8th Grade Historical Literacy consists of two 43 minute class periods. Writing is one 43 minute block and reading is another. The teacher has picked themes based on social studies standards, and a read-aloud novel based on social studies serves as the mentor text for writing and reading skills. More social studies content is addressed in reading through teaching nonfiction reading skills and discussion. Standards reflect CCSS ELA, Reading, and Social Studies Standards for History.

This three-session lesson focuses on characterization. Students determine how a character's traits reveal particular character traits, using a list of adjectives as a guide. Then, they write descriptions of those characters. Characters from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone are used for modeling.

This project could be used as a Book Report alternative or as a creative way for students to express their comprehension of a short story.  Students would create a book cover as a single page, or as a complete book jacket.  Teachers could identify the particular information they would require for the full project to be placed in certain sections of the jacket.

This resource offers ELA teachers over 100 exercises to teach a variety of Common Core lessons.  The following are included:  reading comprehesion, figurative language, genre, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, point of view, text structure, and writing.  The exercises have standards attached, and often there is a power point to present the lesson.  It is also organized by grade level, making use for teachers extremely efficient.

Students practice analyzing word meanings by learning root words and affixes. They use the Internet to define root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Next, they get in groups to design a Make-A-Word card game using a prefix, root word, and suffix. Students reflect on their learning by analyzing the game and the importance of knowing prefixes, root words, and suffixes.

LINCS vocabulary strategy is used to help with students struggling to learn new vocabulary words.  It helps students learn the meaning of new vocabulary words using memory-enhancing techniques.  The strategy steps help students to focus on the critical elements of the concepts: to use visual imagery, associations with prior knowledge, and key-word mnemonic devices to create a study card; and to study the card to enhance comprehension and recall of the concept.
The Parts to the LINCS Strategy: The LINCS Strategy stands for: L = List the Parts I = Identify a Reminding Word N = Note a LINCing Story C = Create a LINCing Picture S = Self- Test

The following presentation was used during an in-service session with secondary educators. It provides information on how to explicitly teach vocabulary to students across the content areas. This presentation also provides information on how to use vocabulary log notebooks with students.