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Cheeseburger Book Report Project

Assembled Project Size: Width = 9 inches Height = 21 inches

A Note About Your Purchase: You will be emailed a download link for the resource(s) that you purchase so that you can download, save, print, and use the resource(s) today!

A very DETAILED description about this resource set is provided below.

Cheeseburger Book Report
Project Templates:

What's Included?

Cheeseburger Book Report Projects: Are you looking for an fun and challenging book report project idea for your students that will make them hungry to read their books?

These cheeseburger shaped graphic organizers will provide you with all of the teaching resources that you need for your students to write about the key elements of their books.

Many elementary school teachers assign sandwich book report projects to their students. The layers of the sandwich project are stapled together, and you can only see the top layer of bread at first glance.

These cheeseburger templates are a unique version of this idea because all of the layers of this cheeseburger project are visible at the same time. This means that all of the students' writing is easily seen on a bulletin board display of these finished book report projects.

Your students will give this fun book report project idea a big thumbs up!

Traditionally, requiring students to write about the story elements of a book (characters, setting, plot, etc.) is a task that most students find quite boring.

By using this uniquely shaped cheeseburger book report project, your students will find this task delicious!

The example below shows the 7 layers

of this unique cheeseburger book report project.

The photograph below shows a bulletin board display in

my classroom of my students' finished cheeseburger projects.

This uniquely shaped book report project contains 4 worksheet templates that assemble into a cheeseburger. The finished cheeseburger project measures 9 inches in width and 21 inches in height (see example on the right.)

Everything that you need to complete these cheeseburger book report projects is included in this set of teaching resources. All that you will need is scissors, glue, tape, and coloring pencils.

There are 11 printable worksheets and template pages in this set, as well as a 5 page color bulletin board display banner.

These finished cheeseburger book report projects will make a colorful and dynamic bulletin board display of your students' work.

In addition, this set of reading resources includes two large cheeseburgers and 8 cheeseburger reading posters that can be used as accent piece s for your classroom bulletin board display.

Cheeseburger Book Report Project Video:
Watch this short video to learn more about this fun book report project!

Due to spelling differences in English (Examples: color/colour and favorite/favourite), there are two separate sets of worksheets and templates included in this set of teaching resources.

You can select the version ( U.S. or U.K. spelling rules) that contains the spelling that is used in the country where you live.

The worksheets and templates that are shown on this page use U.S. spelling rules.

Assembling Directions:

This set of teaching resources includes assembling directions on how to prepare and assemble this cheeseburger book report project.

Below is an example of the assembling directions worksheet.

Grading Rubric:

A book report grading rubric is included in this set of teaching resources.

I believe that it is important for students to evaluate their own work, so my book report rubric contains an assessment section for both students and teachers.

When students evaluate their book report projects, they color in the faces on their grading rubric worksheets.

When a teacher evaluates the projects, the teacher circles the small numbers inside each box on the printable worksheets.

Below is an example of my cheeseburger book report grading rubric.

First Draft Worksheets:

I believe that the writing process is important and that teachers should use process writing whenever possible.

For this reason, my students never begin their book report projects by writing on their final draft cheeseburger templates, instead they write on first draft worksheets.

Next, my students edit and revise their written work on their own, with a partner, or in individual writing conferences with me.

This cheeseburger reading activity is designed so that each layer of the cheeseburger is a layer of information about the book. The layers of this book report project include:

This set of teaching resources contains two printable worksheets for students to write their first drafts on.

On my first draft worksheets, I have designed the writing line spaces to match the spaces allotted on the final draft cheeseburger book report templates.

First Draft Worksheet #1: Students write the title, author, and genre of the book. This information is written in the top bun of the cheeseburger.

Students write about the setting of the book in the onion template and they describe the main character in the lettuce template.

First Draft Worksheet #2: Students write about the plot of the book in the tomato template and the conclusion in the cheese template.

Finally, students write about their favorite part of the book in the meat template.

Black and White Cheeseburger Templates:

This book report project contains 4 templates that are assembled together to form the shape of a layered cheeseburger.

Top Bun Template: Title, Author, and Genre

Onion Template: Setting

Lettuce Template: Main Character

Tomato Template: Plot

Cheese Template: Conclusion

Meat Template: Favorite Part

Bottom Bun Template: Drawing, Name, and Date

Color Cheeseburger Templates:

When I am first introducing my students to a new book report project, I believe that it is important for them to have a visual example of what a completed project looks like.

I always complete an example of this cheeseburger book report project before I introduce this assignment to my students.

Before my students begin writing their first drafts, I show them my finished cheeseburger project. This visual example immediately grabs my students' attention and they are excited to start working on this project from the very beginning. I have found that my students are engaged and use their best effort as they go through the steps of the writing process and complete this fun book report project.

My students also enjoy hearing about the book that I chose to do my book report project on. This is also a wonderful opportunity to share a book that I would like to encourage my students to read.

To save you time in coloring your example that you show to your students, I have included color cheeseburger templates in this teaching resources set. I display my finished cheeseburger book report at the front of my classroom so that students can refer to it as they are completing their own cheeseburger projects.

Below: Cheeseburger Color Templates

4 worksheets that are cut out and then glued together to form the shape of a cheeseburger.

Free 5 Page Bulletin Board Display Banner:

I know that it takes teachers a lot of time to design and assemble their classroom bulletin board displays.

Many teachers spend their valuable time cutting out large display letters or making a banner at home on their own computers.

In order to help save you time in assembling a bulletin board display featuring your students' cheeseburger book report projects, I have designed a 5 page banner that is included for free in this set of teaching resources.

If you have access to a laminating machine, I recommend that you laminate your banner so that it will be more durable and you can use it again in the future.
Cheeseburger Book Report Banner
5 worksheets that are glued together to form a bulletin board display banner.

Free Bulletin Board Display Accent Pieces:

EXTRA FREE TEACHING RESOURCES #1: For each of the book report sets that are available on Unique Teaching Resources, I try to design some extra bulletin board accent pieces that will help you to decorate your classroom bulletin board display that features your students' book report projects.

This set of teaching resources includes a large cheeseburger that says, " WE ARE CHEFS! Read Our Delicious Cheeseburger Book Reports!"

EXTRA FREE TEACHING RESOURCES #2: There is a second cheeseburger that says, " Reading Books Feeds Your Brain With New Knowledge!"

EXTRA FREE TEACHING RESOURCES #3: I have designed 8 cheeseburger posters that contain slogans written on them that promote reading.

