The Teaching Tips Blog
Here's our complete collection of tips and teaching resources. Enjoy!
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Main Idea
Common Core Reading Lessons: Main Idea The big idea in a text that tells what the text is mostly about. Main Idea Lessons – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. Examples: Identify and describe what a book is mainly about using the title, text, and pictures. Identify and describe the main idea of a nonfiction book using textual details. Use the…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Genre
Common Core Reading Lessons: Genre A category or type of text, organized by common literary elements. Genre Lessons – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. Examples: Identify the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Identify facts learned from a nonfiction text. Use guide words in an encyclopedia to locate a subject. Identify the characteristics of science fiction. Identify and describe evidence in…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Figurative Language
Common Core Reading Lessons: Figurative Language Language enriched by word images and figures of speech. Figurative Language – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. Examples: Identify and describe onomatopoeia in literature. Identify and describe hyperboles, idioms, metaphors, and similes in literature. Identify and describe puns. Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Fact and Opinion
Common Core Reading Lessons: Fact and Opinion Information that can be proven to be true or false (Fact) and a personal statement of what one believes about a subject (Opinion). Fact and Opinion – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. Examples: Identify facts and form opinions from a text. Distinguish between fact and opinion. Locate and verify facts in nonfiction. Create…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Explicit Information
Common Core Reading Lessons: Explicit Information Details that can be clearly found “right there” in the text. Explicit Information – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. Examples: Identify explicit information in nonfiction and fiction. Use text features in nonfiction texts to identify explicit information. Use explicit information to answer questions about a fiction text. Key Ideas and Details CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.2 With prompting…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Drawing Conclusions
Common Core Reading Lessons: Drawing Conclusions Combining background knowledge, personal experience and textual information to determine meaning. Drawing Conclusions Lessons – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. Use pictures and context clues to draw conclusions about a missing word. Identify the difference between explicit information and drawing conclusions. Use background knowledge to draw a conclusion from historical fiction, and more lessons.…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Compare and Contrast
Common Core Reading Lessons: Compare and Contrast How two or more things are alike (Compare) and how they are different (Contrast). Compare and Contrast Lessons – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. Identify the similarities between two pictures when comparing them. Compare and contrast two characters from a book, a subject in a nonfiction book, two editorials, and more. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.7 With…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Classify and Categorize
Common Core Reading Lessons: Classify and Categorize To arrange or organize details from a text into groups with similar traits (Categorize), and to name or label that group (Classify). Classify & Categorize Lessons – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. Categorize characters based on their character traits, Classify and categorize information into an outline form, and more. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.5 With guidance and support…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Character
Common Core Reading Lessons: Character The looks, traits, thoughts, and relationships of a person, animal or object with life-like qualities in a text. Character Lessons – Covers kindergarten through sixth grade. From describing physical traits to describing the protagonist and antagonist. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.5 Add drawings or other…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Cause & Effect
Common Core Reading Lessons: Cause & Effect The reason why something happens (Cause) and what happens as a result (Effect). First Grade – Lessons: Identify effects when given a cause in fiction. 2) Identify causes when given an effect in fiction. 3) Identify explicit causes and effects in fiction. Second Grade – Lessons: Identify and describe explicit effects in…
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Common Core Reading Lessons: Author’s Purpose
Common Core Reading Lessons: Author’s Purpose Author’s Purpose (The reason why an author has written a text for readers) – Lessons Grades 2-6 Second Grade – Lessons: 1) Identify text evidence that shows the author’s purpose is to entertain. 2) Identify text evidence that shows the author’s purpose is to inform. 3) Identify text evidence that shows that the author’s…
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Main Idea Worksheets (nonfiction): Grades 5-12
Main Idea Worksheets: Nonfiction (Grades 5-12) Main Idea Worksheets – Finding the main idea for nonfiction texts. Upper grades 5-12. Includes a main idea lesson – An animated PowerPoint slideshow explaining what main idea is and how one may go about identifying it. This concise presentation includes five practice problems after the lesson. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2 – Determine the main idea of…
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Making Inferences Worksheets
