Simply Novel - Elementary Solutions

In 2004, rookie teacher Kristen Bowers faced mounting pressures to teach an overwhelming list of novels, plays, and poetry, an intimidating catalog of writing requirements, and a mounting number of necessary grammar and vocabulary skills to her 9th and 11th grade English students. The demands were clear; how to go about teaching it all was not. Like many teachers, Mrs. Bowers struggled to find appropriate materials to support her lessons and spent countless hours scraping together, modifying, and refining inadequate, inappropriate, and immature materials to motivate and inspire her students, and at the same time, teach the required proficiencies to address the California English Language Arts Standards on which her students were assessed at the time. Frustrated, she finally decided that if the right materials were going to be available to her and other teachers, she was going to have to make them herself!

In 2005, Mrs. Bowers set to work to create one of the most comprehensive and innovative standards-aligned Literature Guide sets on the market. Joined by a middle school teacher with 21 years of experience, Secondary Solutions began, and eventually matured into a specialized team of intermediate and secondary teachers who developed a set of materials unsurpassed by all others. By 2010, demand for the same high-quality materials for the elementary classroom inspired the development of sister company, Elementary Solutions.

By 2015, both Secondary Solutions and Elementary Solutions had grown as separate entities, both successful in their own right. Originating out of the need for a streamlined operation and a unified solution for all English Language Arts teachers, new parent company Simply Novel was conceived, broadening the vision Mrs. Bowers had sought to produce ten years earlier.

Simply Novel strives to offer teaching materials that are practical, innovative, and of the highest quality. Our materials focus on time-tested, research-based best practices for teaching, while offering extensive and rigorous coverage of the Common Core State Standards to which they are fully aligned, and providing you with a comprehensive set of tools to teach an understanding and appreciation of all aspects of English Language Arts. Our products will allow you to focus on the most important aspects of teaching—the personal, one-on-one, hands-on instruction you enjoy most—the reason you became a teacher in the first place!

About Our Literature Guides

Our Literature Guides are based on time-tested best practices for teaching, the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, and the National Council of Teachers of English English/Language Arts Curriculum. The materials we offer allow you to teach the love and full enjoyment of literature while addressing the essential core concepts upon which your students are assessed.

Simply Novel Literature Guides are designed to be used in their sequential entirety, but can easily be used separately to fit your classroom needs. We have given you more than enough material to assure you that you are teaching your students how to analyze and understand the text, and further, to appreciate the literature, while fully addressing the Common Core State Standards. Most importantly, you now have a variety of valuable materials to choose from, and you are not forced into hours of extra work!

There are several distinct categories within each Simply Novel Literature Guide:

• Informational/Historical/Cultural Focus: Articles and corresponding questions, lessons, or activities designed to address the exploration and analysis of functional and/or informational materials and the historical and/or cultural aspects of the text. Numerous CCSS Reading: Informational standards are addressed, so no particular standard may be noted.
• Chapter Questions: Designed for comprehension and general analysis of the text, questions are designed to guide students as they read the text. Questions focus on comprehension and analysis and cover the first three to four levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, and/or Webb’s Depth Of Knowledge. These questions are designed to not only make sure students understand what they are reading, but delve into the text with the terminology and rigor of the Common Core. These questions can address many different standards, therefore no particular CCSS number may be indicated.
• Literature Focus: These lessons and activities directly address the CCSS for Reading: Literature and allow students extensive practice in literary skills and analysis, including determining theme, analyzing the author’s purpose and choices in diction and structure of the text, and articulating direct and indirect nuances of plot, character, setting, and more. Lessons that focus on teaching a particular Literature standard are indicated with “RL” followed by the grade and standard number.
• Writing Focus: Writing Focus lessons and activities specifically help students improve their writing. Based upon the CCSS for Writing, these lessons prepare students for writing argumentative, narrative, and informational essays and research projects through focused activities designed to help students improve word choice, better their sentence structure, gather supporting evidence, develop their style, integrate transitions, and/or practice general writing skills. Lessons that focus on teaching a particular Writing standard are indicated with “W” followed by the grade and standard number.
• Language Focus: Language Focus lessons and activities directly address the CCSS for Language. These can range from vocabulary acquisition, to grammar proficiency exercises, to language conventions practice specifically preparing students for testing, while helping them to gain an appreciation of the literature’s language and style. Lessons that focus on teaching a particular Language standard are indicated with “L” followed

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