1. Cheeseburger Book Reports

2. Books Are Delicious!

3. Devour a Book Today!

4. Reading is Yummy!

5. Snack on a Book Today!

6. We Are Hungry to Read Books!

7. Follow a Diet of Reading Everyday!

8. Reading is Food For Your Brain!

I hope these free accent pieces help save you time
in decorating your cheeseburger bulletin board display.

This is a picture of my students in front of their cheeseburger book report projects. It is often difficult to get students excited about completing writing assignments about a book that they have just finished reading, but as you can see, my students are enthusiastic about this fun book report project!

Above: My students with their finished cheeseburger book report projects.

You will be able to design a colorful and dynamic classroom bulletin board display using your students' finished cheeseburger projects.

These cheeseburger graphic organizers are a unique and fun way to get your students excited about completing a writing assignment about the books that they have read.

The writing responses that are required of your students will make them think and write about the main elements of their books in a challenging and engaging way. In addition, this book report set includes cheeseburger themed accent pieces to help you in decorating your bulletin board display.

This is one of the first book report projects that I designed for my students and it has been one of my students' favorite projects of the entire school year. They have thought that this reading assignment was yummy! I hope that your students enjoy completing this project too!

Cheeseburger Book Report Project Video:

Purchase this book report project below:

Cheeseburger Book Report Project

Assembled Project Size: Width = 9 inches Height = 21 inches

25+ Book Report Projects:

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Cheeseburger Book Report Projects page.

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Cheeseburger Book Report Project: templates, printable worksheets, and rubric.

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Assembled Project Size: Width = 9 inches Height = 21 inches A Note About Your Purchase: You will be emailed a download link for the resource(s) that you purchase so that you can download, save, print, and use the resource(s) today! A very DETAILED description about this resource set is provided below.

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Use this graphic organizer to have students write words or draw pictures to complete the story map.

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writers workshop first grade | Bringing Characters to Life in Writer's Workshop | Scholastic.com | Teaching writing, Writing skills, Writer workshop

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Jul 4, 2013 - Exciting lesson ideas, classroom strategies, teaching tips, book lists, videos, and reproducibles in a daily blog by teachers from the classrooms of extraordinary mentor

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The first part of this activity involves the reading of two articles from Time for Kids. These articles are about two kids who are doing great things in the world. Both of these kids show a lot of character traits that my students can identify and relate to.

(Articles can be found here and here)

A note here: Both of these articles are short, so I copied them on one piece of paper to save trees.

I pass out the articles and have the students read them making notes to themselves in the margins of possible character traits and corresponding evidence. After they read it through a few times, I explain the next activity to them. I purposely don't want to discuss the articles or the character traits so that I don't influence the students' thinking or ruin the card game they're about to play. I just want them to have some background knowledge of the articles and the text evidence they are going to see.

I pass out the game cards to each group. The rules of the game are simple- like Concentration or any Memory game they've played before. They separate the cards into traits and evidence and, in two groups, lay them out flat. On each turn, a student draws a trait and an evidence card and reads them to the group. They then have to decide if that piece of evidence matches that trait and then the group has to agree. If it is a match, the player gets to keep the card and goes again. If it's not a match, the player replaces the cards and the next person goes. Play continues until all cards have been collected.

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Makin' Matches: Character Trait and Evidence Memory Game

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The first part of this activity involves the reading of two articles from Time for Kids. These articles are about two kids who are doing great things in the world. Both of these kids show a lot of character traits that my students can identify and relate to.

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These themed Flap Books are PERFECT for practicing story retelling and sequencing short stories using First, Next, and Last with your primary and special education classes. Each product in this BUNDLE includes 4 short picture-supported passages (4-5 sentences) on a Flap Book, and each passage includes 3 picture-supported sentences for students to cut and paste in sequential order. After assembling the flap books, students can use the flap book to retell the story. Interactive Flap Books are a great way to engage students in sequencing activities, and your students will love the themed stories! These books are specifically designed for students who may have a strength in fluency, and a weakness in comprehension.

Need a Digital Version of this Resource? CLICK HERE to check out my Digital Sequencing and Story Retelling BUNDLE! Same stories, but with drag and drop pictures to use with Google Slides™.

This BUNDLE includes a total of 41 Sequencing Flap Books (4 passages per resource, plus a 1 passage Freebie).

Color and black/white versions included!

This BUNDLE currently includes:

Story Retelling and Sequencing Flap Books - Misc Themes

First, Next, Last - Fall
First, Next, Last - Halloween First, Next, Last - Thanksgiving First, Next, Last - Winter First, Next, Last - Christmas First, Next, Last - February First, Next, Last - St. Patrick's Day First, Next, Last - Spring First, Next, Last - Summer
Check out the preview to see a sample of one of the Fall passages.

Download the Back to School Sequencing Flap Book FREEBIE! for a sample of this resource!

Other Picture-Supported Bundles you might enjoy:
Reading Comprehension BUNDLE for Special Education Science Experiment BUNDLE Roll a Silly Story BUNDLE Positional Word Game BUNDLE Kindness Activity BUNDLE Responsibility Activity BUNDLE
Follow my store for more picture-supported and engaging resources! All new resources are 20% off the first 2 days!

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Story Retelling and Sequencing BUNDLE | Special Education and Autism Resource

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These themed Flap Books are PERFECT for practicing story retelling and sequencing short stories using First, Next, and Last with your primary and special education classes. Each product in this BUNDLE includes 4 short picture-supported passages (4-5 sentences) on a Flap Book, and each passage inclu...

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(This post is part of our Fair is Not Always Equal...Now What? blog series.)

As many of our posts have emphasized this year, designing your lessons using the UDL framework goes a long way toward meeting each of your students' specific learning needs. But in a diverse, inclusive classroom, some students will also need accommodations and modifications to access the curriculum and express what they know. Today's post gives you 17 practical tips from some of our expert authors. These won't work for every child-uncovering a learner's individual strengths and needs is always your first step-but they're helpful ideas to add to your toolbox and use with the learners who can benefit from them.

[Not sure about the difference between accommodations and modifications? Start by reading Tuesday's Q&A with inclusion expert Nicole Eredics, who shares the clearest definitions we've heard.]

1. Break tasks into smaller steps. For independent work time, post a to-do list on the student's desk (in words or pictures) of the big tasks that need to be completed. The student can complete them and cross out each task.

2. Extend time on tasks. Slowly increase the time allotted for certain tasks, or allow the student to take a test in parts-one part on the first day, the second part on the next.

3. Reduce the amount of information on a page. Adequate white space and a clean, distraction-free layout can make an assignment seem less confusing. Copy segments of an assignment onto different pages to increase white space. Students can also hold index cards or word windows on the page to limit information as they read.

