Standard 2: Reading Informational Text

Students will solve real-world problems involving elapsed time to develop a plan for drone inspectors to survey power lines after a hurricane.

This is an open-ended engineering design lesson where students will develop a model to help them solve a problem. There are no “right” answers as the lesson is focused on the process of developing a solution and the skills and reasoning behind the process. Students should be given the freedom to interpret the problem and parameters in unique ways to pursue their own lines of thinking in producing a solution.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the basics on how generative AI models use Large Language Models (LLMs) and Natural Language Processing NLP to generate outputs. This K-3 lesson is an integrated Computer Science, ELA and Math lesson designed for application of math and ELA content knowledge while exploring and using computational thinking to understand how generative AI works, making cross-curricular connections to understand emerging technologies.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson #4 in the text unit series for Father of the Constitution, A Story about James Madison by Barbara Mitchell. Students will use a timeline to sequence the events in James Madison’s life that led to the ratification of the US Constitution, consider how Madison is named the father of the constitution, and discuss why he is an individual that represents the United States.

This unit of study is about the Father of the Constitution, James Madison. Through this unit, students will follow the life of James Madison, creating a timeline of events that led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution and the democratic government system still in use today. Students will research, develop an argumentative debate, and vote, as they read the text. Students will realize that his process prepared Madison for the writing of the U.S. Constitution. Students will engage in the expository writing process to construct a Classroom Constitution that aligns with the school’s vision and mission statements.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson #6 in the text unit series for Abraham Lincoln: A Life of Honesty by Tonya Leslie.

This lesson is meant for students to look closely at the events, and their cause and effect relationships, that led to the abolition of slavery in the United States. Students will complete a graphic organizer and write a summary explaining their findings.

This unit will help students explain why the United States Constitution is an important document that protects the rights of American citizens, the responsibilities of the United States government, and how Abraham Lincoln is an important symbol of the United States Government.

Students will engage in a read aloud spread out over several lessons emphasizing vocabulary, central idea, research, expository and opinion writing, and collaboration in groups.

The teacher will facilitate vocabulary instruction, student research, determination of central ideas, student presentation, expository and opinion writing, and group collaboration to help students demonstrate why the United States Constitution is an important document.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson #5 in the unit, Abraham Lincoln: A Life of Honesty by Tonya Leslie. The lesson focuses on using relevant details within the Emancipation Proclamation and the Bill of Rights to determine the central idea. Additionally, students will summarize the similarities within the two documents.

This unit will help students explain why the United States Constitution is an important document that protects the rights of American citizens, the responsibilities of the United States government, and how Abraham Lincoln is an important symbol of the United States Government.

Students will engage in a read aloud spread out over several lessons emphasizing vocabulary, central idea, research, expository and opinion writing, and collaboration in groups.

The teacher will facilitate vocabulary instruction, student research, determination of central ideas, student presentation, expository and opinion writing, and group collaboration to help students demonstrate why the United States Constitution is an important document.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson #2 in the text unit series for Father of the Constitution: A Story about James Madison by Barbara Mitchell. The focus of this lesson is Chapter 5. Students will consider why the author chose to title the chapter "Something Most Important". Additionally, students will discuss why a constitution is needed.

This unit of study is about the Father of the Constitution, James Madison. Through this unit, students will follow the life of James Madison, creating a timeline of events that led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution and the democratic government system still in use today. Students will research, develop an argumentative debate, and vote as they read the text. Students will realize that this process prepared Madison for the writing of the U.S. Constitution. Students will engage in the expository writing process to construct a Classroom Constitution that aligns with the school’s vision and mission statements.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson #3 in the text unit series for Father of the Constitution, A Story about James Madison by Barbara Mitchell. This lesson will focus on page 43 in chapter five and the different parts of government. Students will conduct research about each government branch's purpose.

This unit of study is about the text Father of the Constitution, James Madison by Barbara Mitchell. Through this unit, students will follow the life of James Madison, creating a timeline of events that led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution and the democratic government system still in use today. Students will research, develop an argumentative debate, and vote, as they read the text. Students will realize that his process prepared Madison for the writing of the U.S. Constitution. Students will engage in the expository writing process to construct a Classroom Constitution that aligns with the school’s vision and mission statements.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson #3 in the text unit series for Abraham Lincoln: A Life of Honesty by Tonya Leslie. It is a pre-reading lesson. Students will be reading a Kid Friendly Language version of the Bill of Rights and identifying the central idea of two amendments. Students will then share the central ideas of their amendments with fellow students in a group activity.

