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"Broken Chain" and "Oranges" by Gary Soto are great stories to compare! "Broken Chain" is a short narrative story and "Oranges" is a poem. Both are regarding dating and middle-school aged boys. The first task is to summarize. There are a couple of strong comparison questions requiring students to cite examples from the text. This involves students identifying similes and providing meaning for one of them. Additionally, students must figure out words in context and make strong supported infer

Quick and ready-to-use, this assignment has my middle school students loving poetry and creating some of their own 'inspired' versions of this classic! This assignment takes the old favorite, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and teaches students about poetic devices such as rhythm, rhyme, couplets, and syllables. After learning about this age-old poem, students are given a ten-line start of a poem with a classroom flair inspired by this same poem. Students must finish the poem using rhyming

More than a place to record books and minutes read, this weekly worksheet provides a place for effective goal-setting, reflection, and thoughtful writing about reading based on a host of teacher-created questions. This form of reading journal helps prevent students from writing about something they didn't read. Coupled with a 4-point rubric that is quick and easy to use, this is a time-tested winner! If you find this helpful, please let me know. I'd really appreciate a rating or a follow.

Yielding authentic writing and a variety of different author responses, this book project is a favorite among my students year after year. With a background of basic letter parts and the writing expectations established during class, this assignment brings it all together. My students write the letter, whether their author is dead or alive. The best part is that students will ask if they can PLEASE write another one to a different author once the book project is over. That is a win-win assig

Use this short assignment to review the most difficult part of writing a paragraph, concluding sentences! I find this very effective in helping my 7th graders. I hope it works for you as well!

I use this book project to review and internalize frequently used literary devices. It is based on at standard and above standard and includes more literary elements for those seeking a challenge or an above standard grade. It cements the ideas because students make their own book of definitions with specifically quoted text from their reading and commentary that proves why that piece of evidence works to prove the literary device. It is coupled with pictures to prove their understanding.

This presentation is for weekly student reflection. It contains 31 slides with unique questions for students to answer about independently-read novels. They are complex questions which allow students to show their ability to use higher-level thinking. Students are expected to use direct quotes in their responses with clear commentary explaining how the responses answer the question. Slides can be used in any order!!! The questions align with common core standards! Unlike some questions out t

This short book commercial accomplishes a few goals. First, it helps students write summaries in an interesting and concise manner. Second, it provides clear guidelines for executing a quality speech. Third, it creates a fun project that makes other students want to read more books! Rubrics included! If you find this helpful, please let me know. I'd really appreciate a rating or a follow. I will be posting lessons to match as I create them this school year. :)

This common core historical fiction book project asks students to revisit specific parts of the novel read and explain how that portion of the novel helped him/her understand more about a certain aspect of history. Because direct citation is required, students cannot "Google" the answer. This is a genre my middle school students love and a useful activity to show learning and critical thinking. Please let me know what you think!

For this book project, each student must synthesize information from a book that literally “sandwiches” many of the basic elements students need to know. Students use the different food parts of a sandwich to display knowledge of setting, theme, characters, personal connections or reflections, imagery, and plot. For this project, I used different colored paper to match the parts of the sandwich corresponding to required knowledge. Students enjoyed putting them together and looking at each oth

This genre study contains everything you need to get started on a genre-based individualized learning adventure. Included: Genre Poster Genre Graph for students to track progress Sticker sheets color-coding genres Genre Identification Page for Students Genre Quiz and Answer Key Parent Volunteer Book Interview Sheet and Rubric Prize Chart This bundle price includes all items I have listed regarding genre at a much-reduced rate! Included for free: The excitement your students will have competi

This excellent source for middle school narrative writing provides students the one thing they crave and desire more than anything else when writing - choice! It includes three well-developed narrative writing prompts. Each prompt allows students to write personal, biographical, or fictional narrative stories. It includes a proven graphic organizer that helps students develop character and plot and a revision checklist that aligns with the common core rubric.

I use this Power Point as an ice breaker the first day of school in my reading and writing class. I begin by demonstrating that when a slide appears that describes something about them, they should stand up and boldly place both hands in the air, yelling, "Hey! That's me!" I do this activity right along with them. It includes learning targets to get to know one another and be able to draw conclusions that we write and share at the end of the time. It helps me know some important informat

This is my favorite way to cover biographical and autobiographical books. The best part is that the kids enjoy it and are writing using specific details and a true 3rd person style. This is complete with a rubric to make the project clear and meaningful. If you find this helpful, please let me know. I'd really appreciate a rating or a follow.

Using the story Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, students work on character trait identification citing specific evidence from the text, writing a summary using a provided graphic organizer, and finding and identifying appositives in the text. All include four-point rubrics are included. The story itself is readily available other places, but is not included in this assignment due to copyright.

This quick multiple choice quiz is used to assess whether or not students have the basic ability to identify a book's genre based upon basic characteristics of a book description. It is a quick mini-assessment and includes the answer key.

For this book project, each student must synthesize information from a book to write a newspaper page entirely about the book he or she read. The ultimate assignment must also use computers to generate the final product for publication. Accessible by all, this assignment allows for creativity, shows comprehension, and gives students a fun way to practice expository writing. Students create a newspaper masthead that correlates to the topic of the book read. Then, students choose two main asp

This quick and simple activity helps me get to know students, creates a way to randomly call on students and sort them into small groups in unique ways. This is a digital index card with a twist. I tried it during the start of the year for distance learning and my students enjoyed it! I created this because often students have their screens off for distance learning and I was worried I would call on the same students repeatedly or find it difficult to get to know students. So, this is my solut

Microwave popcorn sound and smells fill the air as inspiration for this descriptive writing paragraph. Kids love this and the results really focus on showing versus telling. Rubric is included.

This is a basic resource guide to help students formulate a theme using a simple, three-step process. It is very effective!