I giggled to myself as I created the title to this blog post! If you are new to my blog, I'll have you know that this is the THIRD time I've written an "ELA in

This figurative language foldable is a great introduction.Visit us!!

Are your students disinterested and tired of the traditional ways of learning characterization? Have you been searching for a really fun, student-centered, interactive way to eliminate their boredom? Well, look no further! I present to you a wonderful student-collaboration activity that will get your students involved and excited for a character analysis for any novel, […]

As teachers begin planning for back to school, I see an abundance of creative classrooms filling my Instagram and Pinterest feeds. I love seeing how other

Bell ringers are the perfect way to engage your students from the moment they get out their materials at the start of ELA class.

Grab your copy of FREE ELA Curriculum Maps grades 6th-8th and save yourself a year's worth of planning! Digital maps with a planner, calendar, and more!

Free 7th & 8th grade worksheets, printable games, and activities to make learning math, literacy, history, and science engaging and FUN!

Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.

Looking for inspiration for teaching middle school reading skills? Read on to see how I teach the essential elements in a 6th-grade classroom.

Kick-start your middle school student's year with these fun and engaging back to school activities for ELA!

Are you new to Amplify™ ELA or feeling overwhelmed by the vast majority of resources and information within the curriculum? Look no further than this document created to help teachers plan for instruction within the 6th grade Amplify™ ELA curriculum. This EDITABLE Google Sheets™ resource includes: All 6 Amplify™ ELA unit outlines organized in one simple, convenient document Grade 6 Grammar unit and lesson outlines Focus standards for each lesson Notes for sub-units & lessons Assessment information, essay prompts, and constructed response prompts Please download the preview for a closer look :) Check out the 7th grade version of this product HERE.

Hi, I'm Magy. I love reading and writing, and I love to teach reading and writing. Currently, I'm a K-8 Reading Specialist, but I've also taught in High

If you have been following our blog, you might have seen our post about our favorite teacher hack, earlier finisher packets! If you missed it, don’t worry, I will sum it up real quick for you. Essentially, despite teaching different grade, Emmy and I realized we were both having the same Issue. Kid

Learn why one-pagers are one of my go-to activities for breaking down complex topics and texts. Understand what they are, why you and your students will love them, and how to implement them in your ELA classroom. I even have the advice to help you tackle the biggest obstacle you’ll encounter with this activity.

Hi Friends…. The past two weeks we have been working on Prefixes and Suffixes in our second-grade classroom! My kiddos were having such a good time brainstorming words with prefixes and then figuring out the meaning. They really had a strong grasp of the concept… I was pretty impressed. After our whole … Prefixes, Suffixes and a FREEBIE Just for YOU! Read More »

*A DIGITAL OPTION HAS BEEN INCLUDED FOR GOOGLE SLIDES AND FORMS/GOOGLE CLASSROOM* Be sure to re-download! There are directions and links inside the pdf.  Hello, ELA! This resource is a unique way to get your students warmed up at the beginning of your ELA block.  Each month contains 4-5 weeks of ELA bell work, which will have a theme around the season, national holidays, or events associated with that particular month. The morning work is focused on ELA 6th Grade Common Core Standards. Each day has a thematic structure to cover language standards as well as enhance vocabulary and comprehension skills. Save money by purchasing the year long BUNDLE! ELA Daily Review 6th Grade {Growing Bundle} Each week follows a predictable and engaging structure: Meaningful Monday: Monday is focused on making meaning. Tasks will focus on synonyms, antonyms, vocabulary words, context clues, and making meaning in a short amount of text. Some tasks may require students to make meaning in the text (inference, message, adages, proverbs, etc.) or build vocabulary skills. Text Structure Tuesday: Tuesdays will have a paragraph that requires students to identify the text structure, signal words, main idea, author's perspective, or vocabulary, or any other question types related to the Craft and Structure standards. Wordy Wednesday: Wednesday is all about working with words. Tasks include working with shades of meaning, homophones, spelling, prefixes, suffixes, roots, and other word skills.  Throwback Thursday: Thursday is all about grammar usage and conventions. Figurative Friday: Figurative Friday tasks include working with various types of figurative language including similes, metaphors, idioms, poems, alliteration, structures of poems and more!   This ELA + Math Morning Work is available for the following grade levels: ELA + Math Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade ELA Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade ELA Weekly Assessments 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade Math Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.Let’s connect!  The Literacy Loft Blog The Literacy Loft on Instagram The Literacy Loft on Pinterest The Literacy Loft on Facebook I hope this resource works for you! Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or feedback.   - Jessica

In this set of 7th grade writing prompts, students will tackle questions like what they love about themselves & what they’ve learned.

I began elementary school in the era of phonics. Looking back, I can honestly say that it seemed to work okay. Matching pictures with their word families in plaid workbooks... I learned to read, but

Get your students settled and learning as soon as class starts by using bell ringers for middle school ELA!

