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This site is intended for adult education students taking ENG English Language Arts courses. Here you will find resources, exercises, and infographics to help you learn and practice course concepts. Access the menu to explore each topic!

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Generate MLA citations in seconds for books, websites, and much more. Fast, free, and easy. No ads.

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Resources for sec 1-5 (Project RISE)

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This site is intended for adult education students taking ENG English Language Arts courses. Here you will find resources, exercises, and infographics to help you learn and practice course concepts. Access the menu to explore each topic!

Project RISE ELA Choice Board content was created by the RISE ELA Team 20-21 and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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This site is intended for adult education students taking ENG English Language Arts courses. Here you will find resources, exercises, and infographics to help you learn and practice course concepts. Access the menu to explore each topic!

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In July, I put my big girl pants on and joined CAMP NANOWRIMO. I needed to force myself to sit down and write that novel I've been bouncing around in my head for the last 5 years. I needed to scrap everything I had written before and give it structure....life...work out a solid plot.

I always had an idea of where I wanted to take the story. Of how I wanted it to end....but it was the middle that I was blanking out on.

How do I make the connections feel genuine? How do I add high stakes without overdoing it? How do I make people care about what will happen to my protagonists?

The writer's block was real. So much so that I had no idea on how to move forward with my story, I began to doubt my creativity.

Participating in Camp Nanowrimo helped unravel some of the years of blockage in my brain. I managed to write a good 11,000 words which was a feat in itself. It was the first time in literal years that I had sat down and written anything to the story.

It wasn't easy. There were days where I felt like I was writing doo-doo. Where the doubt crept in and I didn't want to write. Then there was the stress of everyday life knocking on my door....

Writer's block isn't something that goes away. Many things contribute to it and there are several ways to combat it. Not that these things work for everyone, but they are worth the attempt. I will confess that I haven't touched the story since CAMP Nanowrimo ended because that wall has come down again BUT I have been doing things to help clear my mind again.

Below are 5 things that I've been doing to help me combat Writer's Block:
Disclaimer: These are things that have worked for me. They are by no means something that might work for everyone. You do not have to do any of these 🙂
I know what you are thinking. "Everyone says that". But the truth of the matter is that it actually does help. When you are reading, you are learning how authors stitch their stories together. You pick up how they made their characters interact, what they chose to do with their plots and how they ended their story. Not to mention, you get to learn how tone affects how the story is received by readers.

Even if you don't particularly enjoy the book, it sets the standard for how you want to write out your own. Reading someone else's story gives your brain a break for trying to create your own world. For a few pages (or many) your imagination gets to travel somewhere and see things that can inspire it to create.

2. Free Writing

Free Writing is a technique that I learned in High school. It's a technique in where the writer continuously writes for a period of time without worrying about the structure, mechanics, and rhetorical concerns or conventions.

Sometimes there's a prompt, sometimes there is not. It's a technique that helps build confidence without the fear of censure and it's a tool used to combat writers block.

You literally pick a prompt, sit down with a pen and paper (journal), put a timer for 10 minutes and write.

You do not stop to correct spelling mistakes or to think about what you are going to write; You write subconsciously, the first thoughts to pop into your head are what gets written down. Even if it's the same word over and over again, sooner or later you will see a sentence pop in.

This is not brainstorming, which usually involves listing things down. Free Writing are sentences that end up as paragraphs about the first things that come to mind.
Free Writing Resource:
3. Reverse Engineer your Story

This technique might not work for everyone but it is something that I do from time to time when I'm stuck on my own story. I actually apply this when I'm building a website too.

What is Reverse Engineering? Reverse engineering is taking apart an object to see how it works in order to duplicate or enhance the object.

For writing, it's taking the perceived ending of your story and asking yourself "how did we get here?". Work from the ending to the beginning. Even if your story hasn't moved from page three, you know more or less how it's going to end.

Character A is going to die at the end? Okay, cool. How? Why? How did they get in that position in the first place? Find the events that lead up to that moment and write them down in bullet points. Those events can be used as chapters.

Ask yourself questions, write them down, and then answer them. Even if you don't use them, you are still working toward building your story and it gives you more insight to who your character is going to be.

4. Mood Boards

Recently, I've been slowly toying with Mood Boards for everything. Graphic Design, Web Design, Books....etc etc

Mood Boards are a great way to visually represent your ideas. If you are a visual person, this might be a great way to help with writer's block. If you are world building, making a mood board with pictures of places you want your world to look like or of cultures you are inspired by can really help you structure your novel.

Same thing with characters! Creating a mood board for each one of your characters allows you to build their personalities, who they are, and what they like!
Some cool Mood Board Resources:

Canva: Canva has some great mood board templates! You can either create a mood board online or use the templates as a guide for a physical mood board.

Milanote: An awesome online tool for organizing visually. You can create mood boards or simply organize your novel/life visually

5. Drop the Tech

I know, I know. Absolutely Crazy!

However, bear with me for a moment. The brain is a muscle.

When you overuse your muscles what happens? They become stiff, sore, and it's an overall bad experience. The same thing goes for your brain.

We live in the age where Tech literally is our everyday lives. Our phones have replaced the morning paper since we have the world in our finger tips; Video games, streaming services, e-readers, social media, etc.... We scroll through twitter, Instagram, and Facebook mindlessly grabbing all this useless information that we might not even remember 2 hours from now. Our retention for information is not that great anymore because we have the crutch called Technology. If we forget, we can pull out of phones and look for it again in an instant.

Not to mention, it's a distraction. I'm guilty of it myself. I tend to choose to peruse social media instead of actually writing. What starts off as "Oh, I need inspiration! Let me go on Pinterest real quick" turns to 3 hours later looking at DIY furniture restoration.

Our brains are working overtime for nothing!!! So take a moment and BREATHE.

Drop the Tech for an hour a day or if that's too scary, an hour on the day you have off from your responsibilities. Find other things to do that don't involve tech, like walking around the block or through your local park, sight-seeing, meditating or even pick up a new hobby like painting.

Even if it's just laying on the floor staring at your ceiling; Give your brain a moment's rest.

What do you do to combat writer's block? Let me know in the comments below!

XOXOXO,

Related Posts:

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Beating Writer's Block: 5 things to do to help unravel your thoughts

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In July, I put my big girl pants on and joined CAMP NANOWRIMO. I needed to force myself to sit down and write that novel I've been bouncing around in my head for the last 5 years. I needed to scrap everything I had written before and give it structure....life...work out a solid plot.

