This past school year was a great one. With every school year that passes, I like to take a moment and reflect on activities that were successful in the
Looking for Wordle classroom ideas? Incorporate Wordle into your classroom with this activities, ideas, and templates.
Whenever I teach freshmen or sophomores, I always begin the school year with a short story unit. I use this unit to introduce literary elements to my
Looking for games to play with a classroom? This list of English games in the classroom is exactly what you need to engage students!
Looking for Wordle classroom ideas? Incorporate Wordle into your classroom with this activities, ideas, and templates.
Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.
Looking for games to play with a classroom? This list of English games in the classroom is exactly what you need to engage students!
Try this free, fun, and interactive middle school ELA games in your classroom to teach grammar and literacy ELA skills!
In today’s society, it is important that students can use their critical thinking skills in their everyday lives. The perfect place for students to learn how and to practice critical reading, writing, arguing, and even listening is the high school English classroom. Here are 10 critical high school English lessons and skills that teachers should be teaching their students!
Learn why one-pagers are one of my go-to activities for breaking down complex topics and texts. Understand what they are, why you and your students will love them, and how to implement them in your ELA classroom. I even have the advice to help you tackle the biggest obstacle you’ll encounter with this activity.
If you’re looking for some fun reviews to mix into your lessons this year, here are a few ways to use these ELA Digi-Games to mix things up a bit!
I’m always on the hunt for engaging websites that I can use in my classroom that are free! We, as teachers, spend so much of our own money in our classroom so it’s nice to find resource…
These engaging 6th grade short stories are a fantastic resource to help you teach reading in your middle school ELA classroom.
Now that the 2017-2018 school year has come to a close, I am spending some time reflecting on my practice as an educator. While there were some lows of the
Whether your students are lethargic or super-charged, adding movement to your lesson plans will help to solve both issues. Not only is it healthy to move throughout the day, but it can also help students focus and become more engaged with the content they are trying to master. Due to the nature of English classes, ELA ... Read More about 10 Ways to Add Movement in the ELA Classroom
Using Pixar films in the English Language Arts classroom is an engaging way to review literary terms. Read this post to learn how you can use this!
This blog post explores innovative and engaging lesson plans for any novel unit... ranging from task cards to book instagram pages to a novel podcast project. Student choice is key here, and students can find something they would like to complete in order to convey their reading, comprehension, and
The start of a new school year or new semester is the perfect time to establish new classroom learning routines! Whether it be a bell-ringer routine for the
Find out how to use these free grammar posters in your classroom. From parts of speech, to comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs!
Are you looking for engaging grammar ideas and activities and practice for your middle school English Language Arts students? Check out this blog post.
In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the benefits of assigning a collaborative writing assignment in the high school English and middle school ELA
In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the benefits of assigning a collaborative writing assignment in the high school English and middle school ELA
Are you looking for some fun ELA activities to make planning engaging ELA lesson plans a little easier? This list has you covered!
One of the first things teachers learn in their pre-service teaching classes is the importance of establishing effective classroom routines and procedures for
One of the first things teachers learn in their pre-service teaching classes is the importance of establishing effective classroom routines and procedures for
☘ Full video previews are available for the first 24 hours after a resource kit is uploaded. Follow my store to know when a new resource is available! ✎ Give your students an educational, yet much needed brain break! They can color and doodle in the first doodle page, then fill in the blanks on the second page, and then color and doodle some more! If you like this doodle resource, please come back to the product page and give it an A ⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and positive feedback. You can see the doodle pages before you download them in the preview! ❤️ Thank you :) Want to test your students' comprehension of the literary terms? Check out the Literary Terms Self Grading GOOGLE QUIZ! and the Literary Terms Digital Task Cards! Related Products ⭐ ELA Poetry "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (Daffodils) Video & Activities ⭐ ELA Poetry "The Arrow and the Song" by Video & Activities ⭐ ELA: Poetry "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll Video & Activities ⭐ English ELA Writing I Bet You Can! Basic essay form/structure VIDEO KIT ⭐ English Language Arts ELL ESL Video & Activities Bundle ⭐ Poetry ELA Robert Frost BUNDLE The Road Not Taken & Stopping by Woods ⭐ Poetry Video & Activities BUNDLE - Jabberwocky, Daffodils, Road Not Taken +More ⭐ FULL YEAR VIDEO Writing Prompts Discussion Prompts + Worksheets Thanks to Illumismart for some of the clipart used in making this resource!
