This resource contains a collection of worksheets and activities on the proper use of was and were.

In “Water”, Helen Keller describes her first experiences with her new teacher. Keller finally grasps the idea that a word Anne Sullivan is spelling, water, corresponds to the water flowing over Keller’s hand. This insight leads Keller to make connections and open doors of knowledge and opportunity previously closed to her. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

This lesson invites students to reconfigure Meg’s journey into a board game where, as in the novel itself, Meg’s progress is either thwarted or advanced by aspects of her emotional responses to situations, her changing sense of self, and her physical and intellectual experiences.

Zlata's Diary chronicles the daily life of Zlata, an eleven year-old girl during wartime in Sarajevo, and the war's increasing impact on her hometown of Sarajevo and her family. This courageous, intelligent young woman has been called "the Anne Frank of Sarajevo" for her searing account of war's effects, but her story has had a happier ending. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

During the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, Reuven is forced to sell Zlateh, the family goat, because business has been bad. On his way to the butcher, Aaron (Reuven's son) and Zlateh get caught in a terrible snowstorm, and after finding shelter in a haystack, they develop a deeper bond and interdependence. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.