Beth's Classroom

This is a great writing assignment to help students use reading comprehension and inference to create a newspaper article the covers the events of the novel The Outsiders. In writing a newspaper article, they are required to use a professional tone and practice concise writing. For my class, I showed them my example article after they wrote theirs, however, depending on the level of writers it might be beneficial to read them the example and let them use it as a model. If you purchase, but wo

I am posting this as a word document, but it worked well as a Google Doc. You should be able to copy and paste if you prefer to use it that way. I shared the checklist to my class, and they used it to peer edit a personal narrative. This can be setup many ways, but I found the easiest was to have the writer of the paper be the owner of the document, renamed to reflect the writer's name (Such as Joe's PN Peer Review), then they could share it with the editor. Once feedback was given, they cou

This is a great way to see how well your students understood The Outsider! There can be more than one correct way to fill in some of the blanks, which can make it a little tricky to grade, but I'm usually pretty liberal and count anything that is accurate as a correct answer. Students tend to like this this assessment, as well, since they have a lot of leeway and can show what they know by how well they answer. I usually use something like this in conjunction with a project, which is also pos

This includes a detailed essay topic/assignment, a rubric on a 5-point sale, and an example/model essay. Students are required to write a 4-paragraph essay, as this was designed for mid-year sixth graders, and was appropriate for the amount of time available to compose their answer. They were given a 1-hour class period to prepare, another for a rough draft, and a final for completion and/or editing, but they were allowed to overlap the time, and use the 3 hours as they needed. Upon reflectio

I used this to help 2nd and 3rd graders organize a short personal narrative. I included topics, but you can edit and change the topic for your assignment. I felt that having a step-by-step guide really helped them to slow down, and to understand that there is a process to producing good writing. In the word document, you should be able to adjust the margins to fit this all on one page

These 3 essays can be adapted to many different novels and short stories. I have used them in a choice menu, as well as specific assignments for a novel study.

A reading comprehension fill-in-the-blank assessment, plus a writing assignment that asks students to create a newspaper article about the events of The Outsiders. I used these two resources in combination as a culminating grade after we completed The Outsiders. The writing assignment includes a rubric :-)

When students work in a group, it can be difficult to determine if each member was working to their best potential. I created this quick rating scale for team members to give feedback on the participation of the members of their group. When a student rated another in the "not really" category, I did require them to comment. I got a lot of insight for reading these, and it helped to me create better groupings going forward.

This writing assignment asks students to take a scene from a novel or story and rewrite it from the point-of-view of another character to explore how point-of-view shapes a narrative. The rubric has a grading scale for both 60% and 70% passing rates.

This set of 4 worksheets will help younger children understand the structure of a paragraph by breaking down the the basics onto a graphic organizer. On the first 2 sheets, the topic sentence has been included for the students. Once the sheet is completed, students can edit and revise right on the sheet, then publish their paragraph on other lined paper. I used one of these each week for 4 weeks in the first quarter of 2nd grade.

This is a short refresher to help students write a 5-paragraph persuasive essay. It takes them step-by-step through the writing process, and reminds them of some of the things they already learned, but sometimes forget. A graphic organizer and checklist is embedded in the document. There is also a 4-point rubric that can be used for grading. The rubric is on a separate page, so you can print the guide without it if you have a different method of grading, or the rubric can be printed alone a

This three-part culminating project for A Long Walk to Water was a hit with my class! After reading the book, they worked in small groups to develop a presentation to riase funds for a solution to the water situation in Sudan. They took it very seriously, and learned a lot about how to put together a proposal in addition to working through the engineering and science required for many of their ideas. The second part gave them an oppurtunity to see how water scarcity affects ofthe areas of the

This worksheet breaks down the 5 steps of the writing process to help students write a short fictional story. I found that having the writing process as a checklist seemed to help students organize the task, and kept them from rushing through (like they did the first time I tried to have them write a short story). This is definitely the product of trial and error! There are 2 choices for topics, but you can edit and use different topics. I used this with an advanced 2nd grade class, but felt

Help guide young writed through the writing process with these step-by-step guides! They are editable Word documents, so you can use the topics I have, or change them to suit your program! I have found that the checklist helped my kiddos slow down and work through the writing process without rushing or skipping steps!

This essay allows students to show their knowledge of how a character changes through the course of a novel by giving three reasons/examples of character interactions and turning points that caused a character to change. The included rubric focuses on organization, ideas, sentence fluency, and conventions. The "ideas" category is weighted heavily, as this essay was designed to be used as a culminating project for a novel. There is a grading scale for both 60% and 70% passing rates.

This rubric aligns with 6-Traits, but is customized to my class and their writing goals. It will work with most personal narratives. I have included a grade conversion which allows an adjustment from the raw score that suits many grading systems that use scores out of 100%.

I wanted a cleaner, more mature version of an "All About Me" worksheet. I like the simplicity of this, and kids can add a border and decorate as they wish. I tired to make the questions more relevant and easier to answer, though I give them a bit of an out with the things they worry about question by suggesting they can think about personal, community, national, or worldwide issues. I try to use their answers for all but personal worries to choose non-fiction reading and research topics, as a

This assignment guides students through writing a Book Review. I used this after students read a book with their literature circle, but you can edit the first line to create a book review for anything, such as a summer reading or independent reading assignment. I listed 2 hours as the duration, but it may take longer depending on the grade level and experience with writing. Also, on my computer this comes up as 2 pages, but came up as 3 when I uploaded it. You should be able to adjust it bac

In this assignment, you will assess your students' understanding of the Dred Scott Case and the ruling of the Supreme Court (as explained in Justice Taney's opinion). They will then switch from informational writing to persuassive writing to give a Dissenting Opinion for the case. THe included rubric can be used for grading, but should also be given to students before they write to guide them to the best possible product. Grading scale for both 70% and 60% passing rates.

These 4 personal narrative topics are based on themes from the novel Schooled by Gordon Korman. It includes instructions with tips, as well as rubric for grading personal narratives. The rubric will work for any personal narrative assignment, and has a grading suggestions for both a 60% and 70% passing rate.1