Thanksgiving Activities for Reading and Writing, Grades 4-8Forget your old Thanksgiving lesson plans! Your students do NOT want to hear about the first Thanksgiving, and they DEFINITELY do NOT want to write dull paragraphs about the things they are thankful for.Seriously. They DON’T!Spice up your lesson plans with this DIFFERENT differentiated unit for Thanksgiving!Your students will:• View and analyze a video clip about innovative humane practices at turkey farms and processing plants.• View a

The Middle Grades ELA Common Core Toolbox contains 77 learning activities aligned to the CCSS for grades 6-8. It includes printables that can be used multiple times throughout the year to address nearly all of the standards in reading literature and informational texts, and many of the speaking and listening, writing, and language standards. It also has two pages of writing prompts and warm-ups. The Standards Guide at the end details the CCSS that correspond to each printable. Three grade level

Why do we study history anyway? This back to school activity is a must have for any history or social studies class! Start the first day of school (or the first lesson of any history class) with “WHY” because students always want to know why? Why am I learning about history? Why do we have to study this stuff anyway? When am I ever going to use this in life? Isn’t history about a "bunch of old dead people" and things that have already happened? **Major necessary upgrades have been made to ma

NOW WITH GOOGLE DOCS: Take the fear and intimidation out of public speaking with a FULL SEMESTER bundle of classroom-tested speech activities that will safely get students out of their chairs (and their comfort zones!) Download this bundle of speaking resources to build up student confidence with projects that don’t “feel” like work. Great for any general ELA teacher assessing CCSS Speaking & Learning (and also Speech class teachers specifically), these tools build foundations, track progres

Build discussion skills among your students and encourage academic conversations. We use these booklets and posters with questions and sentence starters every day for Socratic seminars, literature circle book clubs, group project planning work, or classroom debate. Product Features♦ Accountable talk posters that support the collaboration skills required of students for 21st century learning♦ Easy to assemble student flip book in color or black and white♦ Storage pocket for use in interactive not

What do Finding Nemo, Legally Blonde, and The Lego Movie all have in common? All of these stories (and so many others) fit the classic storytelling pattern of a heroic journey, as established by famed scholar Joseph Campbell.Using ten of the Hero’s Journey steps chronicled by Campbell, students will connect many of the films they love with elements of the Ancient Greek storytelling tradition in this partner speech assignment. The entire lesson plan will take six days or so, depending on your cla

HIGH-INTEREST 1-page reading comprehension passages middle school kids love! How can they possibly love them, you ask? Easy! These passages are far more interesting and relevant to their everyday lives than most other passages are. Kids in grades 6, 7, and 8 keep reporting they LOVE the texts! And they get the chance to practice skills aligned to ALL 10 Reading Informational Text Standards. Win-win! NO PREP! READY TO GO! MAJOR TIME SAVER!Easily interchangeable formats for any learning situation,

Are you looking to enhance your students' work using Google Slides? Grab this Wonder Novel Unit and let your students get to work. Wonder by RJ Palacio is a MUST READ for your students in Grades 4-8! Your students will be inspired by Auggie and all that he is able to accomplish despite his challenges of being different from his peers. Why use Digital Assignments? •This resource is paperless, but can be printed. •Students work directly in the given file. •Technology is integrated into instru

Mars Patel Podcast Listening Comprehension Unit | PDF and Digital Formats: Use this engaging podcast to keep students engaged while learning about literary elements, literary devices and practising their reading comprehension skills. This complete "novel" study unit contains: 200+ Pages of ResourcesDetailed Lesson Plans Graphic OrganizersAnchor ChartsReading Comprehension QuestionsIndividual PDFs for Google Drive Google Slides for 1:1 SchoolsSelf-Marking Google Forms QuizzesTeacher GuideUnit Ou

Argument Analysis: Regifting - a winter holiday activity now updated with a shareable Google Slides version for distance learning!A complete mini-unit for analyzing nonfiction text, practicing speaking and listening skills, and writing an argument essay complete with original data graphs. Students will analyze both sides of the regifting argument, then write their own arguments for or against regifting. Includes an anticipatory activity, articles, comprehension and critical-thinking questions (d

Rant Writing Unit | PDF and Digital Formats: Rant writing is an engaging way to bring public speaking and persuasive writing into the classroom. Students rant and complain to each other daily, why not channel that creative energy into some high-quality writing? Rants are an engaging way to get students to write and share their thoughts and opinions in the classroom. This assignment can be used for argument or persuasive writing. This resource contains individual PDFs of student pages to assist w

Need to add non-fiction into your unit on The Outsiders? Ready to make modern-day connections with engaging videos and discussion? Use this 2-3 day lesson connecting literature and modern articles to assess CCSS SL.2 and SL.3 in your ELA classroom. Themed around topics like empathy, prejudice, stereotypes, race, and biases, the videos and corresponding questions ask students to think critically about the what the theme of the novel might be.Though I used this activity as a pre-reading introducti