Upgrade Your Teaching Toolbelt with These Free Downloadable ‘Making Inferences’ Worksheets Want to teach your students to think for themselves? These free worksheets are a great place to start! Download the worksheets Today’s special at the cafe: a guide to teaching inferences and a free worksheet set! Our best tip? Reignite creative learning and develop critical thinking using a classroom…
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Teaching Text Features: K-8
Teaching Text Features (K-8) Text Features – Teach essential reading strategies and improve students’ reading comprehension with this new resource for teachers. Each grade level has two sets of pages, and callout boxes aimed at the student identify and explain the text features on the book’s pages. A teacher chart included with each set of pages helps you articulate how…
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Critical Nouns – Common Core Vocabulary
Critical Nouns – Common Core Vocabulary Below is a list of critical nouns students must comprehend for the Common Core State Standards K-12. Alliteration Analogy Argument Central Idea Conclusions Connections Connotative Language Details Evidence Figurative Language Illustrations Interaction Metaphor Mood Point of view Rhetoric Simile Stanza Structures Theme Tone
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Critical Verbs – Common Core Vocabulary
Critical Verbs – Common Core Vocabulary Below is a list of critical verbs students must comprehend for the Common Core State Standards K-12. Analyze Articulate Cite Compare Comprehend Contrast Delineate Demonstrate Describe Determine Develop Distinguish Draw Evaluate Explain Identify Infer Integrate Interpret Locate Organize Paraphrase Refer Retell Suggest Support Summarize Synthesize Trace Verb Definitions analyze – the act of separating…
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Common Core ELA Online Games
Common Core ELA Online Games Common Core ELA Online Games – A collection of Common Core standard-alined reading games designed to reinforce the skills your students have gained throughout the year. CCSS.ELA-Literacy – English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Literature » K-5 Can cover all CCSS ESL standards so that students gain adequate exposure to a range of texts and…
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K-12 Book Reviews
K-12 Book Reviews Reading – Hundreds of fiction and non-fiction books reviews. It covers K-12. You can choose a category such as “Award Winners” or “Nonfiction Book Reviews”, as well as many others. Great place to start when looking for a good children’s book.
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Online Reading Games
Online Reading Games PBS Kids – Dozens of free online reading games covering several standards. Games are mostly for beginning readers or primary K-2. Games cover: record a story, rhyme games, comic creator, letter recognition, opposites, and more. CCSS.ELA-Literacy – English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Literature » K-2 Can cover many CCSS ESL standards so that students gain adequate…
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Reading Comprehension – Online Passages & Quizzes
Reading Comprehension: Online Passages & Quizzes Read Theory – Sign up for free and gain access to over 1,000 reading comprehension exercises. The program teaches students to think critically, draw inferences, understand scope and global concepts, find or recall details, and infer the meanings of useful vocabulary words. The class creation process allows teachers to manage students, track progress, and…
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Online Children’s Books – Fiction & Nonfiction
Online Children’s Books: Fiction & Nonfiction We Give Books – A new digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don’t have them, simply by reading online. Tons of free fiction and non-fiction (informational text) that can be read online in full color and text. You must sign-up with…
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Online Children Educational Magazines
Online Children Educational Magazines Highlights – The online children’s magazine has many free stories with audio and highlighted words as it is read for elementary students. Ranger Rick – Monthly articles on animals, forests, and more. CCSS.ELA-Literacy – English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Literature » K-5 Can cover all CCSS ESL standards so that students gain adequate exposure to…
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Wildlife Books, Games, Coloring and Curriculum
Wildlife Books, Games, Coloring and Curriculum Online Books The Wold and the Dog – Informational text for grades 3 to 7. Wild Animals that Need our Help – Informational text for grades 3 to 7. Includes printable word searches, crosswords and coloring pages. Penguins – Preschool to Kindergarten. Tigers – Kindergarten to second grade. Polar Bears – Second grade to sixth…
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Read Alouds: Children’s Animated Stories
Read Alouds: Children’s Animated Stories Mighty Book – Free and paid subscription for books, music, art and games. Hundreds of original stories, songs, games and puzzles, plus scores of classic books, poems and songs including many free. Everything is illustrated, animated and read out loud. Complete lesson plans and quizzes are included with many of the books and songs. …
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Children’s Classic Books Online
Children’s Classic Books Online Children’s Online Books – Thousands of classic children’s books available free. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress invites people of all ages to discover the fascinating people, places and events that await you whenever you read. Download and read the real books. Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Jungle Book,…
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