Reading Comprehension

Students become 'Word Detectives' to identify 46 high-frequency sight words from the 'Second Sight Word Song'. The lesson involves a classroom search, air-writing during video viewing, and a text-based highlighting mission.

Students practice retelling a story using their sequenced pictures and transition words like 'first' and 'then'.

Small groups work together to sequence large picture cards in the correct order while listening to a familiar story.

Students learn to recognize story resolutions and auditory cues that signal a story is coming to an end.

Students focus on the middle of the story, identifying the 'problem' or excitement using visual and auditory cues.

Students explore the concept of a story's 'beginning' by identifying characters and setting as a story opens.

Students choose a short passage to practice repeatedly with the audio support. Finally, they record themselves reading independently to demonstrate their fluency and expression.

Students engage in a structured echo reading activity where they listen to a sentence, pause the audio, and repeat it back, aiming to match the speed and musicality of the narrator.

Students follow highlighted text while listening specifically for pauses at periods and pitch changes at question marks. They use physical movements to signal when they hear and see these punctuation marks in the read-along.

Using a read-along story, students pause to identify how a character feels based on the narrator's tone. They then practice mimicking that specific emotion while reading the corresponding highlighted sentence.

Students listen to two versions of a text excerpt: one robotic and one expressive. They discuss how the expressive version makes the story more interesting and easier to understand, establishing the goal for the unit.

In this final project-based lesson, students select a poem and pair it with background audio to enhance its imagery and mood. They present their work and explain their artistic choices.

Students investigate onomatopoeia and alliteration as auditory 'sound effects' in poetry. They practice identifying these devices and using them to enhance their own reading of literary texts.

By comparing different audio interpretations of the same poem, students learn how performance affects mood and tone. They identify key vocabulary that signals the emotional heart of a text.

Students track rhythm and rhyme schemes in read-along poems, using physical movement like clapping to identify meter. They learn how the structure of a poem influences the pace and flow of reading.

Students listen to descriptive poetry with their eyes closed to form mental images, then compare their visualizations with the actual text. This lesson emphasizes the connection between auditory cues and mental visualization.

A culminating project where students record their own reading and use a rubric to self-evaluate their fluency and expression.

Active practice using echo and choral reading techniques to align student speech with expert models for improved confidence.

Students analyze dialogue and character voices, using pitch and volume to distinguish between different speakers in a story.

Focusing on punctuation as road signs for reading, students learn to use commas and periods to guide their pacing and pauses.

A 2nd-grade ELA lesson where students learn about penguin diversity through a video and write 'Who Am I?' riddles using sensory details and facts.

Students conclude the unit by sorting vehicles into land, water, and air categories on a large mural. They recall facts from the read-alouds to justify where each vehicle belongs.

This lesson uses a text comparing different types of trains to teach comparative adjectives (fast, faster, slow, long, short). Students sort vehicle pictures by speed.

Students read about air travel, focusing on spatial vocabulary (up, high, above, clouds). They physically simulate flying with their arms while listening to the text descriptions.

The class explores a read-along about things that float. Students engage in a 'sink or float' prediction game based on the properties of boats described in the book.

A simulation where students apply their knowledge to act as meteorologists, choosing appropriate gear and activities based on text-derived weather reports.

Connects safety information from weather texts to personal experiences and school drills, emphasizing the utility of informational reading.

Students sequence the life cycle of a tree through the seasons, practicing chronological thinking and retelling based on informational narratives.

Focuses on the relationship between events in weather texts, using 'because' to explain logical outcomes of storms and other conditions.

Students identify and categorize weather vocabulary through a read-along about the four seasons, focusing on auditory discrimination and domain-specific terms.

Students listen to a rhythmic text about land vehicles, practicing print tracking and identifying wheels.

Students apply their skills by preparing and recording a nature documentary script about a local habitat, demonstrating synthesized knowledge and oral fluency.

Through echo reading about Arctic animals, students practice prosody and pacing to move away from 'robotic' reading and toward expressive fluency.

Students explore the ocean's depths, pausing audio to identify main ideas and connecting concepts through a collaborative visual map.

Focusing on desert survival, students learn to use audio context clues and playback strategies to decode and understand complex scientific vocabulary.

Students are introduced to the rainforest layers while learning the essential skill of tracking text in sync with audio to build print awareness.

The final project where students document a classroom routine, creating their own procedural guides and recording peer read-alongs.

