This resource includes informational paried passage mini-assessment that includes two articles and one accompanying recording, thirteen text-dependent questions (including one optional constructed-response prompt for students), and explanatory information for teachers regarding alignment to the CCSS. Articles included are “High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens,” by Michelle Trudeau and “High schools will keep starting too early. Here’s why" by Dan Weissman.

This resource is a Common Core aligned reading passage with textual analysis questions about main idea and characterization.

In this lesson students will collect and create bumper stickers to examine how writing can influence people.

This resource explains how Prohibition backfired and gave America an era of gangsters and speakeasies.

This lesson and resource uses headline articles to help students read effectively by distilling main ideas from an informational text.

In this reflective essay, Chief Dan George compares his native North American culture with that of white culture. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this essay through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

This resource is a nonfiction, Common Core aligned reading passage with textual analysis questions about main idea, characterization and inferences.

Students will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using underwater robots in scientific explorations and be able to describe and contrast at least three types of underwater robots. Students will work collaboratively and conduct research to learn more about underwater robots and prepare and present a brief oral report of the capabilities of their assigned robot. As a culminating assessment activity, students will decide which robots would be best suited to a mission when read a description of the mission.

In this lesson and resource, students practice identifying main ideas in informational text and distinguish between explicit and implicit statements.

A USA Today Education informational article on the lost Incas of the Andes with included reources/ worksheets for students.

This lesson is to introduce students to the Islamic religion and the spread of Islam. The overarching goal is for students to find the commonality in the monotheisms and gain an appreciation and tolerance for each religion.

Students can improve their comprehension of content area textbooks by summarizing chapters in the form of magazine covers. This lesson begins by asking students to examine a magazine and discuss the ways in which the magazine cover's headlines and graphics express the main ideas of its articles. They then review a chapter in a content area textbook and use an interactive tool to create a magazine cover that summarizes the textbook information. This process enables students to form connections and create visual representations to share information. Although the focus is on informational texts, this assignment could potentially be expanded to include other types of text as well.

In this lesson, students will gain historical reasoning skills by studying primary sources and
comparing them to secondary sources. They will become more familiar with the conditions in Japanese American concentration camps through the personal writings of Stanley Hayami, a high school student who was incarcerated in the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming.

This resource is a nonfiction, Common Core aligned reading passage with textual analysis questions about main idea.

A nonfiction, Common Core aligned reading passage, Barack Obama gave this speech on August 24th, 2008 in Billings, Montana. Handout contains textual analysis and inference questions.

Students will read a passage and write to answer questions based on the passage. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

Students will read a passage and write answers to questions based on the passage and the student's point of view. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

Students will read a passage and write answers to questions based on the passage. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

This simple, straightforward lesson helps English language learners and others practice context clues, close reading, questioning and discussion of text.

Students will read a passage and write to answer questions based on the passage. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.