Read about how to design an effective summer school curriculum for secondary ELA. Engage students in meaningful content that they missed during the school year.
So… you’re a first-time middle school ELA teacher. Welcome to the madness, I guess! I’m kidding, but in all honesty, middle school isn’t quite like high school or elementary school. Middle school is its own unique level that you need to be prepared for as you get ready to run your classroom. But before we
So many project options! I love giving students lots of choices to showcase their learning. Check out this graphic for lots of ideas on how to assess student understanding and comprehension of any novel. What would you add to this list? #bespokeela #2ndaryela #EdChat
Are you looking for ways to make learning more meaningful in your Secondary ELA Classroom? Check out these twenty five creative project ideas that I have found to be meaningful and successful while also motivating for learners.
Hello, ELA! This resource is a unique way to get your students warmed up at the beginning of your ELA block. Each month contains 4-5 weeks of ELA bell work, which will have a theme around the season, national holidays, or events associated with that particular month. The morning work is focused on ELA 7th Grade Common Core Standards. Each day has a thematic structure to cover language standards as well as enhance vocabulary and comprehension skills. Save money by purchasing the year long BUNDLE!ELA Daily Review 7th Grade {Bundle} Each week follows a predictable and engaging structure: Meaningful Monday: Monday is focused on making meaning. Tasks will focus on synonyms, antonyms, vocabulary words, context clues, and making meaning in a short amount of text. Some tasks may require students to make meaning in the text (inference, message, adages, proverbs, etc.) or build vocabulary skills. Text Structure Tuesday: Tuesdays will have a paragraph that requires students to identify the text structure, signal words, main idea, author's perspective, or vocabulary, or any other question types related to the Craft and Structure standards. Wordy Wednesday: Wednesday is all about working with words. Tasks include working with shades of meaning, homophones, spelling, prefixes, suffixes, roots, and other word skills. Throwback Thursday:Thursday is all about grammar usage and conventions. Figurative Friday: Figurative Friday tasks include working with various types of figurative language including similes, metaphors, idioms, poems, alliteration, structures of poems and more! 🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.I hope this resource works for you! Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or feedback. -Jessica This ELA + Math Morning Work is available for the following grade levels: ELA + Math Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade ELA Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade ELA Weekly Assessments 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade Math Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade Let’s connect! The Literacy Loft Blog The Literacy Loft on Instagram The Literacy Loft on Pinterest The Literacy Loft on Facebook Email: [email protected]
Finding great resources online is the best! In this post (and podcast episode) I’m sharing my favorite sites for free creative lesson plans and teaching ideas online. Listen in below, or read on to learn about my favorite online resources.
