A Task Card Basket Blooming with Reading, Vocabulary/Writing and Punctuation Activities

December, March and May can be the three toughest months to reel in students’ attention due to the Too Little and Too Much Flu. The main symptoms of this illness are: Too Little desire to learn, Too Little concentration and Too Much lethargy.

In May, though, another ingredient-Too Much testing crowns this month as the most frustrating for teachers.  Between A.P. and state Standards of Learning exams, students’ class attendance is spotty, and their desire to participate in lessons and activities has been sapped by preparing for Multiple Choice tests and writing to a prompt.

Lesson plan continuity endures a major blow although teachers still want and need to teach and students still need to add to their learning homes.

These three sets of Task Cards will alleviate teachers’ frustration and stress while reviving students’ motivation, concentration and attention and creating strong foundations of learning. 

Reading Comprehension - Literature Task Cards

With this set of Elements of Literature Task Cards, Middle School and High School students will reinforce, review and develop their understanding of a text any time that they need to work on expanding their comprehension/higher thinking skills and /or writing aptitudes.

Each element of literature: Plot/Conflict, Character, Setting, Theme, Symbols, Tone and Point of View as well as a set titled, My Insights, is represented by color-coded task cards that reveal questions which address: Understanding/Remembering, Applying Knowledge, Analyzing Ideas, Evaluating Situations and Characters' Actions. Students will also compose original pieces based on the text(s) that they are reading.

Preview and download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Comprehension-Literature-Task-Cards-1131263 ($4.50)*

Vocabulary - FOR THE LOVE OF WORDS! Task Cards

Middle School and High School students need to gather words that showcase their verbal and written language instead of relying on texting abbreviations to speak for them. When they understand the nuances of word meanings and usage besides just memorizing them, they will score higher on SAT and other standardized tests. Most importantly, they will be able to clearly communicate their thoughts, ideas and beliefs, and will comprehend what they read and what other people write and say.

FOR THE LOVE OF WORDS! is an 11-page Task Card vocabulary study with 32 individual, pairs, small group and whole class activities. These activities engage students' curiosity, and this inquisitiveness sparks learning because they are motivated  to own the words and not borrow them for a test.

Preview and download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vocabulary-FOR-THE-LOVE-OF-WORDS-1840502 ($4.00)*

Grammar - PUNCTUATION RULES! Task Cards & Activities

Between Tweets, Facebook status updates, Pinning,Texting and various other sites limiting characters, students are forgetting how to properly punctuate their longer writing pieces. PUNCTUATION RULES! Task Cards & Activities, enable Middle School and High School students to improve their Language and Writing knowledge and skills.

This 20-page packet includes

~detailed Teacher Notes

~Rules for End Mark Insight, Comma Sense, Colon/Semi-Colon Credibility, Quotation Mark Quality, and Grasping Apostrophes and Dashes

~8 Task Cards for each of these 5 categories

~1 Task Cards-Punctuation Review Activity with a Part 2 Writing segment

~Answer Keys for all Task Cards

~2 Alternative Activities: Fill-It-In! a MadLib-type of challenge- with an Answer Key, and Proofreading Pride- a Three-Step Correction Format for students to use with any graded and non-graded writing piece- with specific directions.

Preview and download it from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grammar-PUNCTUATION-RULES-Task-Cards-Activities-1820840 ($6.00)*

All three of these Task Card sets are aligned with Common Core Standards and Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Most importantly, since they are beneficial for individual, small group or whole class study and discussion, for in-class writing and for homework, these task cards are the perfect antidote to the Too Little and Too Much Flu.

* These Task Card sets and all of my products are on sale at 20% off during The TpT Teacher Appreciation Days Sale- May 5th and 6th. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day - every day.

Make the Most of May with this Independent Novel Study Plan

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

These lessons students want to complete

When the crazy testing schedules of May

Cause learning to take a back seat.

(Thanks to Lewis Carroll for his Jabberwocky inspiration)

Between  A.P. exams and the state standards of learning tests, May is a crazy month to teach. In my three decades teaching at the secondary level, every day anywhere from three-fifteen students missed English class due to the testing schedule. Plus, my colleagues and I had to monitor tests during our "Free" periods. Keeping teenagers inspired and the learning momentum smooth while maintaining my sanity made this month of May not so very merry.

Before I created Making the Most of May, trying to teach that one final required novel unit before the school year ended, while making sure that all of the students were up-to-date with their class work, was nearly impossible. 

