A grammar lesson for middle schoolers where they watch a linguistic debate and create instructional posters about Count vs. Mass nouns and the 'Less' vs. 'Fewer' rule.
A final culmination of the book club unit, where students synthesize the entire novel through creative projects and thematic reflections.
The emotional climax and resolution of the story as the tiger is released and Rob finally opens his suitcase, covering chapters twenty-one through thirty.
Exploring the developing friendship between Rob and Sistine and the growing pressure of the tiger's presence, covering chapters eleven through twenty.
An introduction to the Lister Motel and Rob Horton's 'suitcase', covering the first ten chapters of the novel.
A comprehensive lesson on narrative sentence variation focusing on varied beginnings, sentence combining, length modulation, and descriptive clauses. Students move from identifying monotone rhythms to crafting dynamic, flowing prose.
Students explore the magical world of figurative language, learning to identify and craft similes, metaphors, personification, and more through creative 'alchemy' themed exercises.
A high-energy grammar review game where students act as 'Syntax Technicians' to fix glitches in a virtual world. This lesson focuses on mastering commas, sentence errors, capitalization, and verb tense through collaborative task card challenges.
A lesson focused on the climactic Act III of '12 Angry Men', exploring the shifting dynamics of the jury, the re-examination of evidence, and the final resolution of the trial.
A vocabulary focused lesson on Chapters 4-7 of Lois Lowry's The Giver, exploring key terms through textual context and modern application.
Students identify and interpret visual metaphors for abstract Stoic virtues in a video about Marcus Aurelius, then design their own 3-panel storyboard to explain a new virtue.
A creative writing lesson for middle school students exploring empathy and perspective-taking through the medium of internal monologues. Using a poignant animated video about cyberbullying, students analyze character motivations and the impact of digital actions.
A mini-lesson focused on the art of crafting narrative endings that effectively resolve conflict and showcase character growth and reflection. Students learn to move beyond simply 'stopping' a story to 'finishing' it with a meaningful theme or lesson learned.
A 40-minute lesson exploring the tonal shifts in Chapter 6 of Persepolis, focusing on the juxtaposition of national celebration and personal moral complexity. Students analyze a single panel using a Claim-Evidence-Analysis-Conclusion framework to evaluate how Satrapi conveys themes of loss and forgiveness.
Teaches students to evaluate claims, analyze evidence, and craft strong argumentative responses for the NYS ELA exam.
Develops students' ability to identify central ideas and the specific evidence that supports them in informational texts.
Focuses on the essential vocabulary and structural frameworks needed to analyze complex middle school texts.
A structured lesson focused on Chapters 16-18 of The Hate U Give, designed to help students summarize key events, make deep character inferences, and identify main ideas in preparation for comprehension assessments.
A comprehensive lesson where 8th graders learn to construct persuasive essays using an 'architectural' framework, focusing on thesis foundations, structural claims, and evidentiary reinforcement.
Students become 'argument architects' by learning to construct well-supported persuasive essays through thesis development, evidence integration, and logical organization. This 8th-grade ELA lesson uses a construction-themed approach to deconstruct exemplars and build robust written arguments.
A comprehensive 8th-grade ELA lesson on persuasive writing where students act as architects to build robust, evidence-backed arguments through systematic planning and organization.
A lesson focused on teaching students how to incorporate internal dialogue into narrative writing to reveal character traits and deepen the connection to story events.
A comprehensive mini-lesson on teaching students how to integrate internal monologue into their narrative writing to reveal character traits and react to plot events.
A 45-minute lesson focused on analyzing author's purpose, tone, and word choice using a biographical text about Selena Quintanilla, culminating in a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) response.
A lesson focused on the life of Selena Quintanilla, using the past tense to analyze how an author's diction and syntax build mood and tone in a biographical text.
This lesson guides students through the process of crafting topic sentences that directly respond to a writing prompt about Wilma Rudolph's perseverance. It emphasizes the integration of prompt language, previews of text evidence, and the foundation for analytical explanation.
Focuses on writing a high-tension introduction for a Choose Your Own Adventure story that culminates in a critical survival decision based on animal defense mechanisms.
A lesson where students learn to decode and apply rubrics to argumentative writing, treating the rubric as a blueprint for forging strong, defensible arguments.
A foundational lesson on argumentative writing, covering essential terminology like claims, evidence, and counterclaims through a 'blueprint' architectural theme.
A 35-minute lesson exploring class differences, social injustice, and character motivations in Chapter 5 of Persepolis, 'The Letter'. Students analyze the contrast between Marji and Mehri through a Venn diagram and an evidence-based writing response.
A fast-paced, 20-minute cross-curricular lesson on writing summaries using the GIST method. Students learn to distill complex information into a concise 'highlight reel' of exactly 20 words.
A 7th-grade ELA lesson where students learn the components of independence through a multimedia source and apply their knowledge by writing a persuasive advice column response. Students will practice citing evidence from a video to support their claims.
A quick vocabulary boost focusing on four powerful literary words: Fiend, Reverberate, Rapturous, and Ineffable. This lesson provides reference materials and practice to master these evocative terms.
In this lesson, students analyze Chapter 2 of Frederick Douglass's Narrative, focusing on his use of irony regarding slave songs, sleeping conditions, and the hierarchy of the Great House Farm. They will produce a written response citing two specific examples of irony.
A lesson analyzing Frederick Douglass's use of irony in Chapter 2 of his narrative to reveal the true horrors of slavery to a northern audience. Students explore specific examples like slave songs and sleeping conditions to debunk common misconceptions.
A close reading lesson on Chapter 3 of Frederick Douglass's narrative, focusing on how irony develops the theme that enslavement creates a skewed perception of reality.
A lesson focused on analyzing the deep-seated prejudices of Jurors 3, 4, 7, and 10 in Rose's '12 Angry Men'. Students will identify textual evidence and analyze how these biases obstruct the pursuit of justice.
A high-energy, kinesthetic writing game called 'The Hall of Echoes Scramble.' Students act as 'Echo Hunters' who must find hidden 'Memory Vibrations' (prompts) around the room and collaboratively write creative responses on a 'Legacy Scroll' to reconstruct a character's life.
Focuses on grade 6 NYS ELA standards for informational text, emphasizing text structure and identifying an author's argument. Features a passage on ocean plastic pollution.
A lesson focusing on identifying and correcting faulty parallelism in sentences, helping students create rhythm and clarity in their writing.
A 35-minute lesson exploring the theme of public vs. private identity in Chapter 4 of Persepolis. Students analyze how characters navigate the contradictions between their personal lives and the political atmosphere of 1970s Iran.
Book club celebration with discussion and a creative 'Carving' activity.
Preparing for the book club celebration and final reflection.
Synthesizing the theme of 'letting go' across the various characters.