Common Core Close Reading Sample Lessons
These exemplars contain full materials for two to five lessons each, including:
- Readings with teacher and student instructions
- Text dependent questions
- Student discussion activities
- Vocabulary and syntax tasks for challenging words and phrases
- Writing-based formative assesments
Fiction and nonfiction lessons, searchable by grade levels.
Filtered By:
Literary Texts
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The Wind by James Reeves
Grades K-2 fiction; three-day series of sample lessons
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Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Grade 3 fiction; two-day series of sample lessons
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The Fisherman and His Wife translated by Lucy Crane
Grade 3 fiction; six-day series of sample lessons
Story originally published in Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm
Story originally published in Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm
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As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Grade 7 fiction; two-day series of sample lessons
Written by current classroom teacher Jackie Bennett
Written by current classroom teacher Jackie Bennett
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The Glorious Whitewasher by Mark Twain
Grade 7 fiction; one-day sample lesson
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1984 by George Orwell
Grade 8 fiction; two-day series of sample lessons
Written by current classroom teacher Amy Mogelescu
Written by current classroom teacher Amy Mogelescu
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Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Grade 8 fiction; three-day series of sample lessons
Written by current classroom teacher David Pook
Written by current classroom teacher David Pook
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Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston & James D. Houston
Grade 8 fiction & nonfiction; five-day series of sample lessons connecting fictional and nonfictional accounts of imprisonment during WWII
Written by current classroom teacher David Riesenfeld
Written by current classroom teacher David Riesenfeld
Informational Texts
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The Making of a Scientist by Richard Feynman
Grade 6 nonfiction; two-day series of sample lessons
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The Great Fire by Jim Murphy
Grade 6 nonfiction; three-day series of sample lessons
Written by current classroom teacher Lyn Cannady
Written by current classroom teacher Lyn Cannady
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The Digestive Process Begins and Final Digestion and Absorption by Prentice Hall Science Explorer: Human Biology and Health
Grade 7 nonfiction; three-day series of sample lessons
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My Mother, the Scientist by Charles Hirshberg
Grade 7 nonfiction; three-day series of sample lessons
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The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat by Michael Pollen
Grade 7 nonfiction; two-day series of sample lessons
Written by current classroom teacher Kerry Powers
Written by current classroom teacher Kerry Powers
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Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston & James D. Houston
Grade 8 fiction & nonfiction; five-day series of sample lessons connecting fictional and nonfictional accounts of imprisonment during WWII
Written by current classroom teacher David Riesenfeld
Written by current classroom teacher David Riesenfeld
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Grade 8 nonfiction; two-day series of sample lessons
Written by current classroom teacher Lyn Cannady
Written by current classroom teacher Lyn Cannady
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Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda R. Monk
Grade 8 nonfiction; sample lesson
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The Long Night of the Little Boats by Basil Heatter
Grade 8 nonfiction; five-day series of sample lessons
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The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
Grade 9 nonfiction; sample lesson
Written by Student Achievement Partners
Written by Student Achievement Partners
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I Am an American Day by Learned Hand
Grades 11-12 nonfiction; three-day series of sample lessons
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The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie
Grades 11-12; sample lesson
Written by David Liben and current classroom teacher Christina Suarez
Written by David Liben and current classroom teacher Christina Suarez