Did you think teaching students to write would be a snap? I mean, you are a college-educated, certified individual. How hard could it possibly be? Well, it’s a challenge, especially when just starting out. In my classroom,

Book reports and summaries are a thing of the past. Engage your middle and high school students with five book report alternatives that will leave them asking for more and, most importantly, building vital reading and analysis skills along the way. 1. Assign one pagers at the end of a novel. One pagers are engaging, allow for creativity, and lead to higher level thinking and analysis. Assigning a one pager is easy and works for any novel. Follow these simple guidelines: • Make it standards base

Get organized with a daily and weekly ELA plan so that you feel confident and prepared. Planning the structure of a class period varies by unit. Start here!

FREE 5th grade literacy pacing guide! This free 5th grade ELA pacing guide includes reading, writing, and language skills.

The first day of school doesn't have to be boring! This blog post explains what to do for the best first day of school!

Although Jenga is a fun game and unites a group of people together through play, there are many benefits to the game that you may not be aware of. Jenga encourages patience, cognitive development, and hand-eye coordination. Putting a spin on the game, we've compiled 20 unique ways to play and listed them below for your gaming pleasure! From discussing emotions, working some exercise into your day, and even reviewing work previously taught- we've got all the best ideas!

Find strategies for teaching ELA academic vocabulary with graphic organizers for students, a word wall, and engaging games from mixed-upfiles.com

Wondering how to sequence grammar instruction? You'll want this list that scaffolds grammar lessons so that one skill builds upon the next.

If you are looking for some high-interest activities, try using animated shorts to teach inference. Free handouts focus on student learning.

Here are 15 engaging and creative TV episodes to use in ELA to teach genre, narrative techniques, characterization, and more. (Blog post)

Have you read this book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser?The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy in the Elementary Grades

