6th Grade ELA Test Prep Activities

Dive into the rich tapestry of Black history with our Ultimate Black History Month Educational Bundle, meticulously crafted for educators passionate about providing a comprehensive, interactive, and engaging learning experience. This bundle combines a variety of resources, ensuring a well-rounded approach to teaching pivotal moments and figures in Black history. Suitable for grades 4-8, these resources are perfect for integrating into ELA, Social Studies, Art, and more.

1. Black History Month Athlete Trading Cards - Interactive Digital & Print Resource: Engage and educate your students with this interactive set of athlete trading cards. Celebrate the achievements of influential Black athletes with this 60-slide resource, perfect for classroom activities, creative projects, and bulletin board displays.
2. Claudette Colvin STAAR Test Prep Text (Grades 6-8) - FREEBIE: Dive into the inspiring story of Claudette Colvin with this STAAR test prep text. Designed for students in grades 6-8, this resource not only enriches students' knowledge about an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement but also sharpens their test-taking skills.
3. MLK 3 Interactive Timelines, Bulletin Boards & Door Decor: Honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with interactive timelines and visually appealing decor. This resource is perfect for creating an educational environment that celebrates MLK's journey and teachings, inspiring students through interactive learning and creative expression.
4. Black History Month Digital Resource - 45 Google Slides, 15 Texts, Video & Writing: This comprehensive digital resource is a treasure trove of information, featuring 45 Google Slides, 15 texts, videos, and writing prompts. It's designed to provide a rich educational experience, sparking discussions and deepening understanding.
5. Civil Rights Movement Song Analysis (Grades 5-8) - Valentine's Day Special: Analyze the profound messages in songs from the Civil Rights Movement with this unique resource. It's an engaging way for students to connect with history through music, enhancing their analytical skills and emotional understanding of the era.
6. Color & Discover Modern Heroes of Black History Month - Freebie: This creative resource allows students to learn about modern heroes of Black History Month through coloring activities. It's a fun, engaging way to introduce younger students to influential figures and their contributions.
7. Claudette Colvin STAAR Test Prep Text (Grades 6-8) - FREEBIE (Duplicate): Reinforce your students' understanding and appreciation of Claudette Colvin's courageous stand during the Civil Rights Movement with this STAAR test prep text. This resource doubles the opportunity to integrate critical reading and historical knowledge into your test preparation activities.

Each resource in this bundle is thoughtfully designed to cater to different learning styles and classroom needs, making it the perfect package to explore, celebrate, and honor Black History Month in your classroom. Equip your students with knowledge, critical thinking skills, and a deep appreciation for the contributions and stories of Black individuals with our Ultimate Black History Month Educational Bundle.

Word Meaning with Nonsense Words

Why teach word meaning through nonsense words (context clues only)?

• Students must use critical thinking to solve
• Students must read the whole passage for context clues
• Students must problem solve to find the best word that makes the most sense.
• They can't find the answer except through problem solving.

All of these are things we want every student to do! This is something that is already adapted for high and low learners.

Starting with three nonsense words gets students going so they can work in groups or independently to decode the meaning of 7 REAL words (selected from the SAT vocabulary list).

This is a perfect activity for group problem solving and critical thinking!

Finding the meaning of words: in context, with a definition and from the Latin or Greek base. Four teaching pages are included for self-guided learning along with 7 student pages for practice with various shortened reading passages.

INCLUDED:

• 3 Self-grading Google Forms
• Editable Word Doc
• PDF
• Reading Passage
• Teaching pages
• Answer Key

BUNDLE & SAVE: ELA Test Prep, Study Guide & Activities Bundle

Word Meaning with Greek & Latin

✔️Need to teach Greek & Latin along with Context Clues?

✔️Looking for way to get your students thinking critically & making connections?

✔️Need to integrate vocabulary in a meaningful way?

This activity includes worksheets, task cards and Google Quizzes for vocab practice

Students will use key words from the definitions in the first activity to determine the meaning of the Greek or Latin prefix. By recognizing the prefixes in words they recognize (and some they won't) students will begin making connections to other words they hear and read. This is a natural way to build in vocabulary to daily instruction that includes context clues and the Greek and Latin.

