It's The Lesson Cloud Dollar Days Back-to-School Sale AND a Giveaway!

The Dollar Days Sale & Giveaway sponsored by The Lesson Cloud!

The Lesson Cloud authors are presenting a big Dollar Days sale this week! PLUS, you can win a $75 gift card to Really Good Stuff in our Back-to-School Giveaway!
You can get great deals on so many teacherspayteachers lessons, activities, printables, and other teaching resources for just $1 or $2. But it's only happening Sunday, July 29th and Monday, July 30th, so you'll need to put those items on your wish list or add to your cart so you don't forget.

To see all the great resources that will be marked down and to enter the $75 giveaway gift card, go to 

The Lesson Cloud Dollar Days

There you can click on the grade-level resources that are marked at super discounts and enter our giveaway!

  I will be marking down several products, including:

Grades 6-12: 
Common Core Graphic Organizers for Grades 9-10
Using Silly Shapes/Bands Bracelets to Teach Symbolism
Mockingjay Novel Unit Supplemental Activities/Lessons
The Life & Times of Shakespeare Powerpoint Presentation
 MLA Citations & Works Cited Student Help/Cheat Sheet 
Character Olympics - The Summer Games


Grades K-4:

  Create an Award Craftivity
Writing Lines Commercial & Personal-Use Clip Art (For handwriting practice) 

Clip Art:

More Seusstastic (Dr. Seuss-themed) Frames, Borders, Backgrounds

Writing Lines Commercial & Personal-Use Clip Art  (For handwriting practice)

Line-Art (or outline) Adults/Teachers Cartoon Characters Clip Art Package

Thanks to Hilary Lewis for designing the cute logo at the top!
Check out her blog {HERE}.

Two Holiday Freebies for Download

I just posted two holiday freebies you can download in my teacher store right now!

"The Day After Halloween Creative Writing Activity" 
(or it can be done anytime!)

"Thanksgiving Creative Writing Activity"

Both can be quick bell-ringers or exit slips, or used as journal prompts. They allow your students to be creative, which is always a good thing. And I like that you can use these for upper elementary students through seniors in high school. I know my older students had fun coming up with their responses. :)

Enjoy!

Oh, and they ARE aligned with the Common Core Standards.  Bonus!

Common Core Standards for Literature Graphic Organizers & Worksheets

Do you need to implement the Common Core Standards into your curriculum? These graphic organizers are written for each individual anchor standard for Reading Literature, grades 9-10, and will work for any piece of literature: short stories, plays, novels, poems, etc.. Just select an organizer for the literature you are reading to practice that particular standard/skill. They are all labeled clearly with each standard.

You can download the samples, below, FREE.

This full set, which can be purchased here, includes 24 different organizers for the 10 anchor standards in reading. Many of the organizers will practice the skills in the Reading Informational Texts, as well. However, the majority are written specifically for the literature standards.

UPDATE: I completed the graphic organizers for grades 6, 7, and 8, as well. You can find those here:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fiction-Non-Fiction-Reading-Graphic-Organizers-Common-Core-6-7-8
Because the anchor standards are the same, many will be similar to the grades 9-10. However, they are customized to the specific standards outlined for each grade.  For example, the third anchor standard for reading literature for each grade is:
RL.6.3. Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
RL.7.3. Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
RL.8.3. Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
RL.9-10.3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
I provide several different organizers for each standard so you can decide how deeply you want your students to practice this skill. You can use these for assessment, as well.

Skills practiced in the organizers include: inference (inferring), complex character analysis, theme and plot development, compare/contrast two different works of same subject matter, understanding of cultural experiences, figurative language meaning and purpose, author's point of view, role of character, understanding author's purpose and choices, how language affects the tone and meaning, how an author uses allusions, and reading comprehension.

Students in advanced classes in 8th grade/middle could also utilize the worksheets for grades 9-10 or use the grades 6, 7, 8 organizers.

Free Common Core Standards Graphic Organizers