Students become logic detectives, identifying missing steps in procedural texts and inferring the consequences of gaps in a process.

A game-based lesson where students race to arrange water cycle images in the correct order based on an informational read-along text.

Students practice visualization by listening to the honey-making process without images, sketching their own storyboards to compare with the actual text illustrations.

Covers the climax and resolution, final character evolution, and a cumulative synthesis of the book's message.

Focuses on synthesizing themes of resilience and fragility as the community reacts to Winslow.

Explores Nora's character, Winslow's growth, and practices summarizing key plot events from the middle of the book.

Focuses on the introduction of Winslow and Louie, establishing the setting, and initial character analysis of Louie's motivations.

Students read the final story 'Concrete Gardens' and complete a final performance task that requires summarizing, character analysis, and theme synthesis.

Students read 'The Subway Song' and practice synthesizing information by comparing the themes and settings of the stories read so far.

Students read 'The Midnight Mural' and focus on inferring character traits and providing specific text evidence to support their claims.

Students read 'The Empty Bench' and focus on building vocabulary through context clues and mastering the 'Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then' summary framework.

A culminating project where students apply their understanding of Melody's experience to create an Inclusion Campaign for their own school, advocating for accessibility and understanding.

Covers the Whiz Kids competition, the heartbreak of being left behind, and the eventual resolution and growth of Melody and her peers, covering chapters 23 through 33. Activities focus on summarizing complex emotional events and synthesizing the book's final themes.

Explores the pivotal moment of Melody receiving her Medi-Talker, her academic growth, and the shift in how others perceive her brilliance, covering chapters 12 through 22. Activities emphasize synthesizing new information and understanding the impact of technology on communication.

Focuses on the introduction of Melody, her internal voice, her family life, and the initial barriers she faces in school, covering chapters 1 through 11. Activities focus on summarizing her unique perspective and identifying core vocabulary related to her sensory experiences.

A final culmination of the book club unit, where students synthesize the entire novel through creative projects and thematic reflections.

The emotional climax and resolution of the story as the tiger is released and Rob finally opens his suitcase, covering chapters twenty-one through thirty.

Exploring the developing friendship between Rob and Sistine and the growing pressure of the tiger's presence, covering chapters eleven through twenty.

An introduction to the Lister Motel and Rob Horton's 'suitcase', covering the first ten chapters of the novel.

Book club celebration with discussion and a creative 'Carving' activity.

Exploring the symbolism of Sistine's name and her character growth.

Reading Chapter 30, focusing on the resolution and the sun coming out.

Reading Chapters 20-21, analyzing the encounter with the tiger and vocabulary.

A 45-minute ESOL lesson exploring the Battle of Puebla and Cinco de Mayo. Students analyze informational texts and poetry to answer essential questions about making oneself heard and the value of research, culminating in a sensory writing and speaking activity.

In this lesson, students transition from informative research to narrative planning. They explore the balance between scientific fact and creative imagination by developing a detailed character profile for their expert group animal, supported by their previous research.

Students analyze the thesis and structural elements of Eric Jaffe's scientific article 'Why Love Literally Hurts,' identifying how scientific evidence supports the claim that social pain mimics physical pain.

Conception d'actions de médiation concrètes, de la mise en espace physique du CDI aux outils numériques, pour engager les élèves dans la lecture.

Exploration de l'histoire, des genres et des mutations actuelles de l'édition pour adolescents, incluant l'impact des réseaux sociaux et des nouvelles tendances éditoriales.

This lesson covers the conclusion of 'The Bicycle' and the full chapter 'The Water Cell' from Persepolis. Students explore the themes of fear, family history, and political indoctrination through the lens of Marjane Satrapi's graphic storytelling, comparing the impact of text versus visual elements.

A pre-reading webquest for the novel 'Refugee' by Alan Gratz, covering the historical contexts of the Holocaust, Cuban migration in the 1990s, and the Syrian civil war. Students explore digital resources to build background knowledge on the challenges faced by refugees across different eras.

Students engage in a comparative discussion with 'The Raven' and draft an argumentative Extended Constructed Response (ECR) evaluating Reverend Hooper's decision as an act of courage or selfishness.

Students synthesize their understanding of the text to identify and analyze universal themes, practicing the construction of a Short Constructed Response (SCR) with text evidence and commentary.