Ten years ago, podcasts weren’t nearly as popular as they are today. Now, they’re a huge asset to our personal and professional lives—including in the classroom. That’s why today I’m walking you through how to use podcasts in Middle School ELA classrooms. If you’re not a big podcast listener, you might be wondering how on
*A DIGITAL OPTION HAS BEEN INCLUDED FOR GOOGLE SLIDES/GOOGLE CLASSROOM* Be sure to re-download! There are directions and links inside the pdf. This morning work is a unique way to get your students warmed up in the morning that helps incorporate the 4th Grade Language Standards, Vocabulary Practice, and Reading Comprehension skills.Save money by purchasing the growing bundle and get all future months of morning work:ELA Morning Work 4th Grade Growing BundleOR purchase the ELA + MATH MORNING WORK BUNDLE About the ResourceThis resource is a unique way to get your students warmed up in the morning that helps incorporate the 4th Grade Language Standards, Vocabulary Practice, and Reading Comprehension skills.Each month contains 4-5 weeks of ELA morning work, which will have a theme around the season, national holidays, or events associated with that particular month. The morning work is focused on ELA 4th Grade Common Core Standards. Each day has a thematic structure to cover those Language Standards as well as enhance Vocabulary and Comprehension skills.Meaningful Monday: Monday is focused on making meaning. Tasks will focus on synonyms, antonyms, vocabulary words, context clues, and making meaning in a short amount of text. Some tasks may require students to make meaning in the text (inference, message, adages, proverbs, etc) or build vocabulary skills.Text Structure Tuesday: Tuesdays will have a paragraph that requires students to identify the text structure, signal words, and a question or two related to main idea, author's perspective, or vocabulary. Wordy Wednesday: Wednesday is all about working with words. Tasks include working with shades of meaning, homophones, or a short writing task using pictures or a word bank.Throwback Thursday: Thursday is all about grammar usage and conventions. Figurative Friday: Figurative Friday tasks include working with various types of figurative language including similes, metaphors, idioms, and more! I created this resource after seeing success with the Math version in my 4th grade classroom that you can find HERE! 🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.This ELA + Math Morning Work is available for the following grade levels: ELA + Math Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade ELA Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade ELA Weekly Assessments 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade Math Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade Let’s connect! The Literacy Loft Blog The Literacy Loft on Instagram The Literacy Loft on Pinterest The Literacy Loft on Facebook I hope this resource works for you! Please be sure to FOLLOW US so you get the email when the rest of this series comes out! You can contact us at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or feedback. -Jessica
Do you need parts of speech posters for your classroom? This post has several classroom décor resources to help teachers prepare an engaging learning environment.
I'm always on the lookout for new teacher supplies. Here is a list of items that I love using in my classroom. You can also check out some of my other
It can be very overwhelming, especially for my struggling readers, to focus on using multiple reading comprehension strategies with a piece of text. For this reason, I always take time in at least the first
Ready to create learning stations? They require a purposeful and strategic design in order for the experience to be meaningful. Start here!
Need more engagement from your middle school students? Try adding in one of these 3 ways to incorporate student choice into your classroom!
Whether your students are lethargic or super-charged, adding movement to your lesson plans will help to solve both issues. Not only is it healthy to move throughout the day, but it can also help students focus and become more engaged with the content they are trying to master. Due to the nature of English classes, ELA ... Read More about 10 Ways to Add Movement in the ELA Classroom
By The Daring English Teacher When starting a new school year, one of the most important and beneficial things a teacher can do in the classroom side from building classroom community is to take some time at the start of the new school year for review. Review is not only crucial because students might have forgotten some of the content the learned before summer break, but it is also critical to determine precisely where students are. Plus, when teachers review essential content and ideas at the start of the new school year, students have a more uniform understanding of the ELA content. And that is all during a normal school year. Again, like last year, this current school year is nothing like a normal school year, and that is why it is so important to go back to the basics, teach the essentials, and really make sure that our students have a good foundation before we move forward. Essential ELA ReviewOne of the easiest ways to review quite a bit of essential ELA content at the beginning of the year is to stick with a review unit in your classroom. Recently, I created my Essential ELA Review Units to specifically address review in the secondary ELA classroom. My Essential ELA Review units include five weeks of daily ELA review in a