4. Preteach. Introduce a concept, term, or idea to a student before it's "officially" taught to the rest of the class. This can help the student start the class feeling prepared and more confident.

5. Let students choose their writing instruments and paper size. Instead of traditional pencils and full-size sheets of paper, offer choices. For example, one student chose a black felt-tip marker and a half-sheet of paper. He explained that he often got nervous if he saw "a whole blank piece of paper" in front of him, and that he hated "the feel of the pencil on the paper." Changing up his writing materials proved to be a successful strategy-after making the switch, the student was able to write for longer periods of time.

6. Use a timer. Some students need help organizing their time or perform better when they know exactly how long tasks will take. Using visual timers is a great accommodation strategy to support these students. Timers that allow the student to see how many minutes are left can be particularly useful for managing time.

7. Use guided notes. Develop handouts to help students take notes. Create an outline of the lesson and replace key terms and facts with blanks that students can fill in as they listen to your presentation.

8. Provide test-time helpers. Try modification strategies like adding picture cues to test items, highlighting important words in the directions or questions, providing an example for each type of test item, reducing the number of alternatives for multiple-choice items, and letting the student circle the answer rather than write the letter.

9. Make an on-the-spot adaptations toolkit. Get a sturdy, reusable container such as a clipboard storage case and assemble your own toolkit for making creative adaptations. Some items you might include: peel-off address labels, sticky notes, lined paper, laminating sheets, index cards, colored cardstock, felt-tip markers, pencils, erasers, highlighters, pencil sharpener, three-hole punch, assorted paper clips and rubber bands, small stapler, glue stick, tape, scissors, dice, and batteries.

Let students use signals to answer questionsGive students cards, signs, or other items they can use to respond to your questions during class discussions. You can make response cards that are preprinted with answer choices, or equip students with small dry-erase boards and markers they can use to write their own responses and hold them up when it's time to answer questions. (Hint: orphaned socks make great whiteboard erasers!)

1. Rock the vote. Pose verbal yes-no or multiple choice questions to encourage all students to respond more during group instruction. Students can vote with thumbs-up/thumbs-down signals or hold up colored index cards to indicate their answer (e.g., yellow for a, white for b, and green for c). This is a great way to facilitate more participation for nonverbal learners and students who are anxious or shy.

2. Allow students to access text differently. Make modifications to the text itself-shorten the amount of text, reduce the number of vocabulary words, or simplify sentence structures. Or keep the text intact and provide accommodations such as text-to-speech books or audiobooks, highlighted text, or hyperlinks to vocabulary definitions.

3. Use technology to evaluate text and make it more accessible. A few easy tools in Microsoft Word can help you make text more readable and accessible. AutoSummarize can summarize key points in your reading material, and Readability Statistics can count the number of words and paragraphs, average the number of characters in a word or number of sentences in a paragraph, and calculate the readability of the text you're giving your students. You can also use text-to-speech functions (available in many word processing programs) to enable text to be read aloud.

4. Assign and prepare peer tutors. It can be difficult for a general education teacher to work individually with children with disabilities while also meeting the needs of the whole class. To provide additional support, peers without disabilities can be taught how to provide extra help for their classmates. Peer tutoring not only provides increased practice and reinforcement for students with disabilities, but also promotes stronger social skills for all students and encourages friendships.

Help students stay on task with Countdown Strips. Many students, especially those with autism and ADHD, will find it easier to stay on task if an activity has a clear and observable endpoint. Use a Countdown Strip for them-a visual support that allows students to count down how many times they must complete an activity or how many parts the activity has. Countdown Strips are easy to make; they can be as simple as a clothespin and a strip of paper printed with the numbers 0 to 10. Each time an activity or a section of the activity is completed, the student moves the clothespin to the next number until the he or she reaches 0.

Eliminate distractions to improve focus. Reducing the presence of extraneous noises, people, or objects can help students with disabilities focus on important instructional cues. To help students maintain focus, position them so they're facing away from distractions and hold off on introducing items or equipment you won't be using until later. For example, in a physical education class, balloons and cones set up for a later activity might be extremely distracting for some students. Avoid setting up equipment for activities beforehand, or keep the materials covered with a tarp until they're needed.

Tell a "fair is not always equal" story. When you implement suggestions like the ones outlined in this post, some of your students might ask questions like "if Jimmy gets extra time on the math test, why can't we?" Tell them a story to illustrate the why behind modifications and accommodations. For example, one teacher told a vivid, engaging story about a mother who had seven children, all of whom had different strengths and needs. Because the mom didn't want to be unfair to any of her children, all seven of them had to take tap dancing lessons, join the swim team, use an inhaler for asthma, wear glasses, watch basketball, and read only fiction books-no nonfiction allowed! By the end of the story, the students were laughing about the absurdity of it all. To drive the point home, the teacher explained that supports and services are provided to meet the specific learning needs of students, whether that means assisting a student with a broken arm or accommodating a documented disability. Through the story and the teacher's explanation, the students began to understand the real meaning of "fairness"-and trust that their teacher would do a great job meeting the needs of everyone in the class.

What are some favorite accommodations and modifications you've used? Tell us in the comments below!

Credits: Suggestions #1-6 from The Educator's Handbook for Effective Inclusive Practices by Julie Causton; #7-11 from by Janney & Snell; #12-13 from Maximizing Effectiveness of Reading Comprehension Instruction in Diverse Classrooms by Berkeley & Barber, #14-16 from A Teacher's Guide to Including Students with Disabilities in General Physical Education, Fourth Edition, by Martin E. Block; #17 from by Winterman & Rosas, all from Brookes Publishing Co.
10 Worst Modifications for Students with Disabilities (and 100+ Good Ones!)
Accommodations and Modifications: A How-To Q&A with Nicole Eredics of the Inclusive Class

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17 Great Accommodations & Modifications - Brookes Blog

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(This post is part of our Fair is Not Always Equal...Now What? blog series.) As many of our posts have emphasized this year, designing your lessons using the UDL framework goes a long way toward meeting each of your students' specific learning needs. But in a diverse, inclusive classroom, some students will also need [...]

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In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Bright Ideas author Kristina Robertson offers an overview of WIDA's new Essential Actions handbook and shares a step-by-step process for using this tool as part of a professional learning community focused on meeting ELLs' academic language needs.

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much. - Helen Keller

The first time I tried to collaborate with a mainstream teacher, I spent my time listening to her read stories to students and helping them with worksheets. It wasn't her fault that it was such a dreadful attempt at collaboration or that there were many problems, which included lack of planning time, lack of understanding of collaboration, and my poor placement in her specialist classroom focused on "character education."