Students complete the reading of Chunks 3 and 4, analyzing the ambiguity of Hooper's motives and the town's reaction, while also mastering the use of appositive phrases to enhance their analytical writing.

Students explore the historical and cultural context of Puritan New England, begin reading Chunks 1 and 2 of the story, and analyze how Hawthorne builds suspense and introduces the central symbol of the black veil.

An introductory lesson to Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, focusing on the historical context of the Iranian Revolution and the unique storytelling mechanics of the graphic novel format.

In this follow-up lesson, students tackle 'Tricky Cases' where text types might seem mixed, and they create their own text samples to demonstrate mastery.

A lesson where students become 'Text Detectives' to identify the differences between narrative and informational texts through clue-finding and evidence-gathering.

A 40-minute small group lesson for 3rd graders focused on distinguishing between narrative and informational texts using specific text features. Students act as 'Text Detectives' to hunt for clues like table of contents, characters, and headings.

In this follow-up lesson, students tackle 'Tricky Cases' where text types might seem mixed, and they create their own text samples to demonstrate mastery.

A lesson where students become 'Text Detectives' to identify the differences between narrative and informational texts through clue-finding and evidence-gathering.

An interactive 8th-grade lesson focusing on identifying and interpreting idioms and nonliteral language through a detective-themed 'unmasking' of abstract meanings.

Students present their findings to the class, engage in collaborative discussions, and reflect on how historical context deepens their understanding of the memoir.

Students organize their research into a presentation structure, focusing on content development and the synthesis of historical facts with Elie Wiesel's personal narrative.

Covers the climax and resolution, final character evolution, and a cumulative synthesis of the book's message.

Focuses on synthesizing themes of resilience and fragility as the community reacts to Winslow.

Explores Nora's character, Winslow's growth, and practices summarizing key plot events from the middle of the book.

Focuses on the introduction of Winslow and Louie, establishing the setting, and initial character analysis of Louie's motivations.

Students read the final story 'Concrete Gardens' and complete a final performance task that requires summarizing, character analysis, and theme synthesis.

Students read 'The Subway Song' and practice synthesizing information by comparing the themes and settings of the stories read so far.

Students read 'The Midnight Mural' and focus on inferring character traits and providing specific text evidence to support their claims.

Students read 'The Empty Bench' and focus on building vocabulary through context clues and mastering the 'Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then' summary framework.

A culminating project where students apply their understanding of Melody's experience to create an Inclusion Campaign for their own school, advocating for accessibility and understanding.

Covers the Whiz Kids competition, the heartbreak of being left behind, and the eventual resolution and growth of Melody and her peers, covering chapters 23 through 33. Activities focus on summarizing complex emotional events and synthesizing the book's final themes.

Explores the pivotal moment of Melody receiving her Medi-Talker, her academic growth, and the shift in how others perceive her brilliance, covering chapters 12 through 22. Activities emphasize synthesizing new information and understanding the impact of technology on communication.

Focuses on the introduction of Melody, her internal voice, her family life, and the initial barriers she faces in school, covering chapters 1 through 11. Activities focus on summarizing her unique perspective and identifying core vocabulary related to her sensory experiences.

The emotional climax and resolution of the story as the tiger is released and Rob finally opens his suitcase, covering chapters twenty-one through thirty.

Exploring the developing friendship between Rob and Sistine and the growing pressure of the tiger's presence, covering chapters eleven through twenty.

An introduction to the Lister Motel and Rob Horton's 'suitcase', covering the first ten chapters of the novel.

Book club celebration with discussion and a creative 'Carving' activity.

Exploring the symbolism of Sistine's name and her character growth.

Reading Chapter 30, focusing on the resolution and the sun coming out.

Reading Chapters 20-21, analyzing the encounter with the tiger and vocabulary.

Reading Chapters 10-11, focusing on the wood-carving imagery and vocabulary.

Students will learn how to navigate non-fiction books efficiently using a Table of Contents through a pirate-themed treasure hunt.

In this culminating lesson, students critique the author's structural choices. They will propose an alternative way to organize a section of the text and justify whether the original or the alternative is more effective for the target audience.

A collection of resources for the educator, including facilitation guides, answer keys, and assessment rubrics for the entire sequence.

Zooming in to the paragraph level, students examine how individual paragraphs function as building blocks (e.g., definition, elaboration, example). They will highlight transition words and phrases that signal relationships between ideas.

