Standard 2: Reading Informational Text

In lesson 3 of the integrated civics unit on the book Florida by Tamra Orr students will learn the key vocabulary terms public service and volunteerism. Students will use central idea and relevant details from the text to complete a graphic organizer with features of Florida, related needs & problems, related public service roles, and volunteer opportunities.

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 the final lesson of this text unit series for Florida, by Tamra Orr, students will identify and explain a claim made by the author about Florida’s representative government, using text features as support. Students will discuss the various characteristics of Florida's citizens and gain an understanding of the impact of voting on the preservation of our republic, using the author’s claim as support.

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 the 4th lesson in a unit using the text, Florida, by Tamra Orr. Students will identify text structure, locate relevant details within the text (including text features), and provide explanations for how those details support both explicit and implied central ideas presented by the author from sections of the text Florida, by Tamra Orr. Students will gain an understanding of how Florida became a U.S. controlled territory, build an explanation for why its Constitution was written, and describe the events that led to Florida becoming a state.

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 lesson is #2 of an integrated unit using the text, Florida, by Tamra Orr. Using chapter 1 of the text, Florida, by Tamra Orr issues specific to Florida are explored. Students work in groups to identify issues that could become problems. Students then brainstorm ways that citizens could help and begin making connections with volunteerism and working with state and local government officials to resolve issues.

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 lesson 6 of this text unit series for Florida, by Tamra Orr, students will explain and support a claim made by the author, using text features. They will gain knowledge on the impact of voting in presidential elections on society and Florida’s significance in United States elections.

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 five of a civics integration unit that covers the text Florida by Tamra Orr. Students will record and analyze text features as they gain knowledge regarding the purposes and functions of the branches of government in this lesson.

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 lesson consists of students reading a challenging text, "Civil Rights on a City Bus," about Rosa Parks. This text requires students to determine the claims made in the article by the author and the reasons and evidence used to support them. Students will also have a chance to use context clues to define vocabulary words within the text and answer text-dependent questions. Upon completion of the reading activities, students will write a short response that provides evidence to prove each claim made by the author.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will provide an in depth look at informational text that is heavy with graphic features and links science to reading. By the completion of the lesson, the students will have studied the text features and text structure of an informational text. They will use information provided to explain an author’s claim.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will take notes about the Everglades using a variety of resources. Students will identify appropriate text features that can be used to convey information. As a final product, students will practice their expository writing by creating an informational brochure about the Everglades that uses the description text structure and multiple text features.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will briefly discuss background knowledge of the Berlin Airlift following World War II and then read Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Patricia A. Pierce. Students will then create a narrative story in which they describe an act of kindness. Students will utilize an editing checklist for giving and receiving peer feedback.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will read an informational text, will identify the central idea and relevant details, and record their findings on a graphic organizer. They will use the informational text and their graphic organizer to create a summary based on the text. The students will also answer questions based on the text. As a summative assessment for the lesson, the students will repeat this activity using a different informational text and will conduct the work alone, rather than in a group.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson presents students with three types of text structures (description, sequence, and problem/solution). Students are able to identify clue words that categorize each text structure and create their own graphic organizers and pieces of writing for each text structure.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use news magazines and articles to identify text features and explain how the text features contribute to their understanding of the informational text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In the independent practice activity, students will develop three research questions, conduct research and take notes to answer each question, and then classify and categorize the information they gathered into an outline form. The teacher modeling section uses the informational text Squanto's Journey by Joseph Bruchac (text not provided) and the guided practice activity uses a text titled "Creepy Cave Crawlers" (text provided with the lesson).

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will become familiar with common text structures in order to improve their comprehension of non-fiction material.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn about the weather and informational text features with Sunny! In this interactive tutorial, you'll explore tables, graphs, diagrams, and timelines. You’ll also be able to explain how information from these text features helps you understand the text.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this activity, students will answer questions about the author's purpose.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify the topic and key details in informational text. As an extension, students may also compare and contrast the important details presented by two texts on the same topic.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify significant and minor details in text.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will write the parts of a plot on a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify the components of a plot using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify and sort story elements (character, setting, problem, solution, theme, plot). They will then compare and contrast the elements of different stories.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify story elements (character, setting, events, problem, solution) and record them in a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will answer questions related to story elements (characters, setting, plot, theme) and record their answers on a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will locate text features and explain how they help the reader understand the text.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify text structures and complete corresponding graphic organizers. Multiple graphic organizers are provided, and a reference sheet is also provided that includes an explanation, signal words, and graphic organizer templates for each text structure.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will sort sentences based on their text structures. As an extension activity, students can write about a topic using each text structure.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will sequence events in a story using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

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

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify the relationship between cause and effect. NOTE: This is an introductory activity for cause and effect. Students will need to extend their learning using text containing a cause/effect text structure to fully meet the expectations of the aligned standards.

Type: Student Center Activity

Adrian Zika grew up in communist Yugoslavia (now Kosovo). He immigrated to the United States, became a U.S. citizen, and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2018.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation