Free Close Reading Video

This free video provides helpful strategies for doing a close reading of text.

Additional Close Reading Resources

Grades 6-8 Click Here

Grade 6 Middle School Daily Common Core Literature Practice

If you are looking for resources to make the transition to Common Core as smooth as possible, I believe you will find this resource helpful.  It contains quick, daily Common Core reading passages that can be completed in just a few minutes when students first enter the classroom.  There is a passage for each day of the school week.  Informational text, literature, poetry, realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy dystopian fiction passages are all included.  All of the Common Core Literature and Informational Text passages are covered as the weeks progress.  The Common Core Standard is written above each question for easy progress monitoring.  Questions are asked and different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy across multiple genres for thorough Common Core review.Click Here To Access It

What Does It Mean To Divide Fractions?

What does it mean to divide a fraction by a fraction?  This is a great starting point for beginning a unit about dividing fractions. The reason why is because it encourages students to understand concepts first and learn procedures for solving math problems second.

(To access task cards that teach and review this concept, scroll to the bottom of this blog post.)

Using a question and diagrams as a starting point will help students better understand and identify word problems that involve the division of fractions.

Once students understand what dividing fractions means, they can move on to procedures.  Dividing fractions seems less scary can be applied to a variety of contexts.

Task cards that teach and review math concepts enable students to work independently but still have teacher support. 

For Task Cards That Teach and Review, Access A Link 

Click Here For Dividing Fractions Task Cards

Click Here For Advanced Division of Fractions Task Cards

Click Here For Adding Fractions

Click Here For Multiplying Fractions

Click Here For Multi-Step Fraction Word Problems

Character Analysis

To fully understand about characters, students must be able to determine character traits, examine how characters change from the beginning to the end of a text, and know what caused a character to change.  Closely reading a text is a great way to help students be able to do these things.

When they read, students should look for subtle clues in the text that would help a reader infer things.  Sometimes this is easier said that done, but this is not the students' fault.  The way that writers write shifts beginning at the third/fourth grade reading level range.  Authors go from using details that tell to details that show.  Students are often unaware of this shift in writing and do not adjust their reading strategies.  Making students aware of this and giving them opportunities to closely read text greatly helps.

For Task Cards That Teach And Review Characterization Click Here To Access Them

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