As a teacher, you know that organization is not just important. It is essential! We have two organizational tips for teachers to save your sanity. We have used these for years, and they work! Our first organizational tip for teachers is to color code supplies in your classroom. We color code just about everything in […]
Among the Hidden was not a novel I used as totally my own choice. As we started our new school year in August, we had a request from our administration. They wanted us to use a class read aloud during our grade level self-selected reading time for the start of the year. I must admit […]
The key to eliminating “out of seatness”? “Stations”! These “stations” limit the need of students to get up and down over and over for supplies. First, take a look at this picture – it’s a “bird’s eye” so you can see a portion of all three long rows. Yep! I really use rows….in 2015! But, […]
I LOVE using interactive notebooks in my middle school classroom! Students remain engaged while enjoying a novel…perfect! We have only created a few novel units as interactive notebooks. We would like to share with you a sample of our interactive notebook for The Devil’s Arithmetic. Take a look at our sample packet! This sample will […]
Small Steps by Louis Sachar is a story of loyalty and friendship. Your students will not want to stop reading this awesome story! They will learn that doing the right thing is never a wrong choice; doing the right thing is a small step in the right direction. Scroll down to print free lesson plans for the novel Small […]
Sarah, Plain and Tall is an award-winning novel, and we’ve got the following free Common Core lesson plans from our Sarah, Plain and Tall novel unit. Read on for the ideas, and make sure you click the link below to download FREE printables to help you teach this novel! When we were writing our Common […]
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer is a touching story of friendship, death, grief, loss, and honesty. Your students will not want to stop reading this awesome and powerful story! Look at this packet to see how we use this amazing novel in our classrooms. Read on for a few of our activities and […]
Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins is an amazing story. Read on for ideas, and print FREE lesson plans for The Island of the Blue Dolphins. Wow! I loved it when I read it with Mrs. McKenzie, my seventh grade ELA teacher, and I love using it in my seventh grade classroom each year […]
When we started to use lesson plans for Stargirl with our middle school students several years back, we quickly fell in love with Leo, free-spirited Stargirl, and even Cinnamon! We were able to enjoy Spinelli’s fantastic novel while also teaching Common Core standards. What a wonderful combination! I am including a sample from our lesson plans […]
ELA Core Plans provides teacher-written lesson plans, bellringers, and novel units designed to coordinate with Common Core State Standards.