I likened it to putting a straw hat upside down on the floor, tossing 25 balls in the air and waiting to see which ones made it into the hat without my being clobbered.

With this independent study plan, though, students are responsible for completing the assignments and projects and for being prepared with the work that they have finished for the mini-conferences. This enables them to be the leaders of their learning while the teacher takes an advisory roll.

The lessons and activities included in this packet ensure that the learning doesn't stop just because test review and reinforcement is done. Plus, students not only know that their fourth quarter grade is dependent on their work, but also they truly are engaged and inspired because they chose what to read and what assignments to complete.

The flexible plan takes absences due to testing into consideration, too, since students choose the novel that they will study, and they also create a daily reading and writing calendar that coincides with their scheduled exams and the teacher’s due dates. This creates a learning environment that engages students and promotes responsibility.  

To begin, teachers have two options. They may select six to eight grade-level novels from the book room for students to choose to read - up tp 4 students may opt to read the same book, or students may choose a book that meets the teacher's length and genre requirements. 

Once this aspect of the unit is completed, students will set their reading and activity completion schedules.The required activities included in the packet are:

1. General Novel Packet with four aspects: Book Notes, Plot Diagram, Memorable Quotes and Theme worksheets
2. Full-length Projects or Essays 
3. Group Project: Threads-Making Connections.

Every day the students will either 

• read for half of the period, or 
• work on their packets for half of the period.

The second half of the period, they will

• participate in a whole class writing session, concentrating on a facet of writing, or 
• discuss various aspects of their chosen novels with peers. 

NOTE: Each student in the group should be reading a different novel. Members take notes on the discussions. These will enable them to complete the Threads-Making Connections activity.

By managing their class time wisely, students will only have to complete any typing they had previously begun, and compile the required activities at home right before the final packets are due. They should bind all of the components together in some way - a folder with pockets is best.

Teaching time won’t be interrupted and chaotic because of testing when teachers choose this unit plan as their May learning keystone.  Its effectiveness stems from dual factors

• students hold the ownership for what they are learning, and 
• when they are learning. 

Teachers do need to 

• specify minimum length, genre and anything else they deem necessary for their charges.
• mentor students’ progress with mini-conferences where students bring their partially completed required work to discuss.

And you, my teacher friends, will appreciate the fact that your students are challenging themselves mentally as they increase their reading comprehension, their critical thinking and their writing skills with substantive activities and no loss of learning continuity.

Making the Most of May, which is aligned with Common Core Standards and Bloom's Raxonomy, includes detailed Teacher Notes and a Project Grading Rubric.

Download Making the Most of May from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Comprehension-Activities-Making-the-Most-of-May-681650 ($), and


Enjoy a month of Teach It Now days,

English Language Arts: "Martin Luther King Day Activity - 'Dare to Dream'"

Teaching across the curriculum has always been a focus of mine. After all, reading comprehension, writing and higher-level thinking skills are not exclusive to English classrooms. Having students examine why a piece is endemic to the time period when it was written is crucial. When they study the social, political and spiritual mores as well as the traditions of a period they can understand the characters, their choices and the events that occurred more readily.

This pairing can be just as effective when starting with an event from a previous period and showing it through the eyes and minds of a literary or narrative non-fiction person.  With this Martin Luther King Day Activity- Dare to Dream, students use Mr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech as the podium for a character of their choice to voice his/her thoughts, beliefs and feelings.

To complete this activity, the students are to:

• Read and or view and listen to Rev. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Two URLs are included-one to read and the other to listen and view.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm(Read)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs(View and Listen)

• Explain what aspects of his speech have come true in the 40+ years since it was delivered
  
• Choose a character from the story that they are currently reading and summarize what he/she would say about the speech.
• Write an "I Have a Dream" speech from the point of view of that character. This speech must show the societal values and beliefs of the time period in which the story takes place.

With this lesson, students will exhibit their range of thinking skills from knowledge through evaluation. These activities allow them to show their understanding of their reading from various texts as well as  to reveal their analytic and critical-thinking skills in their writing and speaking.

The speech writing aspect of this lesson helps students to understand Voice because the thoughts, beliefs and feelings that they express are not theirs, but are owned by the character they have chosen to speak. In order to compose this speech, the students show how clearly they can analyze this literary person.

On the due date, students have the opportunity to share a portion of their writing with their peers.

Download this highly-rated activity that continues to develop students' reading, writing, speaking and listening and language skills from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Martin-Luther-King-Day-Activity-Dare-to-Dream-193708. Complete with detailed Teacher Notes, it's a $1.25 bargain.

