How close are your eighth graders to mastering the ELA Common Core standards? Keep an eye on progress with these charts, which include every eighth grade identifier and full standard text. As you move through the year and teach,...

Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess,...

Support first graders with developing their basic language skills using this Common Core checklist. With each standard rewritten as a positive I can statement, students are encouraged to work hard toward reaching these clear...

Semicolons and colons are tricky, and the Common Core creators knows that. If you are stuck on what to teach to make sure your learners can master Common Core skill L.9-10.2 use this resource to fine-tune your content. The multiple...

If you're completely lost on what grammar you should cover for Common Core skill L.9-10.1, look here! You will find some ideas and examples on what to include, making sure your learners can master the skill. The multiple choice quiz is...

Your assessment is to figure out if I am being figurative or connotative with this statement: This is a great resource. Can’t do it? Then you had better review how to break down Common Core skill RL.11-12.4. In simple language that you...

Need something for group work, homework, or a way to assess your learners on your lessons for Common Core skill RI.9-10.3? Then you have come to the right place because this multiple choice quiz challenges learners to analyze the...

Following the reading of the book Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, the ninth lesson in this unit involves emerging experts in a science talk about how bullfrogs survive. Looking back through the text, young scholars prepare for the...

When do people ask for anonymity? Why? After reading the New York Times article "For a Reporter and a Source, Echoes of Broken Promise," young readers participate in a roundtable discussion focusing on freedom of the press and the use of...

Should public humiliation be an acceptable consequence for a crime? Have your middle schoolers engage in a round table discussion about the recent resurgence of the use of public humiliation as a punishment for crimes in the United...

Lesson ten in this unit for the book Bullfrogs at Magnolia Circle, prepares third graders to begin writing an informational paragraph about the adaptations of bullfrogs. First, young writers work either independently or in pairs to...

Here's a resource that deserves a place in your curriculum library, whether or not your school has adopted the Common Core. Designed for middle and high school language arts classes, the packet is packed with teaching tips, materials,...

Working on revision? Check out this resource on Common Core standard W.9-10.5, which focuses in particular on the writing process. After reading some information about the specifics of the standard and how to implement it in the...

Compelling discussions are the result of open-ended, challenging questions. An introduction to Paideia discussions includes explicit directions about how to prepare readers and how to model the kinds of questions they should develop...

Scholars of all ages can use the various tools of technology to construct and illustrate a story. Utilizing this resource, learners work with a partner to brainstorm and draft a story based on personal experience. They use computer...

A reading of “Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers,” a New York Times article by Sara Rimer, triggers a discussion of the American Dream and what it means to strive for something. Following the discussion, class members...

Despite English grammar rules, in the e-world the plural of mouse is mouses. lol. Standard American English is constantly evolving. Introduce your class members to a variety of terms that describe different usage changes (economy,...

New to teaching and the Common Core? Then you need to check out how the skill W.9-10.4 is broken down into easy-to-understand steps for your learners to dominate and conqueror. Included is a script to present to your class that details...

Your students have mastered using textual evidence in literature, but what about using this skill in informational texts.  Uh oh! That is right—they are not the same thing. Darn the Common Core! See options on how to differentiate...

There is nothing more frustrating than discussing theme in literature, and now the Common Core requires that your learners determine two or more, and discuss the development of it throughout the text. This is crazy, but manageable with...

Although it does not properly address how to use the Common Core standard, this resource does provide a decent writing prompt that explores how minor characters influence Hamlet's decisions throughout the play. The prompt can be used for...

Practice and fine-tune your learners' writing skills for Common Core standard W.11-12.2 with a plan that explains how to incorporate the McCarthy Hearings into their reading of The Crucible. It offers solid advice for students on how to...

All the Common Core standards are important, but they all build off the ability to cite textual evidence to support analysis. See how to scaffold this standard into three steps of development, along with assessment ideas with the ideas...

Your learners need to develop skills to argue effectively, and this comes by understanding the traditions that make claims valid, and what detracts from their effectiveness.  Although this resource does not give advice on how to...