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Using videos for educational purposes has many benefits. They can transform the way one teaches and learns. Videos allows for:

Deeper learning

Active viewing

Different learning styles

Self-paced learning and review

The acquisition of other skills such as: research skills, critical thinking skills, and technology skills

Our YouTube channel is a collection of videos, touching on a variety of relevant subjects related to digital citizenship, the inquiry process and the use of technology for educators, students and parents.

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Digital Citizenship Quebec | Becoming citizens of the world... once step at a time.

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Using videos for educational purposes has many benefits. They can transform the way one teaches and learns. Videos allows for: Deeper learning Active viewing Different learning styles Self-paced learning and review The acquisition of other skills such as: research skills, critical thinking skills, and technology skills Our YouTube channel is a collection of videos, touching on a variety of relevant subjects related to digital citizenship, the inquiry process and the use of technology for educators, students and parents.

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When do you need this?
People write friendly letters to friends and family to share stories about themselves, to talk about new things that have happened to them or to ask friends and family about what is new in their lives. These letters can also be used to ask for advice, to give an opinion on something like a movie, or to say thank-you. These letters sound friendly and may also include your feelings. People usually write formal letters to people they do not know well in order to ask for information or to give an opinion about an issue or subject.

Choose a purpose

Start with a reason and audience for your letter.

What is the goal of your letter? You can write a letter to:

Share a story

Retell something that happened

Get news

Seek advice

Ask for information

Give your opinion

Thank someone

Who will be receiving your letter? A friend, a family member or somebody you don't really know? Remember, your audience will have an impact on the tone of your letter and determine whether it's friendly or formal.

You can brainstorm ideas to help you choose your topic.
Brainstorming Tool

Gather your information

You will always need to know the name and address or your recipient.

For a friendly letter, answer the following question:

What is the news or story that I want to share?

For a formal letter, answer the following questions:

What is the point of my letter? What is the information I want to communicate or find out?

Think about some of the letters you have read or received before you start writing your own. Here are some examples of friendly letters and formal letters you can read:

Write your letter

Use the Letter Planning Tools to help you write your draft - there are two for each type of letter so choose the one you like best:

Revise your letter

You always need to review your letter before sending it (by email, by post or in person) to the person who will be receiving it. Revise your letter by asking yourself the following questions:

Are my ideas clear?

Have I corrected all spelling and grammar mistakes?

Have I included all the necessary elements (date, salutation, closing, signature)?

You can always ask your friends, your teacher or a parent to help you improve your letter. Use one of the tools below to help you:

Now, write your good copy!

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When do you need this? People write friendly letters to friends and family to share stories about themselves, to talk about new things that have happened to them or to ask friends and family about what is new in their lives.

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This site is intended for adult education students taking ENG English Language Arts courses. Here you will find resources, exercises, and infographics to help you learn and practice course concepts. Access the menu to explore each topic!

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Classics and more Contemporary Novel Suggestions

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Classics and more Contemporary Novel Suggestions

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Books for grade 10 - this list of reading books has been curated and compiled by teachers and librarians for sophomore high school students aged 15-16. There is a range of exciting and thought-provoking books for 10th Grade readers to suit all abilities, including less challenging leisure reads and more difficult texts. This list of 10th grade reading recommendations includes titles by Karen M. McManus, Herman Melville, Casey McQuiston, John Green, Tracy Chevalier, Maya Angelou, Paolo Bacigalupi, Elizabeth Wein, and many more.

As an Amazon Associate K-12readinglist.com earns from qualifying purchases.

Books for Grade 10 - our recommendations

In 1831, Charles Darwin set off on a voyage on the Beagle. Five years later, he returned, with a journal full of his discoveries. Geology, natural history, maps, and vibrant descriptions all lay the foundations for his later publication, The Origin of the Species.

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

Published in 2009, this biography of Charles Darwin questions the motivations of the man who came up with a new and controversial theory of the origins of life. Causing friction with his religious wife Emma, his work and home life were both affected. History, religion, and science are woven adeptly.

If you would like to order all or most of the books in this list; or if you want to order classroom sets or multiple copies of books; or if you are ordering from outside the US, have a look at our 'bulk orders' page which makes this process easy.

Click for more reading recommendations - Kindergarten books | Grade 1 books | Grade 2 books | Grade 3 books | Grade 4 books | Grade 5 books | Grade 6 books | Grade 7 books | Grade 8 books | Grade 9 books | Grade 10 books (this page) | Grade 11 books | Grade 12 books
Please do share or link to this page via social media; but refrain from copying or reproducing our books for grade 10 synopses. Please respect intellectual property and copyright. Thank you.

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10th grade reading list for students aged 15-16

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Must-read books for 10th grade students, curated and compiled by teachers, home educators and librarians for high school students aged 15-16.

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List of Books for the Elementary Classroom

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List of Books for the Elementary Classroom

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Magazines for children and teens

By and last updated on May 30, 2022

Magazines for children and teens – here’s our selection of subscriptions for children in elementary, middle and high schools. Ideal for school libraries. There are also useful suggestions for parents, homeschoolers, and teachers.

3rd grade reading books for children aged 8-9

By Tom Tolkien and last updated on May 30, 2022

Here are our recommended best books for grade 3, including short stories and chapter books to appeal to 8 and 9-year-olds. Authors include Dick King-Smith, Judy Blume, Roald Dahl, and Cornelia Funke.

6th grade reading books for children aged 11-12

By Tom Tolkien and last updated on May 19, 2022

The list of books for grade 6 children includes more challenging reads for 10 and 11-year-olds as well as gripping series and easier texts for reluctant readers. Authors include Sharon Creech, Anna Sewell, Lous Sachar, and Jason Reynolds.

5th grade reading books for children aged 10-11

By Tom Tolkien and last updated on May 19, 2022

Here are our recommendations for the best reading books for grade 5. The list includes challenging reads for 10 and 11-year-olds as well as easier texts for children who find reading more challenging. Authors include Kate Messner, James Patterson, and E.B. White.

4th grade reading books for children aged 9-10

By Tom Tolkien and last updated on May 19, 2022

This collection of the best books for 4th grade readers has been selected by experienced teachers and librarians. There is a range of genres and styles to appeal to 9 and 10 year olds. Authors include Roald Dahl, Tui Sutherland, Rudyard Kipling, Neil Gaiman, Shannon Hayle and JK Rowling.

2nd grade reading books for children aged 7-8

By Tom Tolkien and last updated on May 19, 2022

A list of recommended best books for grade 2 children aged 7 and 8 in elementary school. These reading suggestions have been compiled by professional teachers and librarians to appeal to all abilities in the second grade including reluctant readers.

1st grade reading books for children aged 6-7

By Tom Tolkien and last updated on May 19, 2022

Must-read books for 1st grade children – curated and compiled by teachers, home educators and librarians for elementary school students aged 6-7 and including picture books and short single chapter books to suit all abilities. Authors include Jon Scieszka, Mal Peet, Mo Willems, Dr. Seuss, and Eleanor Estes.

Books for grade K kindergarten children aged 5-6

By Tom Tolkien and last updated on May 19, 2022

A list of recommended picture books for grade K children aged 5 and 6 in elementary school kindergarten. These reading choices have been compiled by teachers, librarians, and home educators to appeal to beginner and emergent readers of all abilities.

Our latest reading recommendations: Kindergarten books | Grade 1 books | Grade 2 books | Grade 3 books | Grade 4 books | Grade 5 books | Grade 6 books | Grade 7 books | Grade 8 books | Grade 9 books | Grade 10 books | Grade 11 books | Grade 12 books

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Reading lists for Elementary School children Archives

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Great books for elementary school children in grades 1-6 aged 5-12. Our reading lists are compiled by professional educators and librarians.

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Classic Novels for the High School Classroom

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Classic Novels for the High School Classroom

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15 Books Every High School Student Should Read | High School Reading List | Plexuss

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Whether you read the following for a school assignment or just for leisure, here are a 15 must read books you should read before you graduate high school!

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List of Novels for Middle School Students 

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List of Novels for Middle School Students 

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Middle school students faced plenty of issues before the social, political, and economic upheavals of the past few years. At the same time, challenges to what students are allowed to read in school have made some of their experiences even more marginalized than they had been. With that in mind, we revised our recommendations to be even more inclusive, with an eye toward middle school books you may not already have in your library.

Today's classroom requires flexibility, especially with young readers. Not all middle school books have to be read silently or independently. Read some aloud to your students, give them audiobooks to listen to, or let them read one chapter at a time to each other. See what kind of conversations come up. Engaged students learn better, and you don't need a canned curriculum from some corporation to tell you that.

Remember, maturity levels vary widely, and you know your students best. Be sure to read the books first before you share them with your middle school students.

(Just a heads up, WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items our team loves!)

Best Middle School Books

1. Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

This remix of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped From the Beginning is an urgent exploration of how the history of race affects us in the here and now, created for young people. There's even a teachers guide.

Buy it: Stamped on Amazon

2. Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

Khosrou is not like the other kids in his Oklahoma middle school, but he knows how to tell a story. This true story of Khosrou's family and their escape from Iran in the middle of the night is an immediately gripping account of both middle school chaos and personal strife.

Buy it: Everything Sad Is Untrue on Amazon

3. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

This is the story of 16-year-old Starr Carter as she wrestles with her emotions after seeing her unarmed childhood friend killed by police, which has become a generational touchstone. Definitely for older kids-and definitely worth the conversations that follow.

Buy it: The Hate U Give on Amazon

4. All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue ... by Christina Soontornvat

This book is a thrilling and information-packed true story of survival about the 2018 cave rescue in Thailand. Full of interviews and firsthand accounts, the story will keep even the most active students on the edge of their seats.

Buy it: All Thirteen on Amazon

5. Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Louise Wolfe is a Muscogee high schooler caught between family obligations and everything that being a teenager involves. Another one for older kids, this is an authentic coming-of-age story with a fresh voice.

Buy it: Hearts Unbroken on Amazon

6. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

When Amanda Gorman read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison in eighth grade, she was inspired to become a writer. "It was the first time I had seen a dark-skinned girl on the cover of a book and that absolutely enthralled me. Reading Morrison taught me how to write unapologetically with a Black feminist voice that was my own," she said. Later in life, when she spoke at the presidential inauguration in 2021, Gorman raised the voice of her generation. Her book of poems is expansive and inventive, and it's one of the top must-read books for today's middle school kids.

Buy it: Call Us What We Carry on Amazon

7. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

Simply put, this is one of the most well-written books you'll ever find in YA lit. Protagonist Leigh Chen Sanders' voice is stunning in this expertly woven tale of love, friendship, tragedy, and imagination.

Buy it: The Astonishing Color of After on Amazon

8. Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto

Yes, we're going there. No middle school book catalog is complete without a few good Manga titles. It's time to shrug off any reluctance and dive into what the kids are already reading. These are teacher-approved, rich with storytelling and character exposition, and ripe for literary analysis. If these titles don't seem fit for your students, check with them-they know best! First up is the classic Naruto, a story about a young chaotic kid who is determined to become the world's greatest ninja.

Buy it: Naruto on Amazon

9. Bakuman by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

This spin on traditional manga (with the usual high-flying warriors and action sequences) tells the story of two kids who want to become manga artists themselves. The characters are high school kids trying to live their dreams-very relatable to young readers.

Buy it: Bakuman on Amazon

10. A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima

When Shoya meets Shoko six years after he knew her in school, he learns about the consequences of bullying. This is a great story for middle schoolers and is an accessible way into the manga genre.

Buy it: A Silent Voice on Amazon

11. The March Series by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

The three-part graphic novel series details how John Lewis made his way from his family farm to the Edmund Pettus Bridge alongside Martin Luther King Jr. for the historic Selma-to-Montgomery March. Beautifully rendered and powerfully told, this trilogy lends itself to all kinds of classroom readings and activities.

Buy it: The March Series on Amazon

12. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Acevedo brings her slam poet sensibility to this emotionally vivid story about Xiomara Batista, a first-generation Dominican American teen in a religious family who "feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood."

Buy it: The Poet X on Amazon

13. The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy

The first of two books by Maulik Pancholy, this story follows Rahul Kapoor, a middle schooler who loves his grandpa and is crushing on a boy at school.

Buy it: The Best at It on Amazon

14. The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden

Explore the cultural divides around class and the gun debate through the eyes of seventh grader Zoey, who lives on the edges of society and tries to find her way forward.

Buy it: The Benefits of Being an Octopus on Amazon

15. Monster by Walter Dean Myers

The recipient of multiple awards, this novel follows Steve, an amateur filmmaker. As a way of coping with the horrific events that entangle him, he decides to transcribe his trial into a script, just like in the movies.

Buy it: Monster on Amazon

16. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

With connections to Common Core standards, this book follows Coyote, a young woman who travels the country with her dad in an old school bus. Over the course of thousands of miles, she will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all.

Buy it: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise on Amazon

17. Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real one. Now a ghost, Jerome watches the devastation unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing. Soon, Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances.

Buy it: Ghost Boys on Amazon

18. Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson

The recipient of multiple awards and one of our favorite middle school books, this novel is a powerful story about a girl striving for success in a world that too often seems like it's trying to break her.