Happy Teaching,

New Year's Day Writing Activity - "Dynamite Resolutions for the New Year"

Teachers, this post offers you a few more days of relaxing, shopping, reading for pleasure, watching college bowl games, or indulging in whatever revives you best before you must unlock your classrooms after your much-deserved break.  This lesson, New Year's Day Writing Activity: Dynamite Resolutions for the New Year, will engage your middle and /or high school students as the first bell chimes while giving you an activity that meets comprehension, writing, thinking and speaking objectives.

As the New Year tick tocks its way into January, students’ brains need some prodding to shake off the cobwebs of long winter naps. This language arts activity sparks their comprehension, critical thinking and writing muscles as they consider the texts that they read and analyzed during the fall and early winter months. After they complete the handout and share their responses in a whole-class discussion that promises to be lively, their brains will be revved up for the next fiction or narrative nonfiction unit.

For this lesson, New Year's Day Writing Activity: Dynamite Resolutions for the New Year, students will choose five people from any of the reading they have completed so far this school year, and will create a New Year’s Resolution for each one. Each decision must be one that fits the character’s disposition, morals, values and temperament.

After the students create this pledge, they must explain

•  why the character made this decision,
•  why this is a logical choice for him/her, and they
•  must also include the title and author for each story that they use.

To score this activity, allot 1 point each for the character, the title and the author; 3 points for each Resolution, and 4 points for the Reason -10 points per each character response, and 50 points for the whole worksheet.

Example:

Character: Goldilocks; Goldilocks and The Three Bears; Robert Southly

Resolution: I vow never to break into anyone’s house again.

Reason: My parents grounded me for breaking and entering, eating the Bear family’s food, destroying their furniture and messing up their beds. For three weeks I had to eat cold porridge, sit in a wooden chair and sleep on a wooden pallet with no mattress. That was no fun.

This lesson promises to add more bricks to students’ academic homes while they prove the premise that Learning is Fun.  Resolve to download this $1.25 bargain from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/New-Years-Day-Writing-Activity-Dynamite-Resolutions-for-the-New-Year-179906.

Happy Teaching,

 New Year's graphic from https://openclipart.org/detail/211059/happy-new-year-2015-by-viscious-speed-211059

English Language Arts Lesson Plan - "Conflicted by Conflict"

Frank Sinatra was famous for crooning, "I did it my way." The characters in the stories students are studying should sing the same lyrics. 

This English Language Arts Lesson Plan, "Conflicted by Conflict" will enable middle and high school students to show how a character of their choice from a story that they are studying should respond to a conflict that appears in a different venue, i.e. movies, another book, a news piece, a song lyric on a contemporary life situation.

For each venue, the students will:
1. Summarize How the Conflict is Revealed in that selection
2. Reveal the character’s Antagonist in that specific genre
3. Show the Character’s Action/Reaction to this conflict.

Students should use details from the story they are studying to support their character’s response(s) to the conflict as it is shown in the new venue. 
Here's an example how they can accomplish this:

Story The Hunger Games Author Suzanne Collins
Another Book/Story Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Character: Katness Everdeen Antagonist The wilds of Alaska
Conflict: Katness faces dying from starvation due to the isolation and hardships of an Alaskan winter (Character vs. Nature)
Character’s Reaction:
Katness Everdeen’s understanding of poisonous plants would have saved her if she had been faced with starvation like Chris McCandless. Because she had spent years foraging for food for her mother and sister, she never would have mistaken the toxic sweet pea vegetation for the safe wild potato plant. Also, as a savvy and accurate hunter, she would have been able to trap or kill animals for much needed protein.

In Conflicted by Conflict, middle and high school students will flesh out characters from their reading to show their understanding of the element of character as well as their analytic and critical-thinking skills.

 

By analyzing a character of their choice, students will exhibit their understanding of this person’s characteristics, emotions, and other attributes through comparing and contrasting his/her actions and reactions to the same conflict, but which exists in other literary and life venues 

This activity should be introduced when the characters have shown enough depth to analyze. Although both Common Core Standards and active verbs from Bloom's Taxonomy Learning Domains are included, you should use these given standards as guidelines, adapting them to the benchmarks that your state follows.

We teachers often wonder what are students actually know and understand from their reading. The singer, Alesana addressed the understanding necessary to make a decision in her song, "Second Guessing"
'Tell me are you second guessing?
Because you honestly seem to have it all
Are you under control or questioning how this all ends?'

