Poem in Your Pocket Day Novel Connections #PocketPoem

On National "Poem in Your Pocket" Day, you don't have to give up teaching your novel for poetry. Instead, incorporate it into the lesson. This prompt (shown above) stemmed from an activity I created on my Hunger Games Lessons page to connect poetry to the characters:

Choose a character from the novel then find a poem that represents her/him.

Explain why that poem fits your character, using evidence from the text for support.

Not only does it challenge the students' critical-thinking skills, it reinforces character traits and themes from the novel.

Read more on this blog post: Which poems would Katniss and Peeta carry for "Poem in Your Pocket Day"?

It's also a great way to practice Common Core skills. This activity practices the following skills from the grades 6-12 anchor standards for reading literature:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.3 Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9 Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Standards from: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/R

If you need a collection of poems for students to browse, feel free to share my Poem in Your Pocket collection of poems (free download). You may share the packet electronically or post on your website.

Tomorrow, tweet your activities on Twitter using the hashtag #pocketpoem. I hope you have a GREAT day of sharing poetry with your students!

Writing Prompt for Groundhog Day

You can use this writing prompt Friday or Monday with your students for Groundhog Day (Feb. 2).

The prompt is from my collection of almost 400 prompts to last an entire year: 

A Year of Journal Prompts. 

With the handouts, the prompts align with the Common Core State Standards for reading informational and writing.

Cyber Monday Sale for Teachers!

It's shopping time for teachers again: Cyber Monday (& Tuesday) Sale on TeachersPayTeachers! 

Stock up on resources for the rest of 2012 and to start the new semester off with a bang. All my items will be marked down; be sure to take advantage of the great savings using the code CMT12 at checkout.

Over the next few days I'm going to be posting about some great products you won't want to miss! Follow my blog to get all the updates. I'll also be posting some new products that I think you're going to love!


Part one of the essential products you'll want to add to your cart include (middle and high school teachers):

English Language Arts Reading Assessment - This is a great packet for teachers looking for Common Core State Standards-aligned reading evaluations. It includes a lengthy non-fiction reading passage, a shorter fictional piece, writing response, and vocabulary in-context assessments. Appropriate for grades 8-10.


For my elementary friends:

iPad Literacy Common Core Creative Writing Activities - If your students have ever had the opportunity to use an application on an iPad, you can use these activities to generate that excitement of technology into writing activities. Practices many Common Core State Standards skills for grades 1 and 2 (though higher grades seem to like it, as well!). Coming soon: a packet for the older students!


For my clip art fanatics:

Mega Bundle of Teachers & Students Clip Art for Commercial Use - The sale is a great time to stock up on my people bundle. And how can you resist those faces? ;)

What will I be buying?

Kimberly Geswein Commercial License for ALL Fonts - I absolutely love her fonts! I've already purchased several individual licenses, but she continues to create gorgeous fonts (that include great high-school friendly scripts) so I know her store-wide license will be more than worth it.

See you tomorrow for some additional finds to put in your shopping cart! Browse my store on TeachersPayTeachers to find additional resources.

In the comments below, post links to your favorite items that you'll be purchasing Monday & Tuesday. 

Tip #3 for Implementing the Common Core State Standards in Your ELA Curriculum

Align your lessons with the Common Core Standards.

If you teach in one of the 48 states that has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), chances are you've been looking for resources to help ensure your students are practicing the essential skills to meet the standards. And chances are you haven't found much for grades 6-12. I'd like to offer some tips that I learned as I went through this process during the 2010-2011 school year. You can find my previous tips here and here.

TIP FOR IMPLEMENTING THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS INTO YOUR ELA CURRICULUM

3. The various strands of the standards work with one another, so many reading activities will cover not just the reading strand, but perhaps the writing and language strands, as well. To demonstrate this, look at the following sixth grade writing standard:

The ELA strands work with one another; use resources that will, too.

W.6.9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

• Apply grade 6 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres [e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories] in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics”).
• Apply grade 6 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., “Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not”).

It would be impossible to implement this standard independently from the reading standards. They work together. Therefore, many of the resources that would cover RL.6.8 and RI.6.8 are the opening act for the writing activity. After you have students make those comparisons or arguments for the reading activity, have them put it in essay format. They already have the outline done if they utilized a good reading resource for standard 8.

My reading graphic organizers can serve as writing outlines, as well.

You don't have to waste your time or money finding separate resources for each of the strands in the standards. Plus, after your students spend time delineating the reading material, they will have a better understanding of what is expected in their own writing pieces.

You can try out some of my free resources in my teacher store:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Reading-Graphic-Organizer-RL9-103-and-RI9-103
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Reading-Graphic-Organizer-RL87-and-RI87
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Graphic-Organizer-RL11-125-and-RI11-125

My Common Core reading graphic organizers can be found here: Grades 6, 7, 8 • Grades 9-10 • Grades 11-12


ADDITIONAL CCSS RESOURCES
• If you are a pin-head like me (aka Pinterest Addict), check out my Common Core resources board:
Common Core Resources for English/Language Arts

• I belong to group boards, where you can find resources from various teachers and websites:
Common Core Ideas
The Ultimate Common Core ELA Products - Must Have

• You can also find resources through Charity Preston's Common Core Reading Lessons website. Just click on the specific grade level you are looking for.

SOURCE
The Common Core State Standards were posted under the public license:
The NGA Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) hereby grant a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to copy, publish, distribute, and display the Common Core State Standards for purposes that support the Common Core State Standards Initiative. These uses may involve the Common Core State Standards as a whole or selected excerpts or portions.