Buy it: Piecing Me Together on Amazon

19. Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

Another one of our fave middle school books! Follow 11-year-old Melody, who is not like most people. She can't walk, she can't talk, she can't write, all because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory-she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She's the smartest kid in her whole school, but NO ONE knows it.

Buy it: Out of My Mind on Amazon

20. Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

A timely story for middle schoolers. After Tyler's father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn't sure what to make of them.

Buy it: Return to Sender on Amazon

21. Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker

Zenobia July is a trans girl in Arizona who is trying to adjust to a new school.

Buy it: Zenobia July on Amazon

22. In the Key of Us by Mariama J. Lockington

Another new addition to our list, this is a coming-of-age story about young love between Andi and Zora, two Black girls at a mostly white summer camp.

Buy it: In the Key of Us on Amazon

23. The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

Taken from the national news headlines, this book follows two teenagers and a heinous hate crime that crosses gender and racial lines.

Buy it: The 57 Bus on Amazon

24. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

A tale of two stories, told in alternating sections, about two 11-year-olds in Sudan-a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985.

Buy it: A Long Walk to Water on Amazon

25. Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan

Jameela lives with her mother and father in Afghanistan. Despite the fact that there is no school in their poor, war-torn village, and Jameela lives with a birth defect that has left her with a cleft lip, she feels relatively secure, sustained by her faith and the strength of her beloved mother, Mor. And then Mor passes away. ...

Buy it: Wanting Mor on Amazon

26. When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

A graphic novel about growing up in a refugee camp, as told by a former Somali refugee.

Buy it: When Stars Are Scattered on Amazon

27. Clean Getaway by Nic Stone

Set against the backdrop of the segregation history of the American South, take a trip with an 11-year-old boy who is about to discover that the world hasn't always been a welcoming place for kids like him, and things aren't always what they seem-his G'ma included.

Buy it: Clean Getaway on Amazon

28. Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky

Grayson is caught between knowing she's a girl and everyone believing she's a boy. This is a beautifully written story about self-esteem and empowerment.

Buy it: Gracefully Grayson on Amazon

29. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books.

Buy it: The Book Thief on Amazon

30. George by Alex Gino

George knows she's a girl, but everyone else sees her as a boy. Gino does a masterful job of taking us into what social ignorance about gender assignment feels like.

Buy it: George on Amazon

31. Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Genius Willow Chance loses both parents in a car crash, but she is nonetheless able to both change her life and impact those around her.

Buy it: Counting by 7s on Amazon

32. Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Born with extraordinary physical deformities, Auggie finally braves going to an actual school. He is stared at and tormented, but he also finds friendship. Middle schoolers will cheer for him and also cry for him.

Buy it: Wonder on Amazon

33. Ghost by Jason Reynolds

Castle Crenshaw, known as Ghost, has been running ever since his father threatened him and his mother with a gun. It's not until he starts running for the middle school track team that he begins to see what running can do for him.

Buy it: Ghost on Amazon

34. Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass

Ellen is a neurodiverse kid with a best friend who helps her navigate through school and sometimes confusing social situations. But when new friends and opportunities come along, Ellen has a chance to learn even more about how she actually fits into the world.

Buy it: Ellen Outside the Lines on Amazon

35. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Ponyboy and his brothers, Darry and Sodapop, have a tough life. They know they can count on their friends-true friends who will do anything for them. Unfortunately, the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids, make them prove their loyalties after a night of fighting goes too far.

Buy it: The Outsiders on Amazon

36. Nikhil Out Loud by Maulik Pancholy

Nikhil is a 13-year-old gay Indian American boy who depends on his voice for his joy-he's a voice actor for a popular cartoon. Then he ends up in a small Ohio town trying to put on a school musical. This is a relevant and touching story kids will love.

Buy it: Nikhil Out Loud on Amazon

37. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Basketball-loving twins Josh and Jordan find their way through isolation and conflict in this novel in verse by master poet Kwame Alexander.

Buy it: The Crossover on Amazon

38. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda Sordino can't tell anybody why she called the police to break up a party the summer before ninth grade. In fact, after the trauma she suffered, she can't speak at all.

Buy it: Speak on Amazon

39. The Breadwinner series by Deborah Ellis

Parvana is 11 when the Taliban comes to power in Afghanistan. Her father is arrested, and women are not allowed to leave the house without a male escort. Parvana must disguise herself and find work to save her family.

Buy it: The Breadwinner series on Amazon

40. Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine

Ling Chang must find a way to survive after her father is taken away during China's Cultural Revolution.

Buy it: Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party on Amazon

41. Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper

Stella and her brother aren't supposed to leave the house at night, but they run into much bigger problems when they stumble on a Ku Klux Klan rally. Stella fights racism within her community and learns about compassion in the process.

Buy it: Stella by Starlight on Amazon

42. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson's verse memoir tells the story of coming of age during the Civil Rights Movement.

Buy it: Brown Girl Dreaming on Amazon

43. Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

Molly has concerns when her family moves into a church with a graveyard next door, but when her already-odd stepsister makes a sinister new friend, things get downright dangerous.

Buy it: Wait Till Helen Comes on Amazon

44. Refugee by Alan Gratz

Gratz weaves together stories of child refugees in three different eras: Nazi Germany, 1990s Cuba, and present-day Syria.

Buy it: Refugee on Amazon

45. Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt

Jack Hurd gets a foster brother, Joseph, an eighth grader whose only dream is to be with his daughter.

Buy it: Orbiting Jupiter on Amazon

46. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Nine-year-old Cassie Logan faces racial discrimination and financial hardship during the Great Depression.

Buy it: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry on Amazon

47. Uglies by Scott Westerfield

Tally Youngblood lives in a dystopia in which all 16-year-olds have cosmetic surgery to make them pretty.

Buy it: Uglies on Amazon

48. We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist

YouTuber Josh Sundquist tells the true story-with graphs!-of his failures in dating.

Buy it: We Should Hang Out Sometime on Amazon

49. Feed by M. T. Anderson

The Feed scrolls constantly through Titus' brain, providing him with entertainment, advertising, and social networking. On a spring break trip to the Moon, he meets a girl who sees life differently.

Buy it: Feed on Amazon

50. Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Spoiled princess Esperanza moves from her family's ranch in Mexico to a migrant camp during the Great Depression. She learns to rely on her inner strength and the support of her family.

Buy it: Esperanza Rising on Amazon

What are your favorite middle school books? Come share them in the WeAreTeachers Helpline group on Facebook.

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50 Great Books To Teach in Middle School

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Want to know the best middle school books to use in your class? We love these life-changing selections that will help your students grow.