After they complete this activity, students will feel confident about the character that they have evaluated, and will proudly say, "No second guessing for me. I have it under control."
Download it from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comprehension-Writing-Activity-Conflicted-by-Conflict-1310733
 As with all of my products, this one includes detailed Teacher Notes.

Happy Teaching,

Teach it Write

Building Powerful Academic Homes

Language Arts Activity - Characters Just Keep on Dancin'

No matter their age, students love music and dancing. In this FREE handout, Language Arts Activity - Characters Just Keep on Dancin, Middle and High School students will select characters from the literature that they have studied throughout the year for a dance competition.

They are to reveal their comprehension of these characters’ personalities, emotions, and moral fiber in their writing and speaking.

This language arts activity should be introduced when the characters have shown enough depth to analyze. Students will flesh them out by showing their understanding of the element of character as well as their analytic and critical-thinking skills. 

Here are the Students' Directions:

Students- for this activity, you are to
1. Choose three pairs of characters (6 characters, total) to team up for a dance competition (Based on the Dancing With the Stars Television show). 
2. These characters may be from any stories that you have read in class this year. Do not be concerned that the dancers in each pair are from the same setting or historical period. Also, the characters in each pair do NOT have to be from the same story. 
3. Each pair will compete against the other two pairs, so your choices for each duo must have similar dancing skills and abilities.
4. Once you have chosen your pairs, you must explain the reasons for your selections, and defend your explanations with details from the stories that support your thinking. Be sure to analyze each duo’s competitive dancing strengths and weaknesses.
5. Next, choose the type of dance (Ballet, jazz, hiphop, disco, fifties-or any decade, etc.), and the music for each pair’s competition dance. The music must fit the dance genre as well as each dancer’s skills and abilities.
6. Choose three criteria that the dancers must meet-examples: Technical Merit, Difficulty of Routine, and Showmanship. Ten points should be allotted to each of the criteria, and the pair that wins must earn the highest score out of 30 points. NOTE: You will have to go back and score each pair’s dance routine after you select the three criteria.
7. Select the winning team. Here you will have to justify your choice by determining how each pair met the set criteria. Write each analysis in sentence form.
8. When you are finished, the teacher will divide you into teams of three. Here, you will read the analysis and decision of your two team members. Finally, you will show whether you agree or disagree with that peer’s choice by writing an explanation on that student’s paper.
9. Finally, write a brief news item for the Entertainment Section of an online or print newspaper revealing the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of this dance competition.
10. Teachers will collect the papers and grade them according to their pre-set criteria, i.e details, supporting material, analytic depth, grammar, spelling etc.
11. Teachers should have you orally share your choices and justifications.
12. At the end of this part of the activity, the teacher will collect the papers.

This product supports Common Core Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy. Use the given standards as guidelines, adapting them to the benchmarks that your state follows.

Students' brains will boogie to the learning beat with this FREE activity. When the music flows and the characters dance, students will be engaged and motivated. Download Language Arts Activity - Characters Just Keep on Dancin' from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comprehension-Writing-Activity-Characters-Just-Keep-on-Dancin-1288466

Happy Teaching,

Language Arts Activity - Road Trip Time

No matter the time of year, road trips often fill the daydreams of students-and teachers. This language arts lesson for Middle and High School students, Road Trip Time, allows students to live vicariously through the character that they select. These characters may be from:
1. The teacher's pre-made list using stories they have studied in class
2. The student's choice from stories they have studied in class, or
3. Students' choices from their independent reading.

The teacher chooses when this activity will enhance lesson content and will develop reading comprehension as well as writing and higher level thinking skills.

By the time that they have completed this activity, students will have exhibited their range of thinking skills from knowledge through evaluation. These handouts allow them to show their understanding of all aspects of the elements of literature as well as their analytic and critical-thinking skills in their writing and talking.

Here are a few of the requirements from the Directions that students must address:

• Where this character goes depends on his/her age, personality, likes, dislikes, and physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
• What is the purpose of this trip- a vacation, a work/vacation combination, a quest, some other reason?
• If the story takes place in this world, the place(s) the character visits on this Road Trip should actually exist.
• If the story takes place in a made up world, create places that could exist and that are true to the story.
• Research and analyze the real or make-believe world Road Trip places to make sure that they fit the real or imagined setting, and all aspects of the character you chose as well as his/her purpose for the trip. 