This unit will help students explain why the United States Constitution is an important document that protects the rights of American citizens, the responsibilities of the United States government, and how Abraham Lincoln is an important symbol of the United States Government.

Students will engage in a read aloud spread out over several lessons emphasizing vocabulary, central idea, research, expository and opinion writing, and collaboration in groups.

The teacher will facilitate vocabulary instruction, student research, determination of central ideas, student presentation, expository and opinion writing, and group collaboration to help students demonstrate why the United States Constitution is an important document.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson #1 in the text unit series for Vote by Eileen Christelow. Students will be discussing and viewing the powerpoint on the 11 vocabulary words in the text that may be unknown. In addition, students will rotate to centers based on the vocabulary words to complete an activtity meant to strengthen their understanding of the words from the text. These responses will be kept until the end of the unit when they can go back and alter their responses based on previous lessons and the close read. Students will record an exit ticket of what they “think” the author’s purpose will be in the book, Vote.

This unit will explain voting in the United States. Unit lessons include duties of responsible citizens for voting, the voting process, responsibilities of candidates, and voting outcomes. Teacher will utilize a read aloud over several lessons incorporating text structure, text features, figurative language, and the use of multimedia in presentations. Teachers will facilitate research to help students create a presentation.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will connect how school and classroom rules are similar to the United States Constitution in this 3rd lesson in the text unit. When discussing Vote! by Eileen Christelow, students will use the vocabulary words they learned throughout the reading of the text. Students will then complete a graphic organizer to compare and contrast school and classroom rules. Students should make the connection that voting is making your choice heard. The lesson will end with students explaining the importance of voting.

This unit will explain voting in the United States. Unit lessons include duties of responsible citizens for voting, the voting process, responsibilities of candidates, and voting outcomes. Teacher will utilize a read aloud over several lessons incorporating text structure, text features, figurative language, and the use of multimedia in presentations. Teachers will facilitate research to help students create a presentation.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson #2 in the text unit series for Vote! and is an introduction to learning about a citizen's responsibility to vote. This lesson will include a close read of pages 7-12, in which the students will determine the author's claim and will find text evidence to support this claim. Students will utilize vocabulary in context as they learn that it is all citizens' responsibility to be an active member in society by voting for people in an election.

