K5 Learning
An Honestly Fun Camp
Six short answer questions challenge scholars to show what they know after reading a passage about a boy not so keen on his first trip to summer camp.
Curated OER
Making Text-to-Text Connections
Model for your class how to make text-to-text connections by following the script presented by this resource. No specific texts are offered as examples.
Novelinks
The Tempest: List-Group-Label (After Reading)
Collaborate with your class after reading William Shakespeare's The Tempest with a group labeling activity. As you note key concepts or words from the play on the board, class members suggest associations and connections to each one, and...
Bantam Books
The Tempest: Fishbowl Discussion Strategy
Readers learn together with a group discussion activity. As they read William Shakespeare's The Tempest, high schoolers prepare for a fishbowl discussion in which three or four learners sit in the middle of a large circle and have a...
DeKalb County Schools
Compare/Contrast
A series of reading activities is sure to engage your young readers! Based on comparing and contrasting ideas, the packet provides opportunities to compare characters, themes, texts, and other elements of fiction.
Novelinks
Words by Heart: Guided Imagery
Sad, depressed, miserable, inconsolable, forlorn: so many synonyms have a lot of variety with their connotations. Through the guided imagery activity, writers explore the use of connotation and its influence on imagery and description by...
Curated OER
Self-Monitoring Strategies and Vocabulary Games
Teachers model self-monitering strategies for their students. They participate in games and artwork that help them increase their vocabulary. They also complete a crossword puzzle.
Curated OER
Stellaluna
First graders discuss the strategy of asking yourself questions while reading. in this Stellaluna activity, 1st graders write questions on a chart about the story. Students turn and talk after reading chunks of text. Students see which...
For the Teachers
Main Idea Outline
Find the main idea in an informational text with a versatile lesson. Three levels of differentiation help you implement the strategy in any age or class level, based on the ability and objectives of your learners.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
One Land, Many Trails: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 5)
English is not the only subject that requires its own set of vocabulary words—geography does too! A series of language development lessons designed to be used with Theme 5: One Land, Many Trails helps introduce readers to key vocabulary...
EngageNY
Close Reading: Louie’s Change of Heart
Scholars read additional pages in Unbroken to discover more about Louie's character. Readers use turn-and-talk strategies to discuss character traits that describe Louie. They then answer text-dependent questions and cite evidence to...
Curated OER
Esperanza Rising - Literature Circles and Review (Day 3)
Kids love working with their peers. Get your class into small literature circles and have them complete weekly assignments. Before beginning this week's activity, have each learner write a letter from Esperanza in California to Abuelita...
Curated OER
"Flying to Fluency"
Students become fluent readers by decoding words and practicing mastery of phoneme correspondences. They also practice repeated readings of texts along with timed readings of the book, "Pat's Jam." Each student interacts with a bulletin...
Curated OER
Pencil Talk And Other School Poems
Students engage in a lesson to strengthen reading comprehension, the lesson focuses on the skill of making connections of story details and life experiences. The most important aspect of the lesson is for them to develop confidence while...
Curated OER
Chapter Tableaux: Visualizing The Call of the Wild
Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...
University of North Carolina
Reorganizing Drafts
Poor organization often destroys an otherwise good paper. After writing a first draft, individuals consider the organization of ideas, a topic discussed in the 16th handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series. The resource covers...
EngageNY
Identifying Author’s Opinion and Evidence: The Value of Sports in People’s Lives, Part I
Just like instant replay, it's time to take a closer look! Pupils work together to add ideas to a Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart. They then put their knowledge to the test as they read an informational article about the...
Curated OER
Charlotte's Web
Fourth graders focus on fluency by reading the book Charlotte's Web. In this reading strategies lesson plan, 4th graders partner read, do guided reading, and independent reading to increase fluency. Students use Venn Diagrams, discuss...
Curated OER
Improving Elementary Reading Literacy
Students enhance their literary skills through phonemic awareness. For this reading development lesson, students read several storybooks and analyze the phonetics, vocabulary, and overall story. The students then rewrite what they have...
Curated OER
Zoom Broom
Learners explore comprehension strategies as they listen to Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini. As the story is read, teacher and pupils will stop occasionally to make text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-world connections. They also...
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Happy Birthday, Moon (Asch)
Can you wish the moon a happy birthday? Beginning readers contemplate this as they listen to Frank Asch's book Happy Birthday, Moon, the context for a vocabulary study. There are three words outlined here: chat, echo, and perfectly, but...
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....
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: Assessment Strategy
Close up your study of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a letter-writing assignment. Pupils prepare by journaling and sharing with a partner. They then compose letters that focus on a big idea from the...