Students are to complete all three of the Teacher Required Components - 

1. Travel Agent Survey - See handout
2. Road Trip Itinerary- See handout
3. Character’s Road Trip Journal- See requirements
as well as one Student Component Choices- See explanations
1. Facebook Road Trip Fan Page
2. Road Trip Tweets
3. Road Trip Scrapbook
4. Road Trip Slide Show
5. Student’s Idea
Note: helpful links for free templates, etc. are given for both the Character's Road Trip Journal and for the Student Component Choices.

Whether teachers use this as to end the school year, to begin the new term in the fall, or during the year, at some point, everyone needs Road Trip Time's "Ahh I needed that" interlude. 

This language arts activity is based on specific standards (see the Teacher Notes), assesses Middle and High School students' comprehension, thinking and writing skills and engages students on all of the Bloom's Taxonomy levels.

Download it from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comprehension-Writing-Activity-Road-Trip-Time-1256981

Happy Teaching,

Language Arts Lessons - Everyday People A Trio of Comprehension Activities

The characters in fiction are everyday people, aren't they? That's what Middle and High School students will determine in these three comprehension lessons.
This trio of activities will add depth to students' comprehension as they analyze a stories. Here, they will examine characters for round, flat, dynamic and static qualities, as well as for the impact of characters on the Plot/Conflict.

For Background Check, students mesh the information that they gather on a character from their reading with their understanding of the jobs offered during the time period of the story, or for the criteria colleges require for admission. This career choice depends on the character's age.

Background Check  Directions: The character of your choice is applying for a job, or for acceptance to college - depending on his or her age. As the person in charge of investigating the character, your mission is to compile a dossier (portfolio) on him/her. Complete the following information, place everything in a folder with pockets, and turn it in on the due date.

The other two, What's My Title? and Fishing for Answers, require students to choose various plot situations, and then to analyze the character's actions and reactions on his or her main objective in the story, on the other individuals involved in the situation, and on the conflict.

 What's My Title? Directions: Choose five of the Rising Action situations, summarize each one, and then create a title for each that reveals the Main Idea of the event.  Next, explain your reasoning for the title that you chose.

Fishing for Answers Directions: Each of you will choose a situation from the story that hooks the character(s) in this action to the conflict. Select one of the characters to evaluate, and then respond to each of the points on this handout. You will have ten minutes to present your points and to support them. When time is up, each of you will stand and present the situation and your responses.

This tantalizing trio empowers students to add depth and understanding to their comprehension homes. Each of these English Language Arts lesson plans is aligned with Common Core Standards as well as Bloom's Taxonomy. This posting also contains detailed Teacher Notes.

Download these comprehension activities from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Language-Arts-Lessons-Everyday-People-A-Trio-of-Comprehension-Activities-631305

Happy Teaching,

Teach it Write

Building Powerful Academic Homes

http://teachitwrite.blogspot.com/

Think It and Link It

Although I am going on a day adventure in an hour, I didn't want to miss presenting  a Tuesday-Elements of Literature Day blog and FREE coordinating activity for you all to enjoy.

We educators are always searching for engaging, sound and practical activities to check our students' levels of comprehension-the KEY ability behind any learning, no matter the subject area. Here is a Common Core

and Bloom's Taxonomy aligned FREE activity for ELA teachers. Through this activity, students show their understanding of a reading assignment by listing their thoughts, opinions and comments for three categories: Observations, Wonderings and Connections.

Students will write literal and inferential comprehension statements, ask questions about textual issues or vocabulary that caused them confusion, and will connect content with examples from television, movies, theater, music and art that share the same experiences, thoughts and feelings the author revealed. This lesson allows students to exhibit their understanding of all aspects of the elements of literature as well as their grasp of analytic and critical-thinking skills.

No matter the text- fiction or nonfiction- teachers can use this activity any time that they want to check their students' understanding. After they see and hear (students have a speaking component to meet) their charges' thoughts, feelings and comments on the selected reading assignment, they can choose activities that meet various student needs and which help the young people to build durable houses of comprehension.

Think It and Link It provides the KEY that will unlock the focus of the students' reading, resulting in an across-the-classroom, "Aha! Now I get it," response. Download this FREEBIE from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Activity-Think-It-and-Link-It-716987. A full page of Teacher Notes details the Common Core Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy thinking skills met. Also, the Who, What, When, Why and How to teach this lesson is included.

What are your favorite lessons for checking and building your students reading comprehension? Please share them here and/or on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TeachitWriteOnlineLessonPlans.


Happy Teaching,