage uses primary source documents to teach reading skills including comparing and contrasting.
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Content Area Literacy
Content area lessons require specific techniques and knowledge that help students navigate different types of texts. Here you will find articles, videos, teaching strategies, webcasts, and research reports.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Literary Text: Hyperbole and Understatement
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, you will learn to recognize hyperbole and understatement in nonfiction.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Literary Text: Irony, Sarcasm, and Paradox
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, you will learn to evaluate the role of irony, paradox, and sarcasm in literary nonfiction such as speeches and essays. Take a look at the chart; it contains...
English Zone
English Zone: Elephants
After reading this informative article about elephants, students will hone their reading comprehension skills by answering a series of related questions.
CommonLit
Common Lit: "America and I" by Anzia Yezierska
This is an essay about Anzia Yezierska, an immigrant from the Russian-Polish border, and her struggles adapting to living in America. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary notes are provided. This site offers links to paired...
Curated OER
Study Guide for a Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle
This study guide provide activities for all chapters in Madeleine L'Engle's fantasy novel, A Wrinkle in Time. Connected text questions are provlded for Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the...