NGA Center/CCSSO are the sole owners and developers of the Common Core State Standards.

© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

Common Core State Standards: Tip #2 for Implementing the CCSS Your Curriculum

Align your lessons with the Common Core Standards.

If you teach in one of the 48 states that has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), chances are you've been looking for resources to help ensure your students are practicing the essential skills to meet the standards. And chances are you haven't found much for grades 6-12. I'd like to offer some tips that I learned as I went through this process during the 2010-2011 school year. Check back often to read my next tip (I'll have several). See tip #1 here.

TIP FOR IMPLEMENTING THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS INTO YOUR ELA CURRICULUM
2. Take advantage of the fact that the ELA anchor standards for 6-12 are the same, just varying the depth of each as students progress. For example, the first anchor standard for reading literature grades 6-12 is:
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 
(Source: corestandards.org)
Take a look at each grade-level standard for reading literature and see how they either build upon one another or stay the same:
RL.6.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.7.1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.8.1. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.9-10.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.11-12.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

At the sixth grade level, it seems as though just one supporting piece of evidence is necessary to find in the text, while seventh through 12th grades require more than one piece of evidence, and/or more difficult texts to find the supporting evidence from eighth grade on up.

Common Core Graphic Organizers

This is helpful because students will continue to build on these same skills each year, reinforcing what they know. It's also to your advantage when it comes to finding resources by using materials that cover several grade levels. My graphic organizers can be used with any text (fiction or non-fiction) in any content area. I begin with the anchor standards, then add directions or prompts that suit the grade level. Therefore, if you teach both an 8th grade and 11th grade literature class, you would only have to purchase the organizers for grades 11-12 because those will have all the materials from grades 6 on up. The organizers for grades 6, 7, and 8 are very similar to those for grades 9-10, so only one or the other would need to be purchased if you taught any of those grades. This is why my organizers for grades 11-12 are more expensive--they contain more and go more in-depth on many of the standards.

UPDATE: History and science teachers can find Common Core Literacy resources here:
CCSS Graphic Organizers for History & Social Studies, Grades 6-12
CCSS Graphic Organizers for Science & Technical Subjects, Grades 6-12

ADDITIONAL CCSS RESOURCES
• If you are a pin-head like me (aka Pinterest Addict), check out my Common Core resources board:
Common Core Resources for English/Language Arts

• You can also find resources through Charity Preston's Common Core Reading Lessons website. Just click on the specific grade level you are looking for.

SOURCE
The Common Core State Standards were posted under the public license:
The NGA Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) hereby grant a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to copy, publish, distribute, and display the Common Core State Standards for purposes that support the Common Core State Standards Initiative. These uses may involve the Common Core State Standards as a whole or selected excerpts or portions.

NGA Center/CCSSO are the sole owners and developers of the Common Core State Standards.

© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

Implementing the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts Classes, Tip #1

Align your lessons with the Common Core Standards.

If you teach in one of the 48 states that has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), chances are you've been looking for resources to help ensure your students are practicing the essential skills to meet the standards. And chances are you haven't found much for grades 6-12. I'd like to offer some tips that I learned as I went through this process during the 2010-2011 school year. Check back often to read my next tip (I'll have several).

TIP FOR IMPLEMENTING THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS INTO YOUR ELA CURRICULUM
1. Take advantage of the materials available to you. There are many websites and Pinterest boards that are posting resources. Utilize those! It will save you a lot of time. (Links to resources posted below.)

Sadly, I did not have any materials available to me two years ago, otherwise I would have used them.

Avoid the tedious task of re-mapping your curriculum.

When our district learned of the adoption of the standards in 2010, we were given the tedious and time-consuming chore of aligning our curriculum maps with the CCSS. It seemed like it would be an easy task, but it turns out there were many Illinois standards that just didn't seem to fit anywhere in the Common Core. It didn't take long to realize it would be easier to re-do many of my lessons than align each one.

As a result, I created my Grades 9-10 Common Core Reading Graphic Organizers. Though I had already been practicing skills like inferencing and analysis of characters, theme, the author's purpose, figurative language, and so on, the language in the CCSS was much more specific with exactly what the students should be learning. Below is an example of one I created for the reading literature anchor standard #3 (CCR.RL.3):

I had my students use the RL.3 organizer while we read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. {You can download this graphic organizer HERE free.}

Below is an example of the character analysis of Scout Finch. In one of my next posts I'll be writing about what we did after students filled out their graphic organizers.

If you are interested in the graphic organizers for other grade levels, you can find them all in my teacher store: Common Core Resources (free & priced) for English/Language Arts

I will be posting more tips every few days, so check back for tip #2!

ADDITIONAL CCSS RESOURCES
• If you are a pin-head like me (aka Pinterest Addict), check out my Common Core resources board:
Common Core Resources for English/Language Arts

• I belong to group boards, where you can find resources from various teachers and websites:
Common Core Ideas
The Ultimate Common Core ELA Products - Must Have

• You can also find resources through Charity Preston's Common Core Reading Lessons website. Just click on the specific grade level you are looking for.

SOURCE
The Common Core State Standards were posted under the public license:
The NGA Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) hereby grant a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to copy, publish, distribute, and display the Common Core State Standards for purposes that support the Common Core State Standards Initiative. These uses may involve the Common Core State Standards as a whole or selected excerpts or portions.

NGA Center/CCSSO are the sole owners and developers of the Common Core State Standards.

© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.