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Teaching ideas and resources to develop sequence writing and story retell skills in kindergarten, first, and second grade students.

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Typical development in reading

The Simple View of Reading (SVR) offers one useful way to think about reading development. According to SVR, good reading comprehension requires two broad sets of abilities: word recognition and oral language comprehension. Each of these elements - word recognition and oral language comprehension - includes a set of specific component skills.
Word recognition encompasses, among other skills:

Phonological and phonemic awareness

Phonics and decoding skills

Automatic recognition of common words

The ability to read common phonetically irregular words

Oral language comprehension encompasses, among other skills:

Vocabulary knowledge

Background knowledge

Sentence (syntactic) comprehension

Understanding figurative language, such as metaphors, similes, and idioms

Word recognition and oral language comprehension are not equally important at all stages of reading development. For typical readers, word recognition abilities tend to be especially important in the early stages of learning to read, when children are learning phonics and developing the ability to read common sight words. Word-recognition skills tend to set a limit on reading comprehension in these early grades, because even if children have strong oral language comprehension skills, those skills cannot come into play while reading if they are unable to read many words.

Once children become proficient at word recognition, their further growth as readers tends to to revolve more around language comprehension than word reading. For typical readers, this shift usually occurs around third or fourth grade, when typical readers have developed accurate and relatively automatic word recognition. At this point, children can focus more of their attention on reading for meaning. They can begin to use reading as a tool for learning in content-area subjects such as history and science. Further growth in reading becomes more about developing higher-level comprehension abilities than about improving word recognition, although some growth in word reading still occurs. Jeanne Chall (1983) referred to this shift as the one from "learning to read" (in K to 3) to "reading to learn" (in Grades 4 and up). Of course, struggling readers may continue to have difficulties with word recognition well beyond third grade.

Reading experts like Linnea Ehri (1991, 2005), have identified the typical stages of reading development. These phases are briefly described below, in the context of typical expectations for reading by grade. Also see Spear-Swerling (2015) for a detailed discussion of typical development in reading.

Pre-K

At this stage, many children do not grasp the alphabetic principle and do not understand that printed words need to be "decoded" with attention to letters and letter patterns. For example, a typical four-year-old might recognize the word stop on a stop sign because of the red octagonal shape of the sign, but would not recognize the word stop printed on an index card. Ehri (2005) referred to this stage of word reading as pre-alphabetic. Many preschoolers do recognize some letters, such as those in their names, and they may grasp certain important print concepts, such as being able to identify the front and back of a book, or the fact that it is the print, not the pictures, that is "read." These important print concepts are more likely to be found in older preschoolers (ages 3 to 5) and in those who have had ample exposure to literacy - for instance, from frequent parental or teacher read-alouds. Also, children at this stage usually do have a rudimentary level of phonological awareness, such as the ability to rhyme or appreciate tongue-twisters.

End of kindergarten

By the end of kindergarten, typical children recognize all or nearly all letters, both upper case and lower case; they can name and give sounds for single letters, especially consonants. They may also know some short vowel sounds, particularly if those are taught as part of the kindergarten curriculum, and they may be starting to decode simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words (e.g., man, sit, hop) - again, especially if these skills are explicitly taught.

However, even when they have received some decoding instruction, typical children at this stage of development lack knowledge of sounds for many common letter patterns (e.g., ar, ee, oo, oa, igh, tch). They may confuse similarly-spelled words such as boat and boot or meet and met. Often they rely heavily on the first and last letters of a word rather than looking carefully at all letters in a word to decode it. Ehri (2005) refers to this stage of word reading as partial alphabetic, because children rely only on partial phonics cues in reading words. These characteristics are reflected in children's spelling. Spelling errors may involve omissions of or incorrect sequencing of sounds, for example, especially in the middle of words. Because of their limitations in decoding, children tend to be very dependent on picture or sentence context to help read words at this stage. Also, their oral language comprehension far exceeds their reading comprehension; they can comprehend much more sophisticated texts in listening than in reading, because of their limited word-recognition skills.

End of grade 1

Typical readers at the end of Grade 1 can decode a wide variety of unfamiliar one-syllable, phonetically regular words, including words with closed syllable patterns (e.g., man, fish, block, stamp), silent e (e.g., like, same, spoke), open (e.g., no, go, be, cry, by), vowel r (e.g., car, star, her, shirt), and vowel combinations (e.g., tree, stay, broom). Although at this stage typical readers do recognize some common words automatically, without the need for "sounding out," they still need to apply their decoding skills to many words, especially less common or long words. Ehri (2005) refers to this stage as full alphabetic, because children typically attend to all the phonetic cues in a word. At this stage, children's misspellings become more recognizable as the intended word because all sounds are represented even if a word is not spelled correctly (e.g., garbij for garbage). By the end of Grade 1, typical readers are much less dependent on pictures or sentence context to read words, because they have increasingly accurate skills for decoding unknown words and do not need to rely on context cues as frequently. However, children's oral language comprehension still far exceeds their reading comprehension at this stage.

End of grade 2

Children have an increasing ability to decode unfamiliar long words, including words with -consonant-le (e.g., stable, marble, needle), phonetically regular two-syllable words (e.g., basement, invite, mistake), and some multi-syllable words, especially words in their oral vocabularies (e.g., butterfly, potato, remember). Typical readers at this stage (and continuing into Grade 3) consolidate common letter patterns such as those associated with common prefixes, suffixes, and other word parts, to make word reading faster and more automatic. Ehri refers to this stage of word recognition as consolidated alphabetic. This stage tends to be one of rapid fluency development in text reading for typical children. Children's increased knowledge of common letter patterns also is reflected in their improved spelling of words.

Grades 3 and 4

By the end of Grade 3, typical readers have largely mastered basic word decoding skills, including skills for decoding most multisyllabic words, except for unusual words (e.g., words of foreign derivation such as rendezvous, or technical words such as photosynthesis). Typical readers can decode most unfamiliar words quickly and easily and also recognize most common words automatically ("by sight"). Thus, their reading fluency (i.e., their ability to read text quickly and easily as well as accurately) is generally well-established by this point, at least in grade-appropriate texts.

In Grades 3 and 4, the comprehension and vocabulary demands of texts used in school escalate substantially. Vocabulary and morphemic knowledge become especially important to reading comprehension and also to spelling. For example, if children know the meanings of common morphemes, such as that geo means earth or astro means star, they can use this knowledge to help infer the meanings of a variety of semantically related words, such as geology, geologist, geological, astronomy, astronomer, astronomical, and so on. Also, the spelling of morphemes is generally stable across a variety of words, so if children can spell common morphemes, this knowledge will improve their spelling as well as their vocabulary development.

