Understanding Radicals

Powers of Exponents Rules 

Interactive Math Journal Fold Insert

One of the elements that makes mathematics tricky for pre-algebra and algebra students is the rules is all of the rules that must be memorized.  Radicals is no exception.

Once students understand the basics, they can apply these rules when solving equations and expressions.

Interactive journals are useful notetaking resources at all grade levels.  This interactive journal insert was developed to help the students that I assist with math remember exponent rules.  Colored pencils were used to color code each rule.

These task cards come with a printable box and are useful for reviewing radicals.  They are mostly geared for advanced students.

To Access Radical Task Cards Click Here

Analyze How Authors Use Figurative Language

In order for students to deeply understand what they read, they must go beyond identifying instances of similes and metaphors.  They must examine how the use of such features contributes to the text.

As I work closely with students, they are constantly reminded of this principle as they read.  Annotating the text and close reading are both ways to get students to see how an author's craft contributes to a text.

Next, we examine the techniques that different authors use across reading passages.  This enables students to go beyond the surface level of comprehension into deeper levels of critical thinking and Bloom's Taxonomy.

This page is from one of my grade levels of Daily Common Core Reading Practice.  I carefully monitor students to get them to think of all of the details in a text as information that works together to convey an idea.

Click Here To Access These Task Cards

Click Here to Access Poetry and Drama Task Cards

Click Here to Access These Playing Cards

Click Here to Access Them

Poetry

Poetry and drama (plays) are often the forgotten reading genres.  Being able to infer, interpret, and identify text details in a wide variety of genres is ideal.  These task cards teach students elements of poetry and drama and are written at different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy so that students will know and analyze information within these two genres. The task cards are self-teaching so that students or small groups can work independently.  The task cards also come with a printable box to make storage and use convenient.Click Here To Access Them

Common Core Standard RL.5 Poetry, Common Core Poetry, Common Core Plays, Text Structure, How to Analyze Poetry

Give Writing A Boost By Varying The Sentence Structure

When students write, they must pay attention to several aspects of writing as they read. One of those aspects is sentence structure. Using a variety of sentence structures adds flow and makes writing more appealing. 

This blog post includes free task cards to help students remember to use sentence variety.

Free Varying Sentence Structure Task Cards

The Case for Using Sentence Variety
Why should students be concerned about sentence variety?  Writing clear and cohesive sentences is not only a focus point of the new Common Core Standards, it is also a valuable tip that will help students score higher on ACT and SAT exams. Understanding how and when to use different sentence structures not only improves writing, it also helps students understand how authors develop and convey ideas to their readers.

How Authors Use Different Sentence Structures
Varying sentence structures can heighten the tone in a action story.  In informational text, it draws a reader's attention to specific ideas.

In addition to experimenting with different sentence structures, students should analyze the writing structures that authors use.  They can ask questions like:

• How does the author convey tone in the text?
• How does the use of this sentence structure (in paragraph 10) help the speaker be more convincing to listeners?

The Common Core Connection

The Common Core English Standards lead students into deeper levels of analysis as they progress into higher grade levels.  While words such as analyze, think about, and compare are used at the lower and middle grade levels, terms such as diction and syntax are directly used at the high school grade levels to address this deeper level of analysis.
View additional posts on Classroom Freebies

To access close reading task cards from my TpT store, Click Here

Informational Text

These nonfiction (informational text cards) are a convenient tool for helping students understand text structure and for building content area vocabulary.  40 task cards are included.  (20 Cards) Set A is for students that read at the 5th to 8th grade levels. (20 Similar cards that are written at a lower reading level) Set B is for students that read at the late 2nd to late 4th grade range.  Relevant informational text topics are included.  Many content area vocabulary words repeat across the passages to help students build their vocabulary.  Animal adaptations, sound, light, early travel, and more topics are covered.Click Here to Access It