Franklin R. Chang-Diaz is an immigrant from Costa Rica who began thinking about space at age seven when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space. After going through many obstacles he was accepted to NASA and became “the first Hispanic to be in the space program for the long run". In this CCSS lesson, students will explore his story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments; writing samples included.

Two female cousins spend their life doing everything together. One night they realize they are both in love with the Moon and wish to marry him. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

There is often a lot of confusion on when to use good vs well. This lesson will clear up the confusion! Students will watch a youtube video on this, play a game, and end the lesson with a writing assignment where they will show their mastery of the concept.

In this lesson students engage in a peer critiique of their literary analysis then learn about the use of pronouns and incorporate both the feedback and lesson into their revisions.

In this lesson students finish their end of unit assessment by incorporating revisions from the previous lessons to create a final literary analysis.

This lesson is an opportunity for students to review and revise their essays to meet the expectations of the Literary Argument Essay Rubric.

This lesson is an opportunity for students to review and revise their essays to meet the expectations of the NYS Expository Writing Evaluation Rubric.

In this lesson, students write their final, best version of their draft and they conclude this unit by sharing a quote that captures the spirit of their rule to live by.

This lesson is an opportunity for students to review and revise their essays to meet the expectations of the Literary Argument Essay Rubric.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the task of writing a narrative: a concrete poem or a monologue.

In this lesson, students closely examine the “experience” or “event” in the narrative models. Students use the Narrative of Adversity Plan Part II graphic organizer to scaffold their thinking and the writing process.

In this lesson, students use their Narrative Plan Parts I and II as a foundation for creating their draft.

This expository text selection outlines the efforts of the Chinese people to build the Great Wall to protect them from the Mongol invaders and describes how the wall led to the eventual fall of the empire. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this excerpt, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson overcomes the initial hurdles of survival in the Canadian wilderness. As he wards off fears from his earlier encounter with a bear, Brian faces off with a porcupine in the dark of night. Realizing that self-pity would get him nowhere, Brian figures out how to use his hatchet and natural materials to start a fire. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments; writing samples included.

The hero's journey is an ancient story pattern that can be found in texts from thousands of years ago or in newly released Hollywood blockbusters. This interactive tool will provide students with background on the hero's journey and give them a chance to explore several of the journey's key elements. Students can use the tool to record examples from a hero's journey they have read or viewed or to plan out a hero's journey of their own.

This resource includes nonfiction two texts, a link to a video, and 13 text-dependent questions (including one optional constructed-response prompt for students). Also includes explanatory information for teachers regarding alignment to the CCSS.

In this reflective essay, Chief Dan George compares his native North American culture with that of white culture. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this essay through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

Worksheets and lessons on the correct use of interjections for various reading levels.

Concept Sorts can be used before reading to gather students’ prior knowledge about the upcoming content, or can be used after reading to assess students’ understanding of the concepts that were presented to them. Have students brainstorm a list of words from reading material or an upcoming unit, lesson, or text (sometimes the word list may need to be provided by the teacher). Students then discuss each word and place it in its correct category; categories can either be defined by the teacher or students.