Teach Classically

If you are reading a book with the theme of friendship, or if you are teaching about how to be a good friend, use this resource! For our unit on Charlotte's Web, I had my students get into groups and practice elocution by reading the poem they chose aloud to the rest of the class. You could also use it as a memory work homework assignment. Includes 3 poems: The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Spider's Web by E.B. White, and Hug O' War by Shel Silverstein.

This is a useful tool for guiding your students in summarizing. Once they are able to draw out the important ideas in the beginning, middle, and end, they are then able to put their sentences together to create a written summary that is 3-5 sentences in length.

Get your students thinking biblically about the virtue of courage. Think of a Bible story in which the person had to show this character trait. Read the verses, discuss the questions, and write the answers.

Help your students become independent in writing summaries! This resource is especially useful in short stories, fables, or chapter summaries. I normally teach that the beginning should have the characters and setting, the middle is the problem and the ending is the resolution/solution. Help your students at first by stopping after the beginning chunk and allowing them time to write a main idea about that chunk, then doing the same for the middle and end. You can also have students think/pai