At this stage, children increasingly use strategies to aid reading comprehension. These strategies include summarization, questioning, and inferencing, along with "fix-up" strategies for when comprehension fails, such as rereading or looking a word up in a dictionary. Students also learn to vary their approach to reading depending on the purpose for reading (e.g.studying for a test vs. reading for pleasure) and their knowledge base about the topic (they to read more carefully if the topic is unfamiliar and difficult). Typical readers also are sensitive to differences in text structure, recognizing that fiction and non-fiction texts are organized differently, and they can use their knowledge about text structure to aid comprehension. For example, in an informational text, the key idea of a paragraph often is contained in the first or last sentence; and headings and subheadings may highlight important ideas.

Because typical readers are usually skilled decoders at this point, they can devote more of their mental resources to comprehension. The gap between reading comprehension and oral language comprehension begins to narrow. Limitations on reading comprehension begin to revolve more around limitations in oral language comprehension, vocabulary, and background knowledge, than around word reading.

Middle and secondary levels

Reading is used as a tool in a wide variety of content area subjects such as science, social studies, and history. Comprehension strategies and speed of reading continue to develop. At this stage, typical readers are developing higher-order comprehension abilities in reading, such as integrating information from a variety of sources, reconciling differences in viewpoints across texts, and appreciation of literary symbolism and theme.

According to Biemiller (1999), even for typical readers, oral language comprehension and reading comprehension do not become fully comparable until about Grades 7 or 8. For adolescents and adults, reading comprehension may sometimes exceed oral language comprehension, as when students are reading complex narratives or dense informational texts, such as a science chapter on DNA. However, oral language remains an important avenue for learning even in the upper grades, particularly for students who have reading problems. For example, a high-school student with dyslexia may be able to develop content knowledge and advanced comprehension abilities much more easily through listening than through reading, because of ongoing difficulties in decoding or reading fluency.

For typical students at this level, especially those who are avid readers, reading becomes an increasingly important source of new vocabulary and background knowledge. Unusual words are encountered much more commonly in text than in spoken language, even the everyday conversation of college-educated adults. Skilled readers tend to receive more exposure to these unusual words and to new background knowledge, because they usually read much more than do poor readers. In fact, differences in volume of pleasure reading between good and poor readers are massive. For example, Cunningham and Stanovich (1998) estimated that fifth-graders at the 90 th percentile of reading achievement read the same number of words in two days of out-of-school pleasure reading, as students at the 10 th percentile read in an entire year! These differences in reading volume make an independent contribution to growth in reading and language skills (Mol & Bus, 2011), and can further widen the gap in achievement between good and poor readers. Avoiding this dynamic is one reason why early intervention for reading problems is so important.

Dyslexia and dysgraphia

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia refers to a cluster of symptoms which result in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words. Dyslexia affects individuals throughout their lives; however, its impact can change at different stages in a person's life. It is referred to as a learning disability because dyslexia can make it very difficult for a student to succeed academically in the typical instructional environment, and in its more severe forms, will qualify a student for special education, special accommodations, or extra support services.

The exact causes of dyslexia are still not completely clear, but anatomical and brain imagery studies show differences in the way the brain of a person with dyslexia develops and functions. Moreover, most people with dyslexia have been found to have problems with identifying the separate speech sounds within a word and/or learning how letters represent those sounds, a key factor in their reading difficulties. Dyslexia is not due to either lack of intelligence or desire to learn. With appropriate teaching methods, students with dyslexia can learn successfully (Moats & Dakin, 2008).

Dysgraphia is a specific learning disability that causes problems with written expression. Students with dysgraphia may struggle with tasks such as holding a pen or pencil, writing letters clearly, spacing letters and words on a page, or maintaining consistency in the size, shape, and slant of the letters they write. Dysgraphia can also involve difficulty with composing written texts, thinking and writing at the same time, and spelling. Students with dysgraphia may have only impaired handwriting, only impaired spelling, or both. (Berninger & Wolf, 2009).

Executive function and reading

In recent years, a growing body of research has highlighted the role of executive function in learning to read. "Executive function" refers to a group of cognitive processes that we use to set goals, make a plan, pay attention, control our behavior, and ensure that tasks are completed and goals are achieved. These functions include:

Impulse control:the ability to stop or change behavior that is not appropriate to a given situation; to think before acting

Emotional control:the ability to moderate emotions through rational thinking

Flexible thinking: the ability to quickly switch focus and adjust to a new task or situation

Working memory: the ability to hold information in memory while completing a task

Planning and organizing: the ability to plan for and organize current and future task demands

Organization: the ability to create and manage systems for organizing materials and spaces

Task initiation: the ability to begin a task and independently generate ideas, responses, or problem solving strategies

Self-monitoring or self-regulation: he ability to monitor one's performance in relation to a standard of what is needed or expected

Executive function issues can be a major factor contributing to reading difficulties. A student who has trouble paying attention in class will have a harder time learning basic skills such as phonemic awareness and decoding. A student with poor impulse control may tend to impulsively guess at an unfamiliar word instead of taking the time to look at the letter patterns and try to sound it out. And even students with strong decoding and comprehension skills may still struggle to become skilled readers as a result of executive function difficulties. For example, a student may be able to make inferences when the information needed to make an inference is in close proximity. But if the necessary information is widely separated, the student may struggle to infer not because of a lack of language comprehension skills but because of inadequate working memory. That is, the student cannot hold the required information in memory while reading. This same student may have difficulties following multi-step directions. Please see the articles listed below for more information about executive function.

References on reading

Berninger, V., & Wolf, B. (2009). Teaching students with dyslexia and dysgraphia: Lessons from teaching and science. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Biemiller, A. (1999). ; Language and reading success. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

Chall, J. (1983). Stages of reading development. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1998). What reading does for the mind. American Educator, 22, 8-15.

Ehri, L. C. (1991). Learning to read and spell words. In L. Rieben & C. A. Perfetti (Eds.), Learning to read: Basic research and its implications (pp. 57-73). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Ehri, L. C. (2005). Learning to read words: Theory, findings, and issues. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9, 167-188.

Moats, L. C., & Dakin, K. E. (2008). Basic facts about dyslexia and other reading problems. Baltimore: The International Dyslexia Association.

Mol, S. E., & Bus, A. G. (2011). To read or not to read: A meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 267-296.

Piasta, S. B., Connor, C. M., Fishman, B. J., & Morrison, F. J. (2009). Teachers' knowledge of literacy concepts, classroom practices, and student reading growth. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13(3), 224-248.