Probably the biggest problem, however, was that we didn't have a way to communicate effectively about English Language Learners (ELLs). She didn't have background knowledge of their language proficiency levels and there were no English Language Development standards at the time, so even if we had wanted to be very intentional about language instruction, we didn't really know where to start.

Thankfully, now there are many more ELL resources readily available, and general knowledge about ELLs' academic language needs have increased. In addition, the WIDA consortia (World-class Instructional Design and Assessment) recently published a very useful collaborative resource for teachers called Essential Actions: A Handbook for Implementing WIDA's Framework for English Language Development Standards by Margo Gottlieb.

This guide is designed to help individual teachers, teaching teams, and district-teams evaluate and improve their EL instructional practices according to research principles that are the underpinnings of WIDA's English Language Development Standards.

I want to give you an overview of the Essential Actions Handbook components and examine it through the lens of how it might be used for collaboration within a Professional Learning Community (PLC) to increase research-based practices for ELLs. I will also provide some possible extension ideas using digital tools to share evidence of the Essential Actions.

Essential Actions Handbook Overview

Purpose

The Essential Actions Handbook states:

This handbook is designed to be a resource to share among educators who work directly with or are impacted by ELLs. It is a guide that describes and illustrates the standards-referenced components and elements of language learning within WIDA's standards framework.

The overall purpose of this handbook is to promote collaboration, mutual understanding, and use of language development standards among all educators who work with ELLs. The Essential Actions, derived from current theory and research, provide a rationale for each component and element of WIDA's standards framework.

In other words, this handbook is designed to provide research-based rationale for the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) standards framework; however, the components are also broad-based quality indicators for working with ELLs. Therefore, one of the main goals is to use it to increase evidence-based practices collaboration among teachers who work with ELLs.

Organization and content

As you can see in the table below, there are 15 Essential Actions (also available in this PDF online, found on pg. 11 of the handbook). The first 12 Actions are directly related to instruction and Actions 13 - 15 are related to effective teacher collaboration. The Actions are designed to stimulate professional conversation about meeting the academic language needs of ELLs and do not need to be followed in order. There is also a self-assessment tool that can be used to determine the highest priority actions and where to start - more on that later.

ACTION 1
Capitalize on the resources
and experiences that ELLs
bring to school to build
and enrich their academic
language.

ACTION 3
Apply the background
knowledge of ELLs,
including their language
proficiency profiles, in
planning differentiated
language teaching.

ACTION 15
Share responsibility so that
all teachers are language
teachers and support one
another within communities
of practice.

Each Action is related to the WIDA matrix and is designed to give more detailed information to assist in effectively using the matrix for planning. In the Essential Actions Handbook, each Action has its own section that follows the same format:

Explanation of the Essential Action

Research to support the Action

A description of how it relates to the WIDA standards framework for English language development

Examples from the field (written by educators) regarding the Action and guiding questions for discussing locally how to apply the Action to practice in your context

How to Use the Handbook with a PLC

There are many ways to use this Essential Actions Handbook and I have chosen to highlight one use that I believe many of the teachers I have worked with would find effective in working together to meet the needs of ELLs. Many educators are receiving professional development through job-embedded learning opportunities such as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). They may be called different things - Teacher Learning Communities or Professional Communities, but their purpose is to bring educators together in teams to define their own learning in regards to individual or school goals.

One well-known leader in this area is Richard DuFour and if you'd like more detailed information on PLCs, please view this article, " What is a Professional Learning Community?" DuFour highlights three questions that each PLC team needs to answer as they focus on their work together.

What do we want each student to learn?

How will we know when each student has learned it?

How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?

PLC work, by it's very nature, is collaborative and constructs the learning based on what teachers experience daily in their classrooms. In the discussion below, I will use the Essential Actions Handbook as a guide for the process of meeting the academic language needs of ELLs.

For the purposes of this article, I'll describe our PLC team as a third-grade teaching team: two classroom teachers, an ESL teacher, and a Title I reading and math support teacher. The ESL and Title I teachers are in the third-grade classrooms and also pull out some students for special support up to an hour each day.

There are approximately 15 ELL students out of 50 third-graders and the majority have composite English Language Proficiency (ELP) levels of 3-5 according to ACCESS for ELLs or another annual assessment; however there are three new students who are at ELP level 1 and one student who is at ELP level 2. (See WIDA's Performance Definitions for reference.)

Individually, each ELL student has unique language domain scores, meaning that they all have unique areas of strength and challenge. For example, some are still in earlier stages of developing reading and writing skills in English, while their oral English skills are more advanced and others have a different mix of skills in the language domains.

Needs assessment

The PLC team has been given the task to align their professional learning with the school goal of "Increasing ELL student state reading scores by 6% by May 2014." The team starts by analyzing the detailed assessment scores of their ELLs in order to get a better sense of what they need instructionally. The PLC team looks at:

Students' state reading scores

School-wide assessments that provide scores for vocabulary and comprehension

English Language Proficiency scores from the ACCESS for ELLs test

They can see a pattern forming: the ELL students are weak and need to expand their comprehension and vocabulary - although in general they read fluently.

Next, the PLC team members individually complete the Needs Assessment, Column A from the Essential Actions Handbook (Gottlieb, pg. 68). Using a scale of 0-5, they rate how important each Action is according to their instructional goal. They may have quite a few that come out as their top priority. On their own they may want to read the Essential Action sections they rated most highly in order to familiarize themselves with the research or they may want to write their thoughts in the "comments" box to facilitate discussion with the group.

When the PLC team meets, they each share their top three Actions they've identified as most important to reaching their ELL reading goal. They will look for overlap in their priorities and select one or two as their instructional focus for their PLC work over the next six-eight weeks.

Create goal

Let's say that our PLC team decides to focus on Essential Action 3: "Apply the background knowledge of ELLs, including their language proficiency profiles, in planning differentiated language teaching." The Essential Action Handbook research states, "Information about the backgrounds of the students, including their linguistic and content abilities, is key to plan and deliver differentiated instruction to optimize opportunities for learning (Tomlinson, 2003;Fairbairn & Jones-Vo, 2010)." (Gottlieb, pg. 20)

The teachers feel that planning targeted instruction based on the students' language proficiency levels will make good use of their ESL and Title I individualized support, in addition to the scaffolded content instruction the classroom teachers will provide. In order to crystalize their background knowledge on Action Three, the teachers read the section and discuss the following reflection questions (Gottlieb, pg. 24)

1. How might you use the Performance Definitions to help formulate instructional strategies (e.g., in grouping students or differentiating language objectives)?

