Lit and Learn

Great end of year activity, critical thinking activity, and even online or distance learning activity. Students have to decide who/what is the "Greatest of All Time" in a category of their choice, research online for evidence, and complete a graphic organizer with their argument. They can then present their work as a speech, using the graphic organizer as an outline. You can require them to take it a step further and write a full argumentative essay, or keep it simple and only have them compl

Finally, a clear and logical way to annotate informational/nonfiction texts--one that students can actually remember! Included in this resource is an Annotation Guide for Informational Texts, suitable for printing poster size for your classroom. It can also be copied for each student as a handout, of course. Also included is a Teaching Guide which explains a few ways to incorporate this method of textual annotation into your lessons. You can use this Annotation Guide with any nonfiction

Get students to be active, look for clues, and think while they read! I created this detective-themed activity as a way to motivate students to collect "clues" or bits of information while they do a close reading of a text. This two-page document can be used with literature or informational text. This form guides students to record their observations, vocabulary words, questions, and other responses as a way of annotating. Students will be performing a "close reading" of the text and thinkin

These Google Slides will be available to you in editable form, so that you can make your own changes. They introduce students to the concept of "point of view" in literature by explaining it in clear terms. These slides were developed for use with grade 6 while using the My Perspectives curriculum and the story of Hachiko, but they can be adapted for various levels of learners.

This resource is a document containing four simple reading "truths" and an explanation for each one. This is designed to be used as a classroom or reading specialist's poster, to inspire and educate students and parents about the power of reading. I wrote the reading "truths", so they are my opinion, formed by years of teaching middle and high school students. I have added some ideas for how to incorporate the reading truths into your classroom and lessons, including how to use it throughou

This document is a description of book response ideas that students may choose after reading a book independently, either during class or outside of class. Students have a variety of types of responses, and they can turn in their responses and get the teacher to punch the card to keep track of what they have completed. This encourages students to try different response types. Responses like this help students to be accountable for their reading. Having students keep the card in their journal