One of the challenges teachers face is collecting and providing accessible and motivating texts that support the content-area curriculum. In order to learn and understand the concepts of specific topics, students need to have a wide range of reading materials that are appropriate in reading level and that will engage and motivate all students. In this activity, you will research and gather a variety of texts from your classroom, the school library, and other sources that reflect and support a common theme or topic in your curriculum. Write out the plan outlined below. When you have finished, save your work to submit as an assignment.

• Decide on a theme or topic of study in a content area of your curriculum.
• Consider related sub-topics for the theme.
• Identify a set of texts that relate to the theme or sub-topics and place them in a bin, crate, or corner of the room. These reading materials should reflect:
  • a range of reading levels that match those of your students
  • a variety of genres (e.g., informational books, trade books, picture books, biographies, poetry, magazines, newspapers, reference books)
  • the culture and first language of your students
  • the interests of your students
• Develop a unit or lesson to introduce and review the texts, explaining how they can be used to learn about and respond to the topic(s).