2. How might you use the Performance Definitions to help scaffold content instruction for ELLs?

3. When might educators use a student's overall composite language proficiency level (from ACCESS for ELLs) versus the language proficiency level for each language domain?

The teachers write their collective answers to these reflection questions. It's okay if their answers are tentative at first and begin with, "We're not sure but we think..." They will return to these questions as part of the reflection process in the PLC.

The PLC teams sets their goal to "Increase ELLs reading comprehension by providing differentiated language instruction based on student language proficiency levels."

To begin their work towards their goal, the teachers discuss, "What will success look like?" In other words, how will they know when they are implementing Action Three successfully? They decide on three success indicators:

Teachers will:

Know students' language domain proficiency levels

Use language domain information to provide differentiated options for classroom and pull-out instruction and tasks

Assess reading comprehension using language proficiency accommodated tasks

Implement strategies

Over the next two meetings, the PLC team organizes their work around the three success indicators they identified. They determine they need to continue their learning in a few different ways.

First, they need to know their students' language domain proficiency levels and have them easily available for instructional planning. They download the " Can Do Name Charts" from the WIDA website and work together to complete the charts and make copies to share. They also need more information about what educators can expect from students at different language proficiency levels according to the WIDA Performance Definitions (Gottlieb, pgs. 22 & 23).

The ESL teacher is able to provide further guidance in this area and the group also accesses some online resources from their state website about strategies for different language proficiency levels. Finally they have a conversation about what formative comprehension assessment looks like connected with content instruction. They study some resources about common formative assessments and use the Academic Language Framework as a guide as they determine some common vocabulary, sentence structures, and discourse needed for an upcoming unit on geographic landmarks. (This fits DuFour's first question, "1. What do we want them to learn?")

Collect evidence

At each PLC meeting the teachers provide evidence of student learning and discuss DuFour's other two questions:

How will we know when each student has learned it?

How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?

The teachers share insights on how to differentiate according to different language levels - how they've successfully modified materials or grouped students, examples of student learning using language related to content, and what works to help students who are still developing the academic language they need to communicate what they know. The types of evidence teachers might share are student assignments, notes or rubrics on student language production, student questions, and audio or video clips of student interaction.

Share and discuss

Throughout the process, teachers assist each other in brainstorming ways to model, instruct, and assess the students using content-based language at their proficiency levels. They may need to discover more resources to help them in certain areas and they may find items in the WIDA download library, online video clips or other research resources that will provide further guidance.

During this phase of PLC work teachers will often say things such as, "Tell me more about that?", "How exciting!", "I can hear your frustration, I'm wondering if..." or "One thought I had was..." The sharing is open, supportive, and focused on listening while also providing ideas. At the end of the PLC, each teacher should have a clear action step in mind for implementing with the students and will report back to the PLC in the next meeting.

Reflect

Finally at the end of the PLC cycle (usually six-eight weeks), the teachers will revisit the Action Three reflection questions, their identified success indicators, and evidence of student learning. They review their initial responses to the Action Three reflection questions and add further information based on their learning experiences, adding their own evidence as much as possible. They discuss the evidence they have around their success indicators. Are all teachers aware of the student language proficiency levels and using them to differentiate instruction? Again, they provide as much evidence as possible to support their claims.

Finally, they look for evidence of student learning. When language was presented at a proficiency level that allowed the student to use the discourse, sentence structure and vocabulary required to demonstrate content knowledge - could they do it?

Teachers share evidence of student language production and content learning. Then they have a group hug, go home feeling great about their teaching career and all week people keep asking them if they've lost weight or done something with their hair... Okay, I may be exaggerating a bit there at the end, but really, a PLC team that works well together with a mission to become better for the students they love will feel very empowered and see positive results - both in student learning and in developing stronger collaborative partnerships with other educators.

Extension-Digital Tools

If the PLC team members have a positive experience and feel strongly that others will benefit from what they've learned, it's a great idea to seek ways to share their new knowledge with other educators. This could be with another grade-level PLC team, at a school-wide staff meeting or ELL focus data day, or at a district professional development forum where other teachers are gathering to focus on the needs of ELLs. It's also possible that they may want to share their findings digitally so others can access it according to their own schedules. If the PLC members want to explore digital sharing, they may want to experiment with some digital tools throughout the process so they have something to share electronically.

Here are a few (mostly free) tools I've been enjoying lately and they lend themselves nicely to connecting through digital media:

is an online video response system that allows a teacher to pose a question and send the link to a group. Respondents each record a 90-second video response, and the responses are visible to all with the link. I like this system because it's quick, easy, allows you to view on your own time, and it's fun to hear your colleagues' responses rather than reading it on a bulletin post. Flipgrid has a free trial period and then there is an annual subscription fee. (Try it out with the example below!)

Teaching Channel is a great online video resource website that has professional classroom video clips, study guides, and teacher discussion posts. It is a website designed for teachers who want to "get into other peoples' classrooms" and see instructional strategies. The other tool they've created that I'm excited about is the Tch Recorder app (for iPad and iPhone). This is a video recording app that allows you to easily record your own instruction or student interaction with the tap of a button and then easily upload it to your "workspace" on the Teaching Channel. The videos can be kept private for your own review, or if your school or district decides to use this system for team sharing, there is a "Teaching Channel Teams" component that allows you to interact in a coaching manner with the videos to make comments and share resources. Teaching Channel resources and workspace is free, but the Teaching Channel Teams cost money for site or district-level use.

Wikispaces is an online content management system that allows for sharing of resources, photos, video clips and much more. This is a great "virtual desktop" that allows many users to create the content and have online discussions. It is free for educators.

There are many tools a PLC team can use for their own learning and for ultimately sharing with others. These are just a few ideas that educators might enjoy playing with to gain new insights into their own learning and an opportunity to share meaningfully with others.

Conclusion

In the current climate of finger pointing and blaming about how bad education is, I actually see improvement in the use of collaboration, especially around meeting the needs of traditionally underserved populations such as ELLs. With more research and tools to guide conversations between educators, ELL academic achievement will continue to climb. If I had had ELD standards, support for effective collaboration, and a useful resource such as the Essential Actions Handbook long ago, I believe I would have done more than listen to stories and help with worksheets. Together we would have been an educational team focused on the identified language needs of ELLs and providing differentiated support to help them achieve.

