Heather Fleming

This is a template to get students started writing a more complete summary of a piece of nonfiction without retelling it like they often do. It was modeled after the AVID strategy of providing a template for a rhetorical precis. This is, however, on a more basic level than that because my students weren't to that point yet.

This is a template to get students started writing a more complete summary of a piece of fiction without retelling it like they often do. It was modeled after the AVID strategy of providing a template for a rhetorical precis. This is, however, on a more basic level than that because my students weren't to that point yet.

This graphic organizer shows students the difference between truly summarizing something and simply retelling the entire thing. Each part of the worksheet walks students through the elements that a good summary has for both a narrative text and expository text. This has been used very successfully within a unit over the Brothers Grimm. The expository text was a short biography of their lives, and the narrative text used was one of several short stories retold by the Brothers Grimm.

This is a great worksheet format to use with a great story "Rikki-tikki-tavi". It using the Cornell Note format, and the guided reading questions are taken from our course textbook and then modified slightly. This is a great activity for all students, and has been done in this way to modified for our exceptional students. It can easily be taken further for students by having them utilize the questions column. The BEST part of this activity is the summarizing template at the end. Our student

This was named "Text Structure Story" even though it's not a story per se. It is more of a narrative nonfiction piece that students will read based off of a chosen setting. The important factor here would be that it needs to use each of the five text structures normally seen in expository writing (description, sequence, compare/contrast, cause/effect, and problem/solution). It seems like an overwhelming project, but students really have fun with it and learn a lot about these text structures

This is a comparison chart I created to use with two articles that we teach in class (both pertain to the issue of whether or not professional athletes' are paid fairly). Any two articles pertaining to the same issue could be used though. It was designed to follow the author's argument in both articles so students must identify the claim, counterargument, and propaganda techniques used in both. The bottom can be left off or altered, but it was put there as a part of our engagement and wra

Great note taking activity that utilizes the Cornell Notes format. Students will take notes over the various story elements and then take it one step higher and visually represent each of these words. The third and final step is that students then must apply these words by summarizing the plot of their favorite movie (which is meant to be the essential question at the top). Activity also allows for extension with the challenge words at the bottom, but it can easily modified more if need be.

Students will have a chance to practice both revision and editing and see the distinct difference between the two. It also incorporates AVID strategies and the Cornell Note-taking style.

This was designed to be used with a play version of "A Christmas Carol" in our textbook but could easily be used for any version. It could also be adapted for other texts as well. It helps students look at major/minor characters, static/dynamic characters, review other plot elements and how they affect one another (setting, climax) etc, and to analyze the theme of the story. My kids had a great time with this when we did our unit on reading and watching multiple versions of the classic.

This is a graphic organizer that I created based off of the methods of characterization. The stair step design was built the way it was to show the importance of these methods (ex: physical traits are at the bottom because they contribute the least to showing us what the character's truly like - what they think, say, and do shows us the most about what they're like). Students are then instructed to find three words to describe the character. As an extension of this, you may have them apply th

This graphic organizer is meant to be used while reading "Song of the Trees" by Mildred D. Taylor. Students will identifying examples of personification and list on the chart as the class reads and discusses.

This is a shortened version of an author study that I have done in the past. Students research an author of choice and write different about different elements of this author and his works. They must write a short bio of the author's life, write a book summary of one of his/her stories, and more before putting it all into a poster format.

Cumulative project for 7th grade Language Arts students based off 7th grade Kansas reading and writing standards

These focus sheets were designed to be used as part of literature circles that our 7th grade class does but can be used for any work of fiction. This is a set of 6 pages (one for basic situation, characters, conflict, climax, resolution, and figurative language), and they were designed to be printed from and back and then cut out and distributed as half sheets. Great resource for reinforcing many reading strategies (prediction, monitoring, etc) as well as checking understanding. These would p

This product has been created with a template and directions in mind. Students are to create a textbook page about a country, animal, or sport of their choice. They must first do basic research over their choice and then write about different aspects of this. This activity was designed to make students apply their knowledge of text features (titles, sidebars, pictures/captions, etc) as well as text structures (description, problem/solution, etc). It can really be taken and made into a great

This is a homework assignment I created to have students find figurative language in their every day lives. It requires them to find figurative language in media (tv, songs, etc) or daily conversations, identify what type of figurative language it is, and explain what it means (or why it's used). At the end is a section where they have to create three examples of figurative language (they could also use three from the list if need be) and show the written (figurative) example as well as the vi

This figurative language activity uses several levels of student thinking. They must first match the figurative language terms with definitions and then match two examples to every word/definition. As an extension they would complete the attached worksheet and attach this to the back of the matching activity. For it, students are to analyze what makes each of these examples a simile, hyperbole, etc and what it really means. (Aligns to Kansas 7th grade reading standards)

These focus sheets were designed to be used as part of literature circles that our 7th grade class does but can be used for any work of fiction. This is a set of 6 pages (one for basic situation, characters, conflict, climax, resolution, and figurative language), and they were designed to be printed from and back and then cut out and distributed as half sheets. Great resource for reinforcing many reading strategies (prediction, monitoring, etc) as well as checking understanding. These would p

This active requires students to create posters based off of one of the strategies for being an active reader. It utilizes our classroom textbook but could be used along with many other textbooks and handouts that cover these same strategies. It corresponded really well with our AVID reading strategies that our school implements because the activity required students to mark a sample text in order to visually show how to do the strategy that they were assigned. Was designed to be a group proj

This is a great worksheet to accompany a reading/viewing of "Beauty and the Beast" and the newly made "Beastly" that requires students to analyze and compare the various plot elements and themes.