The L and R Clash

A preparatory summer reading curriculum designed to bridge historical literary movements, analytical vocabulary, and journey-themed texts for incoming 11th graders.

Focuses on using Metaphors and Similes to create powerful figurative imagery. Includes a final "My Poetry Masterpieces" portfolio cover and peer celebration review pages.

Focuses on shape, movement, and visual arrangement with Concrete (Shape) Poems and Free Verse. Provides scaffolded outline guides, word maps, and sensory feeling prompts.

Focuses on structure, rhythm, and sound through Acrostic Poems and Rhyming Couplets. Offers step-by-step graphic templates, letter grids, rhyming dictionaries, and syllable beat counters.

Focuses on Sensory and Color Poetry (Haiku and Color Poems). Students explore imagery using their five senses, utilizing highly visual sensory organizers, word banks, and syllable counters.

Students practice making independent choices, expressing preferences, and setting boundaries (saying "yes" or "no") using structured choice boards, tactile sorting mats, and interactive role-play.

Students practice identifying when they need help, who to ask (teachers, peers, or helpers), and how to communicate that need using visual phrase cards and guided collaborative practice.

Students learn to recognize and communicate physical and emotional states (like tired, hungry, overwhelmed, or ready to learn) using simple gestures, vocalizations, or visual symbol cards.

Students compile their four-sentence creative stories into a comic strip layout, add simple illustrations, and celebrate their storytelling accomplishments.

Students resolve their story's problem, writing their fourth sentence using "Then, ..." and selecting a happy resolution symbol.

Students introduce a simple conflict or surprise for their character, writing a sentence with "Suddenly..." and problem-based action icons.

Students choose a creative setting (such as outer space or a magic forest) and write a sentence using "They are in..." with visual setting prompt cards.

Students invent a fictional character (such as a superhero or friendly animal) and write a sentence describing them using "This is..." and physical descriptors with visual symbols.

Students present their informational posters to peers using verbal or non-verbal communication supports, celebrating their factual discoveries.

Students assemble their key fact, evidence sentence, and concluding statement into a coherent, illustrated informational poster.

Students conclude their informational piece by writing a third sentence that summarizes their topic using a "Now you know about..." sentence starter and visual symbols.

Students locate visual evidence or supporting clues (such as food or habitat icons) to back up their first key fact, writing a second sentence using "It has..." or "It lives..." frames.

Students choose an informational topic (such as an animal or a local community job) and identify their first key fact using a visual matching organizer and "This is a..." sentence frame.

Students practice reading their three-sentence narratives to a peer or teacher, using visual communication boards as support, and celebrate their completed stories.

Students compile their first, middle, and ending sentences into a complete, logically sequenced three-sentence personal narrative, adding simple decorative illustrations.

Students conclude their personal narrative by writing about the final event using a "Last, I..." sentence starter, focusing on chronological closure and a simple emotion word.

Students continue their personal narrative by writing about the middle event using a "Next, I..." sentence starter and corresponding visual icons to show chronological order.

Students choose a personal topic (such as a favorite memory or weekend activity) and write their first complete sentence describing the first event using a "First, I..." sentence starter and visual picture cards.

A 4-week space explorer themed morning meeting series for middle school ESY scholars with disabilities. Led by Commander Sosnoff, it covers Mars Rover, Asteroid Navigation, Saturn Rings, and Nebula sectors with calendar ship logs, cosmic energy checks, stellar affirmations, and turn-and-talk communication prompts.

Days 11 to 15 focus on reading simple job postings, filling out functional job applications, understanding work sequencing, and determining theme/purpose.

Days 6 to 10 focus on reading menus, highlighting key details, and making inferences about restaurant and everyday scenarios using functional text.

Days 1 to 5 focus on identifying crucial safety signs, understanding school and transit schedules, and answering WH questions about community and adapted literary texts.

Introduces early 3-digit numbers (100-120), visual skip-counting (2s, 5s, 10s) using constellation maps, and ordering cosmic objects to build sequential logic.

Focuses on identifying double-digit numbers (10-99), representing them using ten-frames and printable base-ten icons, and writing numbers in expanded place value charts (tens and ones) with clear physical boundaries.

Covers single-digit subtraction (1-9) with cosmic countdowns, crossing-out stars or rocket fuel cells, embedded touch-points for backwards counting, and structured workspace templates.