Keep Reading

Middle Grade novel, Toys: Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions, by Don Wulffson (2014), is great informational text in a story format. This packet contains 4 sections of short-answer response questions based on summary, timeline, problem & solution, text features, and much more. There are three open-ended questions at the end which I used for a cumulative assessment.

This Dr. Seuss packet is appropriate for upper elementary and middle school students. A short biography is presented about Theodor Geisel's life and then a page is presented explaining how he became known as Dr. Seuss. This is a great introductory lesson for Read Across America.

Students use this checklist to self-evaluate their Close Reading skills applied to any reading assignment. This checklist notes the skills applied while reading and then looks at two levels of achievement. Close Reading strategies included are domain-specific vocabulary, text features, text structure, comprehension, and finding textual evidence. Students note how many times they read the text and score themselves on the level of effort they put in.

Students can work independently or in a small group to identify story setting, major and minor characters, tone, and episodes (events). This task asks students to use textual evidence to demonstrate knowledge of setting, tone, and character change. The task also asks students to identify the 3 most recent episodes in the story.

This double-sided task asks students to set reading goals, summarize, answer a choice question about genre, problem, or prediction, and then leaves a place for a teacher-created question. This "roll the dice" question can align directly with your mini-lesson or can be individualized for each student.

Students are provided with 20 sentences that are either compound or complex. Students have to identify which sentence is which.