RAND Corporation, Teachers Matter: Understanding Teachers' Impact on Student Achievement. Santa Monica, CA:, 2012. http://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CP693z1-2012-09.html.

Spear-Swerling, L. (2015). The power of RTI and reading profiles: A blueprint for solving reading problems. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Co.

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Introduction: How Children Learn to Read

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Typical development in reading The Simple View of Reading (SVR) offers one useful way to think about reading development. According to SVR, good reading comprehension requires two broad sets of abilities: word recognition and oral language comprehension. Each of these elements - word recognition and oral language comprehension - includes a set of specific component skills.

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Grammar worksheets - printable exercises pdf - handouts for esl

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Grammar worksheets esl, printable exercises pdf, handouts, free resources to print and use in your classroom

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Download thousands of printable resources for young readers. We have phonics worksheets, sight word activities, phonics mini-books, word wheels, word-building activities, and sentence-building printables.

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1,342 BEST Storyboard Template IMAGES, STOCK PHOTOS & VECTORS

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Find the best Storyboard Template stock photos for your project. Download royalty-free photos, clip art, and video in Adobe’s collection.

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Imagine this. You're headed out the door 10 minutes late when suddenly you realize that you forgot to have your 7-year-old prepare a presentation (again!), so he grabs the first thing that comes to mind as you walk out the door, which happens to be...

I'd like to say this event occurred on an off-week, but the truth is, over the years, our family has thoroughly practiced the art of impromptu presentations. Our children have grabbed many a last-minute-show-and-tell item, made up ridiculous stories on the fly, and provided enthralling presentations about "what's in my pencil box." Still, this is one of my favorite aspects about our co-op day, and we aim every year to do a little bit better than last.

I've had these thoughts stored away for some time now and wanted to pull them out of the woodwork, especially as we head into a new school year. These are simply a few tools we've used to prepare and practice presentations in our family (when we haven't been grabbing last minute items due to lack of preparation, that is).

The Hamburger Presentation Model

We were introduced to the Hamburger Model during 4-H speech preparation, and we've used it since then as a guideline for presentations and for writing paragraphs or essays. It provides a simple structure for talking about pretty much anything.

Just as a hamburger has three main parts, so does a speech, presentation, paragraph, or letter. These forms of communication can also be dressed-up with extras to make them more "flavorful."

Included in this PDF is a written example, a Key-Word-Outline example, and a blank version in case you would like to use it as a tool to help your student(s) learn how to structure a presentation.

Presentations for young children

For our youngest children, presentations are primarily show-and-tell type presentations. However, even with non-readers, we have taught our children how to use key-word-outlines for their presentations by using pictures.

Normally these are hand-drawn by me, but this is a digital example of a presentation our third son did on "how to make pancakes" before he was able to read. Notice the hieroglyphic-style Key Word Outline. He would tell me what picture he wanted on the card to help him remember what he was supposed to say.

Presentation Ideas

Okay, so now that we have a structure for our presentation, what on earth should we present? The best thing about presentations within our co-op is that it is open-ended in that our community does not have a formal presentation schedule. Students present on whatever interests them (including Big Mouth Billy Bass). Still, sometimes it helps to have some ideas to pull out of a hat. It also helps to aim for a variety of presentations. Although there exist multiple presentation types, I've narrowed it down to four basic categories below. (This is not an exhaustive list of ideas but just something to help with brainstorming. There also exists overlap between presentation types. Visit this website for additional information regarding presentations.)
Informative Presentation Ideas:

Show and tell

Mystery bag (Place an object in a paper sack and describe what's in it until the audience guesses what it is.)

What's in my pencil box

Family history

A family tradition

A family vacation

A hobby

A favorite memory

A book review

A movie review

A toy or game review

Retell a story (Aesop, Shakespeare, Mother Goose)

History topic

Science topic

Timeline topic

Biography (President, leader, artist, composer, historical, scientific, inventor, ancestor, hymn/song writer)

Demonstrative Presentation Ideas:

How to build something

How to bake something

How to draw something

How to play a boardgame

How to play an organized sport

How to diagram a sentence

How to translate a Latin sentence

How to solve a math problem

How to use a math manipulative

How to use an art medium

How to play an instrument

Science experiment & explanation

Handicraft

Entertaining Presentation Ideas:

Retell a story (a personal story, Bible, Aesop, Shakespeare, Mother Goose, tall tale, legend, folklore, fable)

Recite a famous speech

Recite a poem

Recite or sing a song

Tell a joke

Use vivid, figurative language to describe a scene

Share a riddle, puzzle, or mystery

Act out or recite a scene from a play

Persuasive Presentation Ideas:

Make an advertisement (a real product, a historical product, or one you made up)

Convince audience to do something (improve your health by not eating junk food, read this book, watch this movie, become a volunteer and change the world, join 4-H)

Encourage audience to think a certain way about something (origins, current events, politics)

Book, movie, or toy/game review

Now that we have some ideas, let's take a look at...

Presentation Skills to Practice

While there are some skills that can be honed in practicing presentations, the most important thing is to provide consistent opportunities and encouragement as a child becomes comfortable presenting in front of a group. Speaking publicly is the single greatest fear of many, many people. (The irony of this is that presentations are a normal part of everyday life. Every time we tell someone about something, we're presenting it. Isn't it bizarre that we fear something so common?) Usually young children enjoy show-and-tell, but as they get older and show-and-tell becomes a thing of the past, the fears mount. By consistently providing a safe environment to present each week, students will overcome the fear, even when they go through the more awkward stages of development.

Young children are not usually ready to have a long list of skills they're supposed to practice when presenting, and they're certainly not ready for critique. But as children mature, they can focus on a skill to practice each week. These skills include...

Preparation & organization (The Hamburger Model)

Eye contact

Speak slowly, loudly, and clearly (pacing, volume, and articulation)

Appropriate gestures and facial expression

Use props effectively (not a distraction)

Control fidgeting and habitual body movements

Add descriptive details (5-sense words, dress-ups, decorations)

Attention grabber

Strong final clincher or call to action

Enthusiasm

Face audience (if using whiteboard)

3-second rule (pause 3 seconds)

Inflection & vocal expression (alter pitch and volume to add suspense and excitement)

Tempo/Pace (slow down speech and incorporate well-timed pauses)

Poise (relax and smile; continue with presentation even if you make a mistake)

Only speak when looking at audience. (Read card to self, look up at audience, and then speak.)

I've included a document below that has the ideas and skills listed above, along with a tentative schedule that we may use this year. But rather than follow a schedule, it may be better to allow students to literally pick a presentation idea and/or skill out of a hat (that is, unless they already have something they'd like to present).