As Helen Keller said, "Together we can do so much." These days, I see many educators teaming up, working hard to learn new instructional strategies for diverse learners and giving their best every day to ensure the achievement of all students. I would love to hear from educators who use the Essential Actions Handbook for their own learning or as part of a PLC or professional learning environment. Please click on the Flipgrid question below and tell us in 90 seconds or less how you've used the Essential Actions Handbook to take action in your classroom, school, or district!

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Essential Actions: 15 Research-based Practices to Increase ELL Student Achievement

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In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Bright Ideas author Kristina Robertson offers an overview of WIDA's new Essential Actions handbook and shares a step-by-step process for using this tool as part of a professional learning community focused on meeting ELLs' academic language needs. Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.

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Reading kind of gets a bad rap among English students. It can indeed be kind of boring. However, it is certainly possible to spice it up a bit with some interesting reading activities.Here's one idea you can try out during your reading lesson: story timeline. Read more to find out all the details you need to know about this time line activity!

If you're looking for an ESL reading and speaking activity, check out this story timeline activity. It makes an excellent follow-up activity for whatever reading your students are doing inside, or outside of class. And it's also a nice activity if you teach English online.

It works equally well for both children and adults. It's an excellent 1-1 activity, or if you have a bigger class, you can put students into pairs or groups of 3-4 and have them work on it together.

If you want to make it more difficult for advanced level or older students, just include some extra strips of paper with unimportant events that the student will have to leave out. It easily lends itself to just about any class or group or students, from beginner to advanced.

If you like this ESL reading and speaking activity, consider getting the book it's from: 39 Awesome 1-1 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults, available on Amazon. You can find this activity in the book, plus 38 more top-quality ones to keep your students engaged and learning English!

Skills: Reading/Speaking/Writing
Time: 10-15 minutes
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: None
Optional Materials: Sentence strips of important events in a novel

Extensive reading is an excellent way to build your student's vocabulary quickly. However, you and your student probably don't want to spend too much class time reading novels.

What you can do is assign a novel for homework. Then, in each lesson, go over unfamiliar vocabulary or situations as well as any number of extension activities. This is one such activity that works well. Check out this reading timeline activity for more ideas.

Helps Students Summarize a Reading

A timeline, or chronology, of important plot events, is a useful way to have the student briefly summarize the story chapter by chapter. A timeline will help him/her keep track of the story while providing practice determining important events.

With lower-level students, you may want to scaffold the activity by providing the sentences for the student to order. Then, they just have to piece them together. Advanced students can come up with the sentences themselves. This is a great timeline activity for kids, teenagers or adults.

Procedure for Story Timeline:

1. (Optional) In advance, prepare sentence strips describing important events in the plot.

2. Have the student either order the sentence strips you have provided or determine the events on his/her own. If you are not using sentence strips, you can have the student complete the activity orally or in writing.

3. Check answers with the student. If doing it with a big class, have students or groups compare with each other first.

It's one of the best timeline activities for students so give it a try in your English classes today!

If you want to work on time lines with your students during and after reading, then there's no need to reinvent the wheel! There are a ton of great resources online for reading timelines. Here are some of the best picks:
Common Core Sheets Superteacher Worksheets English Worksheet Land
Do you think this would be a great ESL reading activity to try out in your classes today? Yes? Thought so!

It's from the book, 39 Awesome 1-1 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults. There are dozens of top-quality private teaching activities that you can use in your classes today. It's lesson planning made easy, guaranteed.

A Variety of Engaging Activities

The key to getting, and keeping private students is a variety of engaging activities. After all, bored students will not want to continue studying with you, right? And more students equals more money in your pocket.

Available in Various Formats

The book is available on Amazon in both print and digital formats. You can download the ebook to any smartphone, tablet, PC, or Mac by getting the free Kindle App. It's easy!

Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office and use it as a handy reference guide. Or, take the digital copy with you to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go.

Shop Now

Do you want a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome in your life? Then you'll want to check out the book for yourself here:
->Buy 39 Awesome 1-1 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults on Amazon<-
Do you need more tips for teaching reading to your English learners besides this timeline activity? Yes? Thought so!

Then you'll need to check out this short video below about some reading strategies and activities that you can use with your students today:

What are some of your favourite ESL reading activities? Have you tried this story timeline activity? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment below and share them with us!

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. It'll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful resource for teaching English.

Last update on 2021-02-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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Story Timeline ESL Activity | ESL Reading and Speaking Activity

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Reading kind of gets a bad rap among English students. It can indeed be kind of boring. However, it is certainly possible to spice it up a bit with some interesting reading activities.Here's one idea you can try out during your reading lesson: story timeline.

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Understanding characters is an essential part of reading comprehension, so today I'm going to share part one in a two part post on how to teach character traits.
Watch the Facebook live video about this topic here.
(Click here to skip to part two.)

Like many lessons, I start with a hook. I ask my students to partner up and then take turns describing their partner. I listen and typically here mostly external traits- boy, brown hair, black shirt- and so on. Next, I pick a pair and have them share the traits they listed in front of the class. After they do, I ask them to share some traits you can't see and that leads in to our character trait anchor chart.

We discuss how people- and characters in our story- have a personality that's made up of their character traits. We discuss how easy it can be to see outside traits, but inside traits can be trickier.

Then, I use memory motions to teach my students that characters' internal traits are made up of

thoughts ( point to head)

feelings ( hands over heart)

actions ( mimic running)

and dialogue ( talk motion with hand).

Next, we dive right into a read aloud to examine the main character up close.
Here are some of my favorite books to use to teach character traits, in the order I have used them in the past. Click on any picture to check out each book.
A Bad Case of Stripes - This was a great book start start with since her external traits are so interesting, and her internal traits are also pretty easy to pick out as well. My kiddos love this one, and did such a GREAT job coming up with character traits.

Amelia Bedelia - I had a sub on Tuesday so I could level my students, so I wanted to pick another easy one. It's very easy to talk about how wacky, goofy, confused, and silly Amelia is!

Dex: The Heart of a Hero- If you haven't read this book, it's a MUST read picture book. Not only does it have a great lesson, but the main character Dex is an adorable little pooch on a mission to be a hero.

Tacky the Penguin - This is another perfect book for character traits. Tacky is a wacky penguin who doesn't fit in, but in the end, he saves the day with his wacky antics.

The Three Little Pigs- I like to use this book (any version will do) to compare pig 1, pig 2, pig 3, and the wolf. This will give us a chance to compare characters and discuss good vs bad characters. I plan to challenge my cuties by asking them to think about what would happen if pig 3 was lazy as well, or if the wolf was nice. Just FYI- The version above is fantastic!

