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Differentiated Reading Instruction Worksheets and Activities
Are you a teacher who has suddenly been told that you need to "differentiate" your reading, English, or language arts instruction? You are probably looking for worksheets and materials to help you comply with this unfamiliar concept, and I've got just the thing.
Differentiating instruction seems challenging and overwhelming, but it doesn't really have to be. Just follow these simple steps and use the worksheets below. You too can provide differentiated instruction in a simple and effective way.
Implementation
- Put students into small groups and assign them a story to read.
- Give each group one of these worksheets.
- Guide student groups as needed.
- Assign students another story and a different worksheet.
- Modify the approach as necessary and repeat.
Identifying Climax, Story Structure, and Elements of a Story
As with all my differentiated instruction worksheets, this can be applied to most stories. It asks students to identify the setting, main characters, conflict, and the narrative structure of the story (rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution); however, make sure that the story follows this typical pattern. Or else you may assign students a task that they cannot complete.
Identifying Facts and Opinions
In this differentiated instruction worksheet, students identify statements of fact and opinion from the text. Then they create statements of fact and opinion about the text.
Summarizing and Recognizing Narrative Sequence
With this activity, students not only provide a summary of important events in the story, but they also explain why they think each event is important. Additionally, they order the events at the bottom of the sheet using a graphic organizer. This one can be used with any story.
Character Traits and Motivations
In this differentiated instruction activity, students will analyze characters from a text and identify character traits. Then they will explain how they know this about the character and also identify what motivates the character.
Figurative Language Finder
This differentiated instruction activity sheet will help guide students in the hunt to locate instances of figurative language from a text of your choosing. Be sure that the text with which you assign this activity sheet actually contains the required amount of figurative language usages, or else edit the worksheet to modify accordingly.
Poetic Devices and Techniques Finder
In this differentiated instruction activity, students locate instances of alliteration, consonance, onomatopoeia, rhythm, and rhyme with a text of your choosing. As with the figurative language finder activity, be sure that the text which you assign has an appropriate amount of techniques before you assign it. This activity will work best with poetry.
Comprehension and Inference Question Creator
This differentiated instruction worksheet will provide students with a guide in creating their own questions about a text of your choosing. Students will create seven comprehension questions and three inference questions. Feel free to remove the inference questions component to modify this assignment for struggling learners.
Context Clues Vocabulary Builder
In this differentiated instruction worksheet, students select challenging vocabulary words from a text of your choosing. Then they write the sentences in which they were used and attempt to determine the meaning of the word based on the context. Also, they explain their answers.
I hope that these resources will help you differentiate your instruction and work more effectively with small groups of students.
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Some Other Useful Pages
- Author's Purpose Worksheets
- Characterization Worksheets
- Conflict Worksheets
- Fact and Opinion Worksheets
- Figurative Language Activities
- Figurative Language Poems with Questions
- Genre Activities
- Irony Worksheets
- Making Predictions
- Mood Worksheets
- Nonfiction Passages and Functional Texts
- Parts of Speech Worksheets
- Poetic Devices
- Point of View Worksheets
- School Project Ideas
- Setting Worksheets
- Simile and Metaphor Worksheets
- Story Structure Worksheets
- Text Structure Worksheets
- Theme Worksheets
- Tone Worksheets
- ALL PAGES AND WORKSHEETS
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/ December 8, 2013Mr. Morton,
I wanted to thank you for this wonderful website. I have used it for 2 years now, both in teaching general education as well as with special education students.
Thank you again, for not only creating this website but also for keeping it free for all.
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/ December 8, 2013Thank you so much for saying so.
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/ October 10, 2013This website has been an asset to me while transitioning to the Common Core curriculum. Thank you so much!!!
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/ September 17, 2013This site has been a huge help in the transition to common core. Thank you so much for sharing!
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/ June 8, 2013GREAT!
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Rachel
/ February 6, 2013Wow, what great resources! Thanks so much for sharing with others. I can’t wait to use these tomorrow with my guided reading groups. Again, thanks!
Meg
/ November 11, 2012Thanks–I teach fully sheltered ESL classes in language arts and Reading. I used these last year and look forward to using them again this year, especially the figurative language sheets–they just save me the time of looking for the examples myself. Thanks again!!
Mr. Morton
/ November 13, 2012Excellent. I intend on making more soon. Thanks for visiting!
Sheila
/ October 10, 2012Excellent,thses worksheets are great and very helpful.
Cloewen
/ August 4, 2012Really like those worksheets here,thanks a lot!
Mr. Morton
/ August 10, 2012I’m happy to hear it. Check out these other differentiated reading activities.
Kate
/ May 23, 2012This is exactly what I needed for book clubs. Thanks a million!
Mr. Morton
/ August 10, 2012I’m happy to hear it. Check out these reading activities as well.
Samar
/ April 27, 2012I like all the worksheets , they are very useful.
Mr. Morton
/ May 3, 2012Thanks. I’ve got a bunch of mini-projects that could be used with any story too that I’d like to add here. Maybe this weekend. Thanks for visiting!