Students investigate how the organizational pattern directly supports the development of the main idea. Using a 'section autopsy' method, they will explain how shifting the structure would alter the reader's takeaway.

Students learn to identify the "Big 5" nonfiction text structures and use graphic organizers to map the flow of information in their books.

Students create a digital artifact that extends their learning from the book by integrating outside information and citing sources.

Students adapt complex information from their nonfiction book for different audiences and formats, reinforcing comprehension through communication design.

Students practice synthesizing conflicting information from multiple sources to reach a well-researched conclusion.

Students distinguish between primary and secondary sources and analyze how external primary sources can expand or challenge a book's narrative.

Students compare how a nonfiction text and a video clip convey the same information, analyzing the strengths and limitations of each medium.

Students analyze how headings, captions, and graphics serve as navigational aids and provide context in nonfiction books.

A final challenge where students apply their skills to a portfolio of diverse texts, acting as executive assistants providing concise briefings.

Students tackle academic and technical passages, translating complex language into clear, standard English to ensure accuracy in summarization.

Students master the art of writing neutral, three-sentence summaries without personal opinion or pronouns, using a strictly objective lens.

Students analyze text structures to categorize details by importance, learning to prioritize critical information while filtering out unnecessary filler.

Students learn to distinguish between a broad topic and a specific central idea statement, practicing the conversion of general subjects into complete thematic sentences.

A culminating workshop where students apply learned techniques to write and peer-review their own short piece of literary journalism based on campus observations.

Students map narrative arcs and analyze structural pacing, comparing the organization of nonfiction texts to fictional models to see how authors impose order on reality.

This lesson focuses on the author's presence in the text, evaluating how immersion and a subjective 'I' voice influence reader perception and journalistic reliability.

Covers the climax and resolution, final character evolution, and a cumulative synthesis of the book's message.

Focuses on synthesizing themes of resilience and fragility as the community reacts to Winslow.

Explores Nora's character, Winslow's growth, and practices summarizing key plot events from the middle of the book.

Focuses on the introduction of Winslow and Louie, establishing the setting, and initial character analysis of Louie's motivations.

Students read the final story 'Concrete Gardens' and complete a final performance task that requires summarizing, character analysis, and theme synthesis.

Students read 'The Subway Song' and practice synthesizing information by comparing the themes and settings of the stories read so far.

Students read 'The Midnight Mural' and focus on inferring character traits and providing specific text evidence to support their claims.

Students read 'The Empty Bench' and focus on building vocabulary through context clues and mastering the 'Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then' summary framework.

A culminating project where students apply their understanding of Melody's experience to create an Inclusion Campaign for their own school, advocating for accessibility and understanding.

Covers the Whiz Kids competition, the heartbreak of being left behind, and the eventual resolution and growth of Melody and her peers, covering chapters 23 through 33. Activities focus on summarizing complex emotional events and synthesizing the book's final themes.

Explores the pivotal moment of Melody receiving her Medi-Talker, her academic growth, and the shift in how others perceive her brilliance, covering chapters 12 through 22. Activities emphasize synthesizing new information and understanding the impact of technology on communication.

Focuses on the introduction of Melody, her internal voice, her family life, and the initial barriers she faces in school, covering chapters 1 through 11. Activities focus on summarizing her unique perspective and identifying core vocabulary related to her sensory experiences.

A final culmination of the book club unit, where students synthesize the entire novel through creative projects and thematic reflections.

The emotional climax and resolution of the story as the tiger is released and Rob finally opens his suitcase, covering chapters twenty-one through thirty.

Exploring the developing friendship between Rob and Sistine and the growing pressure of the tiger's presence, covering chapters eleven through twenty.

An introduction to the Lister Motel and Rob Horton's 'suitcase', covering the first ten chapters of the novel.

Book club celebration with discussion and a creative 'Carving' activity.

Exploring the symbolism of Sistine's name and her character growth.

Reading Chapter 30, focusing on the resolution and the sun coming out.

Reading Chapters 20-21, analyzing the encounter with the tiger and vocabulary.

Covers the climax and resolution, final character evolution, and a cumulative synthesis of the book's message.

Focuses on synthesizing themes of resilience and fragility as the community reacts to Winslow.

Explores Nora's character, Winslow's growth, and practices summarizing key plot events from the middle of the book.

Focuses on the introduction of Winslow and Louie, establishing the setting, and initial character analysis of Louie's motivations.