The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

The 12th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 12th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Language study is embedded in every 12th grade unit as students use annotation to closely review aspects of each text. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

Teaching students to pay attention to headings and titles as they read? Here you'll find a practical application for using an expository text to apply the concept of using headings. Geared toward older elementary students, but lesson concept could be used at middle or high school levels as well.

Provides nine interactive, online practice tests for the fourth grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Each test uses a number of reading skills and uses both multiple choice questions and short written responses. It provides immediate feedback to the multiple choice questions as well as sample answers to the written responses. Although this test is specific to Florida, many of the skills it covers apply to reading in any setting.

In this video segment from Garden Insects, learn about six varieties of spiders that live in one garden.

This lesson introduces students to the comprehension strategy of evaluating. Students learn this strategy through the "meeting of the minds" technique that teaches them to act out opposing views of two or more characters.

Lesson that introduces students to the comprehension technique of summarizing. Students learn using the QuIP (questions into paragraphs) method which involves organizing information and putting it in writing.

This site gives a method, called SQRW, that can help you with your reading. It is very similar to SQ3R.

In this Wide Angle video segment, a young Indian girl talks about her life, family, education and daily routine.

Get your sweet tooth on! Join Miss Penny and the KidVision Pre-K Kids at Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor. We learn about the job of a restaurant server, read an ice cream menu, count and crumble Oreos to make our own ice cream. Included are links to age-appropriate lesson plans. [7:15]

Explore effective interview questions. By choosing questions that are open-ended and important to them, students can learn great interview skills that can be helpful in future college and job interviews.

In this video from Let's Learn, NYCDOE Universal Literacy Reading Coach Anna Stretching-Cole reads "After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again" by Dan Santat. After reading, she opens up a discussion about overcoming our fears. [7:46]

Read "Alfie" with Emmy Weissman from NYC Children's Theater. This story, written by Thyra Heder, is about a girl and her pet turtle who disappears. [12:30]

This article discusses explicitly teaching and assessing listening comprehension skills in the elementary grades and provides templates for classroom use.

This video segment from Between the Lions features a catchy song that celebrates an important function of literacy: access to information. It also shows the wide world of print, and all of the knowledge that can be gained from it.

Molly and Trini discover that it's important to question the reliability of informational texts, in this animated 11-minute story from the PBS Kids series Molly of Denali. [25:25]

Molly and her friends use informational texts for a real-life purpose in the 11-minute story "Dream Tube," the third of three video segments in this episode from the PBS Kids series Molly of Denali. While exploring how to use informational texts, children also learn aspects of Alaska Native life.

Use this comprehensive lesson as part of a comprehensive literacy, STEM, or social studies unit in which children will be using informational texts. In the "Dream Tube" animated story from the PBS Kids series Molly of Denali, Molly and her friends need answers about agate stones.

PBS presents this comprehensive site outlining common causes of reading difficulties. Strategies and suggestions for solving these issues are discussed here.