After we read the Three Little Pigs and have spent a good week discussing character traits as a class, I like to ask my students to choose a book from their book box with an interesting character, and complete this form. It's a great way for me to see who has grasped the concept and who need a bit more practice during guided reading or one-on-one check ins.
Click the picture below to download it from my free, exclusive resource library for subscribers. Click here for part two and to see some character trait forms my students completed independently!

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Quite a Character: Teaching Character Traits -

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Understanding characters is an essential part of reading comprehension, so today I'm going to share part one in a two part post on how to teach character traits. Watch the Facebook live video about this topic here. (Click here to skip to part two.) Like many lessons, I start with a hook.

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Hi there! It's Deb Hanson from Crafting Connections, and I'm going to share a free character traits lesson with you today. This lesson is based on one I did a few years ago for a formal observation. My principal at the time loved the lesson... I hope you will, too! If you do decide that you want to try this activity with your students, be sure to click on the following image. Everything you need for this lesson is FREE! (Well, almost everything... you'll have to provide your own anchor chart paper and cups!)

Part 1: Anchor Chart

I almost always start my ELA units with a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the topic. Therefore, the lesson I am describing would occur on Day 2 of our character traits study. Prior to class, I would create the base of my character traits anchor chart. To start the lesson, I would use the anchor chart to review how good readers analyze clues provided by the author in order to infer character traits.

Next, I would read four short passages, and ask students to determine whether the character trait clue provided by the author was an example of a character's feelings, actions, dialogue, or thoughts. After gluing (or taping) the passage onto the anchor chart, students would infer a character trait for the character described in each passage, and this sentence would be written on the anchor chart below each passage.

Part 2: Sorting Activity

The next component of this lesson is my favorite part! I would present six plastic cups by spreading them across a table or chalkboard tray. As you can see, the cups have been labeled with various character traits. (I chose these particular traits because many young adult chapter books include characters with these traits, and I wanted to introduce my students to more advanced vocabulary.) I also have the small strips of card stock printed and cut apart. These strips contain very short reading passages.

After discussing the meanings of the words printed on the cups, I would tell students to listen as I read aloud one of the strips. (I would also use a document camera to display the strips so my students could follow along.) Students will need to match the story to one of the character traits. To make sure everyone remains engaged, I would instruct students to display each answer by holding up fingers... 1 finger for optimistic, two fingers for pessimistic, three fingers for insensitive, etc. After inferring each character trait, I would ask the students to determine whether the clue was an example of a character's feelings, actions, dialogue, or thoughts. Then, the strip would be dropped into the cup. Once the strips have all been classified, your cups will look like this:

Part 3: Interactive Notebook

Finally, I would have my students add the following foldable to their reading notebooks. Students can refer to the anchor chart as they label the foldable. After gluing the foldable in their notebook, students will use a book that they are currently reading or have finished reading recently, and write under each flap how they were able to use that label (dialogue, for example) to infer a character trait. They will write down evidence from the text to support their answers. Providing the following sentence frame may be necessary for some students, especially English Language Learners: I inferred that (character's name) is (character trait) because (text evidence).

If you are looking for additional resources for teaching character traits to your upper elementary students, feel free to check out the following resources.

Thanks for stopping by today!

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Character Traits: A Lesson for Upper Elementary Students

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Teach upper elementary students about character traits by having them analyze their characters' feelings, actions, thoughts, and dialogue within the story. This blog post contains everything you need for a complete character traits lesson... for free! The reading passages on the anchor chart, the sentence strip activity, and the interactive notebook foldable are all free!

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Step-by-Step Reading is a series of effective reading units used in thousands of classrooms. It is full of engaging lessons and resources. A scaffolding approach helps students understand what they are reading. Research shows that building from a basic reading skill to a more complex one not only develops, but strengthens reading comprehension.

Do your student(s) need help with reading comprehension?

No worries! Through my 26 years of teaching, I struggled to find the right fit for my students. I had so many readers who didn't understand the text they were reading. That is why I decided to teach students how to comprehend their reading with step-by-step lessons. Over the years, I found ways to engage, motivate and help improve students' reading comprehension by leaps and bounds! Now I am ready to share my secrets!

Does your reading program lack a step-by-step approach?

These units are for you! The scaffolded lessons are thoroughly laid out to make you a ROCK STAR in your classroom! It is a comprehensive resource aligned to Common Core with everything you need for each skill. Whether you are a new teacher or a veteran teacher looking for an effective approach, you will find many gems in these units. If for any reason you need help, I am just an email away!

I would love to celebrate your success too! Click on the skill (or bundle) you need or scroll for more information.

Click on a unit to see what all the buzz is about!

What units are available?

1. THEME (INCLUDING STORY ELEMENTS, MAIN IDEA, SUMMARIZING, TOPICS, LESSONS)

2. MYTHOLOGY (INCLUDING CONTEXT CLUES AND ALLUSIONS)

3. POINT OF VIEW (THIS IS THE NEW RESOURCE AND NOT PART OF THE BUNDLE. IT WILL BE IN THE NEXT BUNDLE)

4. DRAMA, POETRY, PROSE (THIS IS THE NEW RESOURCE AND NOT PART OF THE BUNDLE. IT WILL BE IN THE NEXT BUNDLE)

What do you get with the units?

1. Anchor Charts for every step in the unit

2. EMAIL SUPPORT- Are you struggling with your instruction? Email me!

3. Differentiated Passages

4. Interactive notebook pages

5. Mentor Text Suggestions

6. A MODEL of every step in the unit

7. Task Cards and Practice worksheets

8. Activities

9. Assessments

10. Reading Response page

11. Graphic Organizer

12. Tracking Chart

What will students gain from step-by-step reading units?

Students will transform from poor comprehension of text to EXCELLENT COMPREHENSION OF TEXT.

Students will have a notebook full of reading skills to use as a reference.

Students will be motivated to learn.

Students will know how to dive into a text and pick it apart for understanding.

Students will learn tools necessary to comprehend fiction and nonfiction text.

Students will apply what they learn in their own reading.

Students will master COMMON CORE READING STANDARDS.

Text Evidence Notebook Example:

What are other educators saying?

It has enhanced my students' ability to provide text evidence so much!

Thanks for providing this invaluable resource.

I just used the strategy with another article and it was a SUCCESS!

You so thoughtfully broke down this standard so that my students could fully understand every aspect of it.

I used these during reading groups and had great success with them!

It helped me teach such a difficult concept to students in my classroom.

I appreciate that there are different leveled passages included.

