Curated OER
A Bearrific Home Adventure
Students and their families participate in an at home journal activity. In this journal writing lesson, students read the book If You Take a Mouse to School. Students take home a suitcase with a bear and writing elements. Students return...
Curated OER
Face to Face Summary!
Students, while in the computer lab visiting the National Geographic Kids website, fill out a checklist of unimportant/redundant information, look for important events and ideas and search for the author's main idea and supporting...
Curated OER
Autobiography Lesson Plans That Start The Year Off Right
Teaching autobiography or journal writing lessons the first week of school is a wonderful way to get to know your new students.
Curated OER
Sum It Up
After a review of the steps involved in writing a summary, class members read The Physics of Baseball by Sarah Ives and use a story web to identify the important details to include in their summary. Class members then choose an article...
Curated OER
Science Summaries are the Bomb!
Fifth graders read a dissection article and complete close reading activities for the text. For this reading skills lesson, 5th graders read an interactive frog dissection article in teams. Student teams complete a KWL chart and write a...
Curated OER
Putting It All Together With Summarization
Learners use a checklist to write a summary of a non-fiction article. The checklist includes: redundant information taken out, trivial information taken out, and only main points included in the summary. Using this checklist, they ...
Curated OER
What is Going On?
Learners summarize a fiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to glean important information for summary, students independently read a nonfiction article. They write a summary paragraph using the process outlined...
Trinity University
Julius Caesar: The Power of Persuasion
"Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..." Those words begin one of the most persuasive speeches in literature. Explore the elements of persuasion in a series of lessons related to William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In addition...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Claim and Supporting Claims: “The Shakespeare Shakedown”
Scholars continue to analyze Simon Schama's article "The Shakespeare Shakedown." They participate in a jigsaw discussion to identify the author's argument and supporting claims. Pupils also write objective summaries of the text.
Curated OER
Whodunit?
Students bring in a variety of books to be approved for reading outside of class and then complete a book review on each one approved. They remember to include a description of the setting and characters, plot summary and a conclusion in...
Curated OER
Retell And Summarize Text
Help your learners read a text and summarize it using their own words. The main idea and important details of an article are discussed before individuals write their summaries. To support discernment about what to include in a summary,...
Curated OER
A Whiff of Danger
Public health trainees read and write a summary of the article, "A Whiff of Danger". The article is not available through the link, but can be found on the National Center for Biotechnology Information website. After summarizing,...
Curated OER
Shorten the Length
Learn how to summarize by identifying main ideas and supporting details. Readers cross out unimportant information as they read through a text. Is it a random detail? Cross it out! They then draw a concept map, placing the main idea in...
Curated OER
What's Your Hypothesis?
Find the article, "In the Thick of Air Pollution," not through the resource link in the lesson plan, but through an Internet search. Have high schoolers read it and perform calculations with the statistics provided. The objective is to...
Curated OER
Three is a Toxic Number
Future public health advocates read a case study of a combination of water pollutants that may be linked to autism. The class is split into three groups, one to research each of the suspected chemicals. The look at how each one affects...
Curated OER
In Katrina's Wake
You will need to go to the National Center for Biotechnology Information website to obtain the article, "In Katrina's Wake." Have your class read it and examine maps of where toxic chemicals were located in Louisiana at the time, taking...
Curated OER
Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn Introductory Lessons
“What is the role or function of controversial art? And, should children, our children, be required—forced—to study certain works they may find painful or humiliating or offensive?” Robert Zalisk’s question, found in his article, “Uproar...
Curated OER
Flight Formation: The V's Have It!
Read, revisit, and reflect. Older elementary students summarize main idea 6using key details. They consider the V formation that birds fly in, summarize an informational text, and write critical thinking questions.
Curated OER
The Front Page: Asking Geographic Questions
Learners examine how to ask geographic questions. They read an article with details omitted, list possible geographic questions, and write a summary of the article.
Curated OER
Rights of the Accused: To Be Confronted with the Witnesses Against Him
Students take on the role of Supreme Court Justices, after reading summary of a case and the arguments for and against a defendant's appeal. They make a decision, write majority and minority opinions, and report their decision.
Curated OER
Lead and Mercury: Comparing Two Environmental Evils
High schoolers in chemistry or health courses look at the material safety data sheet (MSDS) and periodic table of elements to gather information about mercury and lead, two toxic materials that have been found in food products. They read...
Curated OER
Fact and Opinion Lesson Plan
How are fact and opinion different? Middle schoolers explore fact and opinion and write articles pertaining to a football match, eliminating all opinion statements in order to focus on the facts. Then they discuss bias in the media....
Curated OER
To Go Solar or Not to Go Solar!
Middle schoolers imagine that they are on a panel to consider if a solar energy system would be advantageous to a new school as it is being built. They read the included handout and then each play a role as a participant in a community...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3
Make analyzing the sequence of events in an informational text easy. Ask readers to craft a one-sentence summary of each paragraph in a document and create a text map. To demonstrate their understanding of the process, participants read...