This lesson was designed to help students gain social studies/history content knowledge by using textual evidence to answer text-dependent questions.

This lesson combines a lesson on genre with an opportunity for students to write and experience how genre changes a situation. Students first share what they know about letters and discuss books that feature letters. They then compare and contrast letters written for different purposes and situations. Then, by examining letters in selected picture books, students see how genres have flexibility and can be used in different situations. Next, they practice this flexibility with genres by writing a story using a series of letters to tell the story—using a book they have recently read, rather than creating one of their own, so that they can see the effect of genre choice. Finally, students make final revisions to their letter-stories and share them with the class.

In this activity students read short excerpts of documents that show how the expectations of women, African Americans, and working white men were raised by the rhetoric of liberty during the American Revolution. Students write petitions to the Continental Congress from one of the three group's perspectives, explaining how their group responded to the Revolution and outlining how their group should be treated under the new Constitution. This activity includes multiple learning supports that can help ESL/ELL students, special education students, or low readers.

In this lesson, students research Old West figures using both electronic and print sources. They then use an online tool to compile and organize reading notes, research, and related ideas. The information that is gathered is then presented in a student-constructed driver’s license that includes who, what, when, where, and why they are important in United States history. This activity offers an alternative to the traditional research paper, as well as an opportunity for students to share their projects with their classmates.

"Life Without Gravity," a nonfiction selection, is designed to help students become familiar with the characteristics of an expository essay and how weightlessness affects the body. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

This lesson includes an Internet exploration that focuses on the roles of the eye and brain in the perception of color. It includes an introduction to the anatomy of the eye, including the functions of rods and cones. It is recommended that students complete the first 2 activities (Light 1 and Light 2) prior to this activity.

In this lesson, students recognize loaded words when reading and purposefully use them in persuasive writing.

In his essay, Mandela explains his shifting understandings of freedom based on different stages in his life. Mandela explains how his perceptions of freedom evolved from wanting freedom for just himself to fighting for freedom for others, and concluding that denying freedom to others robs the oppressors of their own freedom. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

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

From the Standford University Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, this lesson, Love and Faith, introduces students to the music and poetry of the modern African American Freedom Struggle and challenges them to create their own creative works.

Students will explore the personalities of the Revolutionary War's Patriots and Loyalists by participating in a character role play. The lesson will culminate with students researching and writing a character sketch of a key Revolutionary figure of their choice and participating in a Colonial Town Hall & Debate.

In this lesson and resource, students use charts and graphs to determine the main idea in a visual literacy exercise.

This lesson from the New York Times is a collection of activties and lessons to help students make accurate inferences in their own reading.

A series of worksheets with answer keys to help students of differing levels make predictions from selcted texts.

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

Students compare and contrast two Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by evaluating case studies. Then they learn how the MPA classification system works in the United States and apply that system to the MPA case studies.

From the Standford University Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute,the primary goal of this lesson is to challenge students’ preconceived notions about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X and the roles they played in the African American Freedom Struggle. While there is certainly much to be learned by examining the different philosophies and tactics of each leader, these two men, who combined their religious leadership with political action, have much more to teach us as we explore how their vision for racial justice developed into a call for social and economic equality and human rights.

In this lesson, students will complete a mid unit assessment, focusing on gender identity and expectations.

This Achieve the Core 7th grade mini-assessment for The Long Night of the Little Boats by Basil Heater includes the text excerpt, quantitative and qualitative analyses of the text, question annotations, and supplemental materials so that students will experience an indepth understanding of the text.

This article examines what happens when a sugar planter tries to save his sugar crops by importing a few mongooses. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.