Common Core Standard 4: Teaching the Word Play Standard
There are two different skills included in the Word Play standard. The first deals with word meaning and the second deals with the impact of the word choice.The first skill for each grade level...
View ArticleCommon Core Standard 3: Guiding Students to Connections
If you are struggling with Standard 3: Connections & Relationships, consider explicitly introducting the seven major types of relationships independently. I like to start with one person that...
View ArticleTeaching the Text Structure Standard (RI5) in the Elementary Classroom
Students in third through fifth grade have probably spent several years learning about narrative structure. As they begin to learn more about informational text, they have to reframe how they think...
View ArticleWhat’s the Message? Making Sense of Common Core Terminology in Reading...
Theme and main/ central idea are the two different terms used in the Anchor Reading Standard 2. While different terms, both get at the same core concept: message. What does the author want the reader...
View ArticleExplicit or Inference?
This is such a great visual for all grade levels to use. When students have book talks and really dig into a text, I like to eavesdrop on their conversations, interjecting to ask if they information...
View ArticleTeaching Students to Look for Connections
This fun chart can be the foundation for students in each grade level. The anchor standard explicitly states that students should analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact...
View ArticleOutside/ Inside: Fun Anchor Chart for Teaching POV (CCSS Standard 6)
Outside/Inside is such a useful chart for elementary and middle school readers. This chart is interactive and helps students be able to understand that they can explicitly pull out excerpts from the...
View ArticleBuilding Blocks of an Argument
When evaluating the strength of an argument, students are often told to examine the supporting details. The challenge with this directive is that many students are unclear what supporting details...
View ArticleC.L.A.I.M.: Analyzing Arguments in Upper Elementary & Middle School
This is an anchor chart created with a middle school class. It works well for any grade, but particularly fifth grade through high school. This is most appropriate because those grade levels will use...
View ArticleI have to EXPLAIN the text?
Students always hear that they should explain what they read. This is often referred to as summarizing, retelling, or recounting the text. It is important to differentiate between summarizing and...
View ArticleThinking About Ideas in a Text: Tackling Reading Standard Two in Middle...
One of the big challenges for students is being able to understand what “develop” means in reference to a text. These five simple questions encourage students to consider not just the main/central...
View ArticleBook Face Off: A fun chart to compare books, genres, & authors!
Overview: This type of anchor chart might be my favorite to use with students. This is such an effective visual to help students compare two texts. The interactive nature of the chart also makes it...
View ArticleTeaching Literature Standard 8: What do reasons really do?
Teachers regularly ask students in first and second grade to find details and reasons in a text. While this request is valid, many students don’t understand what really constitutes a concrete reason....
View ArticleGet Kids Thinking About Ways to Describe!
Students seem to understand that narratives warrant rich, vivid, sensory language. Likewise, students recognize the argumentative nature of opinion writing and associate that with strong details and...
View ArticleRecipe for a Literary Analysis Topic Sentence
This chart was created to help students form a topic sentence for analysis. This chart was created with literature in mine, but could be modified to work with informational text as well. The fourth...
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