This unit will explain voting in the United States. Unit lessons include duties of responsible citizens for voting, the voting process, responsibilities of candidates, and voting outcomes. Teacher will utilize a read aloud over several lessons incorporating text structure, text features, figurative language, and the use of multimedia in presentations. Teachers will facilitate research to help students create a presentation.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this integrated lesson students will choose to either create a Double Bubble Map or a Venn Diagram in PowerPoint to compare and contrast the 1846 version and the current version of the Great Seal of the State of Florida. This is part 2 in a multipart unit on the great seal of Florida that will culminate in a student created SCRATCH project.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will read and discuss What Are the Branches of Democracy? by Ann Matzke. After, students will break off to determine the central idea of the text in segments. They will work to determine the significance and job of one of the three branches of Government.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will listen to and discuss information on the writing and content of the United States Constitution, in this lesson plan. They will organize summary information into a useful order that will help them create the coding for a Scratch program. This is part 1 of a 2-part series that integrates Civics, English Language Arts, and Computer Science. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will conduct research to identify two to three relevant details that support a given central idea about the three branches of the U.S. government. Students will gather information through text and text features utilizing informational texts and/or teacher given websites about how each branch is organized and operates. Students will then compile the information in order to summarize the main idea and relevant details into a multimedia project comparing and summarizing the three branches.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read an informational article about the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. Students will identify and describe the cause/effect structure used throughout the article. Students will write an expository paragraph about events occurring in the Amazon Rainforest.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will explore vocabulary, answer questions about the text, and identify the details and the central idea of an informational text about dolphins. Students will demonstrate their new knowledge about this amazing animal by completing an expository paragraph.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work with the teacher and in cooperative groups to read and summarize A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant. Through the reading of the text, students will sequence the events and use text features and text structure to understand the text. Students will then write to summarize William Carlos Williams' story.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify the relevant details and central idea of two informational texts about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They will then compare and contrast the two presidents using a graphic organizer and write an expository essay to explain the presidents' similarities and differences.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn to identify the central idea and explain how key details support that idea in an informational text. They will use that information to create trading cards about the three levels of government and write a paragraph summarizing the text and what they've learned.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students use a variety of texts to find key details that lead them to the central idea. Students will use a graphic organizer that will guide them in learning that the relevant details within a text will lead them to determining the central idea. Students will summarize a text using central idea and relevant details to build summary.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn how to effectively read a timeline text feature and understand its purpose within a text. Students will also be able to create a timeline by extracting relevant details from a grade-level text on a given topic.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will listen to picture books and then use a graphic organizer to explain the cause-and-effect relationships in the picture books. Students will create their own storybook using cause-and-effect relationships.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is designed to help students identify the central idea and relevant details of a text using the topic of inventions.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will write a summary of the text Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest by Steve Jenkins. In doing so, students will focus on identifying the central idea and relevant details in the text. Students will participate in vocabulary development activities to aid in the understanding of the informational text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use informational texts about spiders to find the central idea of the texts based on relevant details. Students will create a poster with multimedia elements along with relevant details and central idea from a text about an arachnid at the end of the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify and use text features to learn about reptiles while reading the book REPTILES by Melissa Stewart. As the students practice identifying and using text features, they will also identify relevant details in the text. Using the text features and relevant details, students will identify the central idea. The students will then create a Reptile Poster using central ideas, relevant details, and text features. This lesson will use the text Reptiles by Melissa Stewart. However, this lesson can be done with any reptile-based book.

Type: Lesson Plan

An interactive third grade lesson introducing the key words that signal a comparison or contrast in a text. This lesson is designed to be used with an interactive whiteboard, although pieces of it can be used without one.

Type: Lesson Plan

This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of force , the concept of wind energy, and practice working with a budget as they build structures to withstand the force of high-speed winds. The first day's lesson also provides practice in recognizing and drawing shapes. It is not intended as an initial introduction to these concepts.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students read informational texts to determine the text’s central idea and the relevant details that support the central idea. Students use a graphic organizer to record a central idea and details and then write a paragraph summary. This lesson is written in a generalized way so that any type of informational text can be used.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will find the central idea and relevant details in informational texts about bats. To support students finding the central idea and details, students will use a fact gathering sheet. Students will write a central idea and details paragraph that includes appropriate content-area vocabulary and grade-level conventions.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read about different forms of energy to find the central idea and relevant details in informational text. Included with the lesson is an anticipation guide to assess prior knowledge and a list of suggested texts to choose from so that teachers can use the texts that fit their students best.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn about energy causing motion and change through examining the the text structures of cause and effect relationships and sequence of events.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students use biographies to practice finding the central idea, relevant details, and putting events in chronological order/sequence. To do this, students in small groups will read a biography of Amelia Earhart and then create a timeline of the major events of her life using the information in the book. They will also complete a biographical outline.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify multiple causes and effects in a work of historical fiction. The lesson features the text Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will find and use relevant details to identify the central idea using informational text about vertebrates. They will record relevant details and the central idea onto a graphic organizer.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use relevant details to determine the central idea of informational text about landmarks. Students will work in small groups to read an informational text about landmarks, fill out a graphic organizer, and then create a poster in the shape of the landmark they read about. Students will present their landmark posters to the class.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on helping students identify text features in order to better understand author’s purpose. Students will apply this knowledge to understand the informational text Great Migrations Elephants by Laura Marsh.

Type: Lesson Plan

Help Noah learn how to identify examples of cause and effect in informational text in this ocean-themed, interactive tutorial. You will also learn how to match events and ideas in informational text that have a cause and effect relationship.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this activity, students will identify the topic and details in text using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify the author's purpose (persuade, inform, or entertain) by sorting passages.

Type: Student Center Activity