This worked perfectly to help improve my students inference skills.

It includes so many different types of activities.

Excellent and fun resources!

How do you teach step-by-step reading skills?

The units are designed to teach in this order:

1. Provide examples and model.

2. Show the skill in a mentor text.

3. Take notes to use as a future reference.

4. Practice with activities, worksheets, task cards, and passages.

5. Apply with graphic organizers and reading response sheets using any text.

6. Assess student knowledge.

7. Track student progress.

Click on a unit to see what all the buzz is about!

It is a WIN WIN for you and your students!

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Step-By-Step Reading with Interactive Notebooks

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Step-by-Step Reading is a series of effective reading units used in thousands of classrooms. It is full of engaging lessons and resources. A scaffolding approach helps students understand what they are reading. Research shows that building from a basic reading skill to a more complex one not only develops, but strengthens reading comprehension.

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⭐️These 12 digital and printable Lexile® leveled close reading stories and plays with question sets aligned to RL.4.3 are perfect for teaching, developing, or reinforcing describing characters, settings, and events skills. Google slides version is perfect for Google Classroom integration and distance learning. Fourth grade students learn to describe characters, settings, and events in stories and dramas.

⭐️If you do not use Common Core, this packet is still perfect for teaching about characters, settings, and events in stories and plays. Aligns with many state specific standards, including TEKS and VA SOL.

⭐️Includes standard based questions, anchor charts, and two skills focused test passages. Certified Lexile measured close reading comprehension texts are varied within the fourth and fifth grade bands and aligned to Common Core standards.

⭐️ This printable and digital resource is compatible with Google Drive and Google Slides.

*This digital version saves paper and is perfect for distance learning, but still requires teachers to correct student responses.
Features:
✏️ Lexile Levels - All 6 stories include a certified Lexile measure to make differentiation easy. Passages vary across the 4th grade Common Core Text Complexity Band (the range for fourth and fifth grade is 740L-1010L).

✏️ Integrated Color Coding - Color coding strategy encourages students to learn how to find and use text evidence in their answers.

✏️ Comprehensive - Passages are perfect for comprehensive standard based test prep. Included anchor charts and questions make this resource great for lesson modeling. Works perfectly for small groups and guided reading.

✏️ Scaffolding - Utilizes the Lexile Framework® for Reading and a mix of standard based essay and multiple choice questions to allow educators to scaffold independent work and homework. Also great for centers and interventions.

✏️ Highly Engaging - Contains original and adapted stories, plays, and poems with high-quality photographs and original Illustrations. Designed to engage students of all levels and interests.

★ Elizabeth D. said, " Love this resource! My kids love the stories."

★ Ashley M. said, " My students are so engaged when using this product!!!"

★ Eric G. said, " My students enjoyed the passages and are enjoying color coding their answers. This is a great tool to help them review and find answers within the text, and for citing text evidence! Thank you for creating and sharing these!!!"
What's Included: 1. Anchor Chart & Journal Pages for Characters, Setting, & Events 2. Practice Stories & Question Sets

Let's Play Lava- 740L

A Perfect Snow Day- 740L

Willow and the Powerful Book- 830L

The Vikings Are Coming- 940L

The Organized Pixie- 970L

3. Practice Dramas & Question Sets

Olivia and the New Tutor

The Wicked Warlock of the West

The School Project

The Sky Dance Festival

Phone Calls from Outer Space

4. Test Passages & Question Sets

The Housewarming Ceremony- 820L

The Birthday Party (Play)

Common Core Kingdom is a Certified Lexile Partner
⭐️See more about why certified Lexile measures matter by clicking on the product preview and navigating to the About Lexile Levels page.

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Related Products: Historical, Scientific and Technical Text 4th & 5th Grade RI.4.3 RI.5.3 Story Elements Boom Cards ™ 4th & 5th Grade - Distance Learning Task Cards Describing Story Elements Task Cards - 4th and 5th Grade - RL.4.3 Skill Pack Bundle:
This resource is available in a Skill Pack Bundle that contains six different resources focused on this specific reading skill - including lesson plans, digital mini-lessons, guided readers, task cards, and Boom Cards.
Story Elements Skill Pack - RL.4.3 Classroom & Distance Learning Bundle Bundle Up & Save! 4th Grade Reading Comprehension MEGA Bundle with Google Slides Distance Learning 5th Grade Reading Comprehension MEGA Bundle with Google Slides Distance Learning
Looking for More Differentiation ❔❓❔

Similar units are available for 2nd & 3rd grade and 1st Grade:
Describe Characters in a Story - 3rd Grade RL.3.3 Characters Respond to Events and Challenges - 2nd Grade RL.2.3 Characters, Settings, and Events - 1st Grade RL.1.3
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Characters, Setting, & Events 4th Grade RL.4.3 - Printable & Digital

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These 12 digital and printable Lexile® leveled close reading stories and plays with question sets aligned to RL.4.3 are perfect for teaching, developing, or reinforcing describing characters, settings, and events skills. Google slides version is perfect for Google Classroom integration and distance...

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We dove into setting again while reading Tuck Everlasting . As we delve more and more into citing text evidence, I wanted the students to really see what that meant.

Chapter one of the book describes the setting of the book in great detail. In fact, it is so vivid that I had the students dissect the chapter to create a drawing. On that drawing, they were only allowed to put something that appeared in the chapter. If it wasn't written down, they couldn't draw it.

Then, I made a copy of chapter one for each student. They were instructed to cut the text apart, gluing the actual text onto their picture to prove that what was drawn was in the text.

This really helped to show the students that authors truly do paint pictures with their words. It also allowed them a chance to "prove" their drawings using text evidence.

Wow...short and sweet! How unlike me :)

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We dove into setting again while reading Tuck Everlasting . As we delve more and more into citing text evidence, I wanted the students to really see what that meant. Chapter one of the book describes the setting of the book in great detail.

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Read between the lines to find out how each character is feeling! Use this worksheet to practice describing a character's emotion based on actions. This reading exercise helps students learn to make inferences about a text.

Grade

Subject

View aligned standards

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Character Emotion Descriptions | Worksheet | Education.com

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Read between the lines to find out how each character is feeling! Use this worksheet to practice describing a character's emotion based on actions. This reading exercise helps students learn to make inferences about a text. Grade Subject View aligned standards

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7 Ways to Adapt the Common Core for Students with Special Needs | Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.

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The establishment of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for students nationwide represents a particularly robust challenge for teachers of students with special needs. On the one hand, advocates for students with disabilities have made it clear that they want these students to be held to the same high level of achievement as typically developing students.