bell-ringer format, and all of the units include a wide variety of essential ELA standards. From argument, informational and narrative writing to language skills to reading analysis and inference, these ELA Review units hit on all of the major ELA standards. With the Essential ELA Review Unit, students review content on the instructional slide and complete just a few exercises every single day for five weeks. I am currently using this program in my classroom with my sophomores, and it is helping me guide my instruction for the year. Currently, I have Essential ELA Review units available for grade 8 (which reviews the grade 7 standards), grades 9-10 (which reviews the grade 8 standards), and grades 11-12 (which reviews 9-10 standards). Grades 9-10 ELA Review ELA Review StationsAnother way to review important ELA content in the classroom is to set up review stations, and what’s so great about this activity is that you can tailor it to your class’ specific needs. One of the easiest ways to set up review stations is to use a combination of a computer-based program and task cards. For example, for one station, I might have students complete a grammar or punctuation review activity on their Chromebooks, and for the other stations, I might break up a set of task cards for students to work on. For a digital review station, my Digital Grammar Review Activities are a perfect fit for a digital review station. This teaching resource includes four mini-lessons: parallel structure, semicolons, hyphens, and colons. My Parts of Speech Task Cards and the Grammar Task Card Bundle are the perfect task cards for a review-stations activity!In an hour-long class period, I’ve found that review stations work best as either a one-day, three-station, or two-day five-station activity. Usually, I like to give each group of students about 15 minutes at each station. When planning for a station-type activity, I also plan to review the procedures at the beginning of the class. Then, at the end of the class, we review the content in a whole-group setting. Escape Room ReviewAnother fun way to review essential content in your classroom and also build classroom community is the same time is to group students into teams and have them compete in an escape room challenge. While I typically use escape rooms in the classroom as an end-of-the-unit review, escape rooms can also be beneficial as a stand-alone review activity to help your students remember information they’ve learned in previous years. In an escape room review activity, student groups will work together to solve a series of related tasks. While every student in the group might not have the answers or know the content, each group member will work together and pool their knowledge to solve the challenge. My favorite ELA escape room activities for review are my Elements of Fiction Escape Room and my Parts of Speech Escape Room. Parts of Speech Escape Room Gamifying Review ActivitiesIn addition to the review activities mentioned above, there are lots of fun, digital ways to gamify classroom review. If you are pressed for time or need to grab a review activity quickly, you can choose from one of the premade activities. From Kahoot! To Quizlet Live, the options are really endless, and it adds a sense of fun and excitement to the classroom. And, there is already user-generated content to choose from. If you are looking for more review activities, you’ll want to check out the short story collaborative review activity I have my students complete at the end of our short story unit. You’ll also want to check out this strategy to make any review activity an engaging experience. More Review Activities and Ideas: ELA Vocabulary Bundle
Pre-reading activities are important to implement before reading a text. Check out these suggestions to help you in your classroom.
Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.
A poetry analysis graphic organizer designed to be paired with any poem. Created using Google Slides so it can be printed or assigned digitally. Structure: How many stanzas/verses? What words/phrases emphasize the images or themes? Are there words and/or lines repeated? What is the line length/rhyme scheme? Meaning: What is this poem about? What is the poet’s main message? Does the message change? What are the main ideas in this poem? Imagery: What pictures do you get in your mind when you read the poem? Does the poem contain similes, metaphors or personification? Why do you think the poet has included these images? Language: What words have been used to create images? Are there any complicated words? Is the language simple to understand? Which words and phrases create the images? What adjectives are included? Color, size, comparison? Effect: What is the effect of the poem? What does the poem make you think or feel about? What is the poet trying to say about their subject?
Ten years ago, podcasts weren’t nearly as popular as they are today. Now, they’re a huge asset to our personal and professional lives—including in the classroom. That’s why today I’m walking you through how to use podcasts in Middle School ELA classrooms. If you’re not a big podcast listener, you might be wondering how on
Using ELA Mysteries in your classroom will bring an engaging take on ELA review and skills. Your students will love these!
Looking for Wordle classroom ideas? Incorporate Wordle into your classroom with this activities, ideas, and templates.
With a new school year upon us, here is a look at 10 must-use secondary ELA teaching units, lessons, and activities for your classroom. These units are