Common Core ELA Standards Checklists for Grades 6, 7, and 8 This IS included in my Common Core Bundle for Grades 6, 7, 8 This is a bundle of three 62-page resources (186 pages total); each resource features all of the English Language Arts Common Core Standards in an easy-to-read and record format. All five strands (reading literature, reading informational, writing, language, and speaking and listening) with every single standard are included. Each format has plenty of room for notes and can

Common Core Speaking & Listening Rating Scales are informal evaluation tools to help determine education impact of speech & language disorders in the classroom, as well as to aide in documenting standard mastery, therapy baselines and postlines, or progress monitoring from grade to grade. This is also a great tool for students to self evaluate their communication skills. ******************************************************************************** Save BIG and buy the bundle: Common

Greek Mythology is a favorite subject among middle school students and yours will love the materials in this resource! These no-prep, print-and-go activities will save YOU time AND engage your students while helping them practice important literacy skills at the same time! Students will learn about twelve major Greek gods and goddesses, several famous Greek Myths and The Hero's Journey story structure along with the stories of 8 Greek heroes and heroine.This BUNDLE includes three Greek Mythology

Push students to write, revise, and publish multiple slam poems with this packed Slam Poetry Unit. Lesson plans built around thematically-curated, school-appropriate slam poems will challenge students' notions of poetry AND identity, encouraging them to use their voice and powerful poetic techniques to speak up for what is right and tell their story. The unit provides enough guidance, lesson plans, and materials for teachers to teach without hours of prep, while still leaving room for students

Common Core State Standards Speaking and Listening Rubrics Bundle for Grades 6-8 This IS included in my Common Core Bundle for Grades 6, 7, 8 These rubrics will be helpful for student assessment of the Common Core State Standards for speaking and listening. They can be used in ALL content areas and by all educators, not just English Language Arts teachers. The rubrics assess all the skills practiced in the CCSS.ELA.Literacy.SL. standards. The types of rubrics include: Student Presentation (A

MORE HIGH-INTEREST 1-page reading comprehension passages middle school kids love! It's true; they do! Just like in Volume I, these passages are far more interesting and relevant to their everyday lives than most other passages are. Kids in grades 6, 7, and 8 keep reporting they LOVE the texts! And they get the chance to practice skills aligned to ALL 10 Reading Informational Text Standards. Win-win! NO PREP! READY TO GO! MAJOR TIME SAVER!Easily interchangeable formats for any learning situation

Mapping and Geography! Continent Twister is a fun way to encourage students to delve into geography and map skills. A twist on STEM / STEAM fun! This product directly correlates with the elements of a good STEAM project, 21st Century Skills, Next Generation Science Standards, and Project Based Learning. It’s all here, in one fun, interactive activity. Includes: →Project Break Down: 7 stages, designed to be easy to follow. →Teacher’s Notes: These are my thoughts and hard earned lessons

Six Minutes Podcast Comprehension Questions Episodes 1-10 | PDF and Digital Formats: Use this engaging podcast to keep students engaged while practicing their listening comprehension skills. This resource contains comprehension questions and a journal prompt for episodes 1 - 10 of Season 1 (Holiday's Season). Save money, buy the bundle. Resource ContainsLesson Plans3 Multiple Choice Listening Comprehension Questions Per Episode (PDF & Google Forms)Individual PDFs for Google DrivePDF & Go

This activity pack is student-centered, rigorous and fun. It comes with a Common Core one page reading covering the Golden Age of the Tang and Song dynasties. Students are then issued one of nine innovations from Medieval China to research and create a Shark Tank type presentation. Students present while five pre-selected class "shark" use a rubric to evaluate the presentation, based enthusiasm, support from readings and marketing ideas. The class fills out an invention basics chart, including e

It's the National Anthem! Whether it's social studies, english, or music class, this mini-unit is perfect for any study on the Star Spangled Banner (or the War of 1812). This bundle includes a fun, introductory whole-group PowerPoint-style quiz, a historical reading with comprehension questions, and a creative re-writing of the National Anthem. Everything you need is included! It's even in PDF and Google drive formats! Learn more specifics in the details below:☞ This resource is also a part of

Editable Common Core ELA Standards Checklists Grade 7 - easy to use and customize to suit your needs. This IS included in my Common Core Bundle for Grades 6, 7, 8 AND Common Core ELA Standards Checklists for Grades 6, 7, 8 This 62-page resource features all of the English Language Arts Common Core Standards in an easy-to-read and record format. All five strands (reading literature, reading informational, writing, language, and speaking and listening) with every single standard is included. Eac

Is it challenging for your students to make valid inferences? Do they struggle to find strong evidence to support their inferences? In this engaging activity, students make inferences by analyzing a case file and a crime scene photo. Inferential questions challenge students to find valid evidence to support their thinking. The final question asks students to synthesize the information and solve the crime like a true detective!STORYLINEWho stole Ms. Elle O' Quint's beautiful emerald bracelet? Th