Curated OER
Reading Comprehension Jobs
Students practice different strategies to aid them in drawing meaning from their reading. Students, working in groups, read an assigned text selection. Each group member provided a summary of what they have been read based on a...
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Use Your Imagination: Reading to Learn
Students examine the process of visualization as a means of comprehending what happens in a story. They read a chapter in a novel, visualize what happened in their mind and then draw a picture of what they visualized. They write two...
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Fast and Fluent Frogs
Learners increase their reading fluency through the use of various strategies. After reviewing decoding, and rereading, students complete an initial read of a novel text. Working with a partner, they read complete a timed assessment of...
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Candide: A Herber Readiness Activity
“Everything will end up okay if you believe hard enough.” “People create their own luck, good or bad.” Prior to reading Candide, class members respond to an anticipation guide that focuses on the issues of optimism, prejudice, and class...
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Heavy Boots: Group Discussion
Jonathan Safran Foer's phrase, "heavy boots," becomes the focus of a class discussion of grief and sadness. During the reading of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, individuals place examples of their own experiences with these topics...
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Briar Rose: Anticipation Guide
Prepare your readers for Briar Rose with an Anticipation Guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of statements that reflect issues raised by Jane Yolen’s narrative about a young girl’s research into her grandmother’s...
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Maniac Magee: Found Poem
Instruct your readers to scrounge through the pages of Maniac Magee in search for descriptive passages or words they may use to write poetry. As they look for meaningful, sensory descriptors in Jerry Spinelli's novel, readers connect to...
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Cry, The Beloved Country: Anticipation Guide
“Poor people are poor because they are lazy and don’t work enough.” “If you are desperate, the means justify the ends.” Prior to reading Cry, The Beloved Country, class members complete an anticipation guide that focuses on issues raised...
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The Call of the Wild: Activities
“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life” and an excitement that comes with finding a good teaching resource. Included in a richly detailed packet designed to accompany The Call of the Wild, are a tableaux exercise, a silent...
Novelinks
Oedipus the King: Anticipation Guide
Is it possible to escape fate? Are all types of pride evil? Are family secrets best kept secret? Before reading Oedipus the King, class members respond to a series of statements on an anticipation guide that introduces some of the basic...
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Flipped: Anticipation Guide Instructions
Encourage text-to-self connections with a prereading strategy designed for Flipped. Clear steps are included, and the actual anticipation guide is the final page of the three-page packet. Ten statements are provided, and class members...
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Characterization Activity
Oskar Schell's narrative about his expedition to find out more about his father serves as a model for writers who are crafting their own narratives. Class members choose two characters from the novel and collect examples of the methods...
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Dandelion Wine: Anticipation Guide
What brings happiness? An anticipation guide for Dandelion Wine asks readers to ponder the concepts in Ray Bradbury’s novel about the joys of summer. The scripted plan includes the guide, additional activities, and assessment options. Do...
Novelinks
Running Out of Time: Anticipation Guide
Get your class ready to read with this anticipatory set for Running Out of Time. Small groups each consider one thought-provoking statement. After each group comes to a consensus, the whole class participates in sharing ideas and voting...
Curated OER
Paradise Lost: Problem Situation
Let your class voice their opinions with a group debate activity. Before reading John Milton's Paradise Lost, they work in small groups in assigned roles to form a position about authority and rebellion, comparing a teenager's punishment...
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Speak Anticipation Guide
Although labeled an anticipation guide, this plan is designed to be used about 22 pages into Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. A guide is provided with 10 statements. As they read each one, they mark whether or not they agree and whether...
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Dandelion Wine: Socratic Seminar
There are “a million things to talk about. . .” in Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine; however, the focus of this socratic seminar is the issue of living and dying. Class members prepare for the discussion by writing about their own views of...
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Peter and the Starcatchers: Anticipation Guide
Pique your pupils' interest before reading Peter and the Starcatchers with an anticipation guide. Given a list of 10 statements, learners choose true or false based on what they think the book is about. They then discuss in small groups...
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Out of the Dust: Biopoem
As part of their study of Out of the Dust, readers create a biopoem for one of the characters in Karen Hesse's 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel.
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Freak the MIghty: Anticipation Guide
Friendship, family, and violence are the subjects of an anticipation guide designed to accompany Rodman Philbrick's young adult novel, Freak the Mighty. Individuals complete the included guide, discuss their responses in groups, and then...
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Biopoem: Ender's Game
Here's an activity designed to encourage character analysis. Readers craft a biopoem for a character in Orson Scott Cards' popular science fiction novel Ender's Game.
Brigham Young University
Flipped: Problematic Situations
An activity based on the young adult novel Flipped, groups work to make the same difficult decision a character in the novel faces. Each group is given the same scenario about caring for a mentally disabled brother personally or putting...
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Problematic Situation: Romeo and Juliet
Is it ok to be mad at someone who comes to your party uninvited? What about someone who interrupts you? For this prereading strategy, your class members must decide whether or not they'd get angry in the 10 situations provided. Then,...
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Bud, Not Buddy: Guided Imagery Exercise
Develop readers’ awareness of the visual power of language with a guided imagery exercise. Set the stage and create the mood with dim lights, soft music and potpourri. Then read the provided section of Bud, Not Buddy. Next, invite...