Pokemon Go was all the rage in 2016. Fortnite in 2017. You get where we are going with this! Getting back into the swing of things of a new school year can be tricky, but we can help! An easy way to connect with your students is to make your back-to-school lessons relevant and relatable. How can you do this? We have compiled a list of several ways that you can easily incorporate teen trends into your back-to-school lessons for the first few weeks (or anytime!) of the year. Most teens love music and connect with it on a personal level. You can bridge that connection by incorporating music into your daily routines. For example, play an upbeat song between bell work and discussion time to motivate your students. If you struggle to know what's popular with your students, just ask them! The beginning of the year is the perfect time to find out more about them and their music preferences. You can give them a writing prompt asking what their favorite songs are or be even more specific; ask them: Which song makes you want to get up and dance? Which song could you listen to over and over again and never grow tired of? Once you have compiled a list of their favorite songs, search the lyrics of a few. You can often find the best examples of figurative language in song lyrics. If the lyrics are appropriate, print them off and play the song in class and ask students to find examples of figurative devices. This activity can be done anytime, but it's for great back-to-school to review figurative language and to gauge your students' learning levels. Another way to incorporate music directly into learning is to compare popular music artists with writers or subjects you are reading. During poetry and Shakespeare units, I love challenging students to see if they can guess whether the line or phrase is from a song or a poem. I created an entire series with various poets and musicians that you can download here. I'll start out with a presentation and a student handout so the as whole can engage in the activity. It's so much fun to see their reactions when they swear there's no way the line came from an old poet, but it actually did! The next day, I'll display the bulletin board (below) so students can continue to interact with the lines of poetry and songs. One way to grab the attention of your students is to explore books that may have been released since school has been out and/or sharing some titles of books that will be released in the coming months! Talk about anticipation! :) Here are a few YA books that came out recently: Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi The Haunted by Danielle Vega We Walked the Sky by Lisa Fiedler Here are a few YA books that will be coming out soon: Frankly in Love by David Yoon The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh You can also see what your students are interested in by displaying these Genre Reading Cards around a few tables in your classroom (or in the library). Simply, set out the different genre cards, select a few books that fit within each genre, set a timer for 2-3 minutes and let your students explore the various titles. Follow-up with a brief discussion on their favorite books they may have already read (or discovered) through the stations. This is a quick and easy way to see what genres they are interested in or may be interested in exploring this school year. Whether it's the World Cup or the Super Bowl, chances are many of your students are fans of sports or are familiar with at least one sport. Using this FREE survey at the beginning of the year, ask your students which sports or teams are their favorite. (Click HERE to get an editable digital copy of the survey ready for distance learning!) Once you have an idea about their favorites, you can incorporate them into your lessons. For example, if you are writing a sample sentence for a grammar lesson, name-drop a player from one of their favorite teams. My students are usually divided between being either a Chicago Cubs or a St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan, so a sample sentence may be: "Anthony Rizzo and Dexter Fowler sat down together to have pizza after the Cubs defeated the Cardinals last night." Every two years, you can integrate the Olympics into your lessons. Re-word the titles of your activities or assignments by using Olympic-themed names. Instead of calling it a class discussion or a "think-pair-share," call it the "Opening Ceremony" or "Passing the torch of knowledge." A quiz can be called a bobsled competition or a vault competition for gymnastics. Award the top three scores with gold, silver and bronze medals. If you teach multiple sections of the same class, have your classes compete for the overall winner. Awards points for the class with the fewest tardies, the highest scores on quizzes or assignments, and/or the liveliest discussions. Better yet, have your students create the areas for competitions and what they'd like to call them. They can even pick which country they would like to represent (or create their own country). Some students may not like traditional sports, but love video and online gaming. The popularity of videos such as Minecraft and Fortnite paired with the rise of schools adopting eSports as official extracurricular activities indicate that our students still love gaming. Instead of fighting it, try to embrace it by giving students opportunities to utilize both the skills they learn through games with academic skills. For example, I asked my students to recreate a scene from Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. One group built Rome in Minecraft and reenacted one of the scenes live as the class watched. My head was swimming a bit, but it was pretty amazing to see what they created together and how they adapted it to the text. They learned more about the play from that one assignment and had so much fun doing it. This particular assignment may not work with other games, but if you allow your students the possibility of incorporating their favorite game into a project, you may be amazed at the ideas that they come up with. I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things as a student was when we were able to follow-up a book with a movie. As a visual person, I always appreciated when I saw a book come to life after reading it (even though most people prefer the book over the movie). Watching the movie after reading the book can lead to a lot of fun class discussions. Here are a few fun prompts that you can use to follow-up after your are done reading and watching! What did you like better, the book or the movie? Why was the book better than the movie? Why was the movie better than the book? What did the book have that the movie didn't? What did the movie have that the book didn't? A great way to grab the attention of your students would be to plan a unit around an upcoming movie release based on a book. This might be an older book or perhaps, a newer one. Regardless, your students will think it's pretty cool that they are going to be able to watch a movie. I realize it's not possible for all classes to be able to watch a movie in a theatre, but it's a fun and quick field trip if you can make it work! Movie theatres usually give a discount on larger groups and I usually try to work in a price that includes popcorn and a drink for everyone, too. If you think money may be an issue for some students, it does not hurt to ask your administraton for some assistance. They will, almost always, find a way to make sure everyone in your class is able to participate. You can also plan a unit around a particular theme of a movie coming out (or already in stores), if you're looking to take a break from reading for a few weeks. Once students gain a better understanding or appreciation about a particular theme, you can show them a movie where they can explore that theme even more. This way, if taking your students to a movie theatre isn't an option, then show a movie in your classroom instead! Note: You can ask your students which movies they may be interested in watching at the start of the year, then surprise them with the themed unit based around that film! One of the easiest ways to incorporate both social media and pop culture all at once is incorporating current events into your classroom. You can do this on a local, national or international level. You can simply ask your students to start talking about what's happening in your town, in the world, or even more specifically, with their favorite movie actors, singers, bands, etc. What's the gossip with their favorite celebrities? Once your ideas have been shared and topics have been listed, you can use this list as a means for an impromptu writing activity, as an essay topic, etc. The possibilities are endless. If you're interested in checking out more ways on how you can incorporate pop culture into the classroom, click HERE. You might also be interested in: Soundtrack of my Life/Playlist of my Summer

Yes, reading aloud to middle school students in 7th and 8th grade benefits them just as much as in elementary school. Immeasurably.

Flu season is upon us, so I wanted to compile some of my favorite free resources for last-minute sub plans. Everything I've chosen is 100% free and ready to print. These resources don't take a lot

Daily grammar practice is a tool that helps students practice and master grammar standards. Learn more about grammar spiral review in the classroom.

Try this free, fun, and interactive middle school ELA games in your classroom to teach grammar and literacy ELA skills!

Need some ideas for what to do with your students all year? Are you not bound by a specific curriculum? Check out what a REAL teacher does!

Teachers often have questions about what a literacy block should actually look like. How do you structure your time? When do you pull reading groups? How and when do you teach grammar? The list of questions is lengthy, and with good reason. No one really ever told us what to do! Probably because there is […]

Check out these 9 first week of school activities for your students. They help to forge those lasting bonds for a successful year!

Much like students who spend more hours on the hook of an essay than they do the bulk of an essay, I often found myself with a case of English teacher writing block when it came to planning my first day of school activities. Though I have ten years (x two semesters each) of ... Read More about First Day of School Activities for High School and Middle School English

Ok, I get these Q’s frequently from teachers who reach out to me regarding setting up and running stations or centers (same thing, basically) in their middle school English / Language Arts / Reading / Writing classes: How do I make stations work so I can . . . >> teach my students while also