That's my personal brain dump for presentations. I hope it's helpful! If you have questions or if you'd like to offer any other suggestions regarding presentations, I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

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Presentation Prep: Skills, Ideas, and the Hamburger Model : Half a Hundred Acre Wood

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Have you ever spent time looking at your smartphone's home screen? Of course you have-and probably a significant amount of time. When you think about it, your smartphone is a graphic organizer. When you get a new phone or download new apps, you generally spend some time organizing your screen in a way that makes sense to you.

Similarly, web graphic organizers can help students and teachers organize information, ideas, and concepts in a visual way.

We are all basically visual learners. Studies have shown that people are more likely to recall information better when it is accompanied by some kind of visual stimulation. Scientists call this the pictorial superiority effect ( PSE), which is based on the notion that "human memory is extremely sensitive to the symbolic modality of presentation of event information." In less science-y terms, we remember more stuff with pictures.

Students of all ages can retain what they have learned for a much longer time if the information is organized visually in a manner that makes sense to them. There are many different types of graphic organizers for students and teachers-we will discuss a few of the more common ones and leave it up to you to decide which are the best for you.
Note for teachers: Many of the templates in this article also offer a black-and-white printable version that you can use for assignments. Just click the image of the template you want to use to open in Lucidchart.
KWL chart

A KWL chart lets students visually organize what students know, what they want to know, and what they learned. This chart is very easy to use and encourages students to track their learning. These charts can be used individually, in groups, or by the entire class.

The process for using a KWL chart is simple:

1. Students brainstorm and write down what they currently know about a given subject.

2. Students write down what they would like to learn about the subject.

3. Students record what they have learned about the subject.

Use a KWL chart before, during, and after a lesson to measure how much students progress. You will be surprised by how much students are learning.

Venn diagram

A Venn diagram shows the similarities and differences between two or more items. The diagram is made up of a series of shapes, typically circles, with edges that overlap. Each shape represents a different item. The characteristics shared by each item are represented by the overlapping intersections of each shape.

Venn diagrams are typically used in scientific and engineering presentations, in computer applications, in theoretical mathematics, and in statistics. But you can use a Venn diagram in any situation where you want to find a direct comparison among different categories or concepts.

For example, younger students may have fun using Venn diagrams to discover what they have in common with their classmates. A very simple diagram can ask students to find out who has a dog, who has a cat, and who has both.

Double bubble map

A double bubble map is an education graphic organizer that students and teachers can use to compare and contrast things such as people, characters, places, events, and so on. Students develop logical thinking skills as they organize data that is similar and contrast it with data that is unique. Plus, saying "double bubble" is kind of fun.

Unlike a Venn diagram, the shapes in a double bubble map don't intersect where the items share common characteristics. Instead, additional shapes are placed between the two shapes that represent the items being compared. The shapes that represent the contrasts of the items being compared are placed on the left and right of the items being compared.

In the example above (which you can open in Lucidchart and use as a template), the orange shapes in the center shapes tell us what apples and bananas have in common: They are both types of food, they are both fruits, and they are both tasty, depending on who you ask. The shapes on the outside edges describe the contrasts: Apples are red, crisp, and full of Vitamin C, while bananas are yellow, soft, and full of potassium.

Cluster/word web

The cluster/word web is a graphic organizer for teachers to help students sort out their thoughts before they start writing an essay, a research paper, or another project. This organizer is pretty straightforward: Students would add a topic or theme in the middle of the cluster/word web, similar to a mind map. Then they would write their main points in the second level of circles and supporting details in the third level of circles.
Learn about additional graphic organizers for writing essays.
Storyboard

You generally think of a storyboard as a tool used by filmmakers to visually outline the sequence of the story that their movie will tell. A storyboard uses simple artwork on static panels to convey a series of events without too much detail. The idea is to present a quick and easily understood overview of what you want to do.

How does a graphical organizing method used by Hollywood translate to an educational setting? As stated above, a storyboard is a visual outline. In the classroom, the storyboard is still a visual outline that can be used to tell educational stories.

For example, a history teacher can create a storyboard to outline important events from history to help their students remember and recall details that they may not remember if the information is presented in words alone.

A storyboard should have more pictures than words. Blank lines can be included below the graphic panels for any text that may be necessary. For example, in a storyboard for an event in history, you may want to write down important dates and names as they relate to the graphics.

Storyboards can also be very helpful when students need to memorize step-by-step processes or visualize high-concepts. Using storyboards can also help students who speak English as a second language.

Persuasion map

A persuasion map is used to visually map arguments that you want to use in a debate or in persuasive writing. Writing to persuade can be as simple as an email asking for help on a project or as complex as a scientific paper describing a new theory.

The mapping process for this classroom graphic organizer is simple and straightforward, and it can help students stay on topic as they organize their persuasive arguments.

1. Introduce the goal or objective in the top box.

2. List three reasons to support why the goal or objective needs to be met.

3. Summarize important points and state once again what you want your audience to do or believe.

Concept map

A concept map, or concept diagram, is another type of education graphic organizer that students can use to diagram suggested relationships between concepts. By making a concept map, students visually think about concepts in ways that they may not have been able to with simple lists or notes.

A concept map uses shapes such as boxes or circles to represent ideas and information. Shapes are connected by arrows labeled with linking phrases such as "due to," "can be avoided by," "contributes to," "requires," and so on.

Why should you be using concept maps?

To help students organize new information

To help students brainstorm ideas

To help students make meaningful connections between the main idea and other information

To improve student understanding and increase knowledge retention

To give students an easy and flexible way to map out any concept or idea

To create a concept map, follow these simple steps:

1. Identify a topic you need to study.

2. Brainstorm about the facts, ideas, themes, and questions that come to mind as you think of the selected topic.

3. Start drawing your shapes. We recommend that you place the shape representing your main topic at the top and link to other shapes in a downward hierarchy. The more important the idea or concept, the closer it should be to the main topic in the hierarchy.

4. Connect the ideas and concepts you brainstormed to the main topic and to each other.

See more concept map templates and examples.
How can Lucidchart help?

As you can see from the templates throughout this article, Lucidchart has a huge selection of different types of graphic organizers for education. With a free Educational account, students and teachers can use these resources to organize ideas, plan assignments, evaluate learning, and more. Sign up and upgrade your Lucidchart account.

Want to fully invest in bringing 21st-century learning to your classroom? Try Lucid for Education and create assignments that enable critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration.

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Types of Graphic Organizers for Education | Lucidchart Blog

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Students of all ages can retain what they have learned much longer if information is organized visually. Take a look at different types of graphic organizers for students and teachers-plus templates that you can start using in your classroom today.