Included:

• Greek & Latin Roots Exploration: Dive into 45 carefully selected words, each featuring 9 impactful prefixes from the rich realms of Latin and Greek languages.
• Word Definitions: Equip your students with a solid understanding of each word, laying the foundation for deeper language comprehension.
• Fill in the Blank Sentences: Immerse your class in the learning process with cloze sentences that challenge them to apply their newfound knowledge in context.
• Task Cards: Make learning interactive and enjoyable with task cards that encourage independent exploration and reinforce language skills.
• Google Quizzes: Easily accessible quizzes that provide instant feedback, saving you valuable time and promoting a tech-savvy learning environment.

Vocabulary Starter

NEED TO TEACH VOCABULARY IN YOUR MIDDLE OR HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM AND YOU'RE NOT SURE WHERE TO START?

You came to the right place! I have been teaching for 5+ years, I have my Master's in Education with a focus on Literacy and I didn't know where to start.

So, I went back to everything I learned in my graduate program and re-read everything I could find.

I wrote & designed a student-engaging template to help students in my classroom to deeply internalize a word. I gathered key word lists when I didn't have a word from our daily reading, and thought about how to teach vocabulary so my love of etymology and words could be shared with my 10th graders. I've included all that and a guide to help other teachers get started with implementing and teaching vocabulary in THEIR classrooms.

Is this book for me?

• You want to teach vocabulary explicitly
• You want flexibility to choose your words daily based on what you’re reading
• You need versatility to choose your own words from a given list
• You want your students to deeply internalize the vocabulary they learn
• You’re not sure where to start

Then this book is for you!

Adaptable to every classroom in every situation, this is more than a fill-in-the-blank activity. Your students will have a guide to build a vocabulary for a lifetime of learning.

WHY TEACH VOCABULARY EXPLICITLY?

Generating curiosity and delight in playing with words supports long-term memory, enhances the connection between orthography and meaning, and develops a disposition which stimulates word consciousness. It also builds vocabulary! All of these are a part of a vocabulary rich classroom environment.

THIS MEGA-BUNDLE INCLUDES PRE READING DIGITAL INTRODUCTION, VOCABULARY FOR ALL CHAPTERS, AND POST REVIEW CARD GAME FOR NUMBER THE STARS BY LOIS LOWRY.

1. Pre:

PURPOSE: This NONFICTION PowerPoint Introduction lesson provides digital resources & factual historical context & background information in preparation for reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. BL 4.5

GOAL: to prepare each student to understand the historical background of the novel by front-loading facts to aid comprehension

AUDIENCE: whole or small group for regular ed, learning support, ESL or virtual classrooms. This product is ideal for preparing READ ALOUD, LITERATURE CIRCLES, or BOOK CLUBS.

HISTORICAL POWERPOINT: Please be aware that YOUTUBE LINKS open to a standard warning page which must be clicked to access video.

• Opening slides
-genre, author photo and short bio.
-audio link

•Setting slides
-Location facts, photos, maps
-Time period facts, photos and links
-Link to period music
-Links to historical video clip

*Assessments -Pre and Post historical assessments

2. Pre:

• Animated Vocabulary slides (definition, photo, part of speech) for EVERY chapter in the novel

• Vocabulary quizzes - one quiz for EVERY 5 chapters

• 8 PDF printable graphic organizers for all Vocabulary

3. Post:

REVIEW GAME post-reading activity for novel Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.

This interactive card game has been specifically designed to review the novel with comprehension questions and answers woven into the playing of "THE RESISTANCE" review card game.

This printable card game is made for groups of 2-4 players with 64 playing cards and 32 question/answer cards. The game is made to be played similarly to the card game "WAR". *Cards can be printed in COLOR or BLACK and WHITE.

USES IN THE CLASSROOM:
· Introduce new story
· Provide factual backstory to historical fiction text
· Stimulate group discussion
· Create predictions about text
· Use as distance learning resource
· Post on webpage
· Add to electronic notebook

* Review for test

Please be sure to view the preview and watch the video for detailed images and descriptions of the lesson.

Enjoy -from Kiwious About Vocab!

Need to differentiate while practicing reading comprehension and grammar and writing skills? Keep your students engaged in reading and writing with this bundle of printable interactive bookmarks, printable posters, and digital Google Slides. Bundle includes 24 reading bookmarks, 25 writing bookmarks, 17 grammar bookmarks and a bonus file with a DRAFT revision bookmark. Also included are the correlating posters and Google Slides necessary to help differentiate for student needs, practice reading comprehension strategies while close reading, practice specific writing strategies and poetry forms, and hold students accountable for their reading time. These bookmarks can also be used for test prep, homework, small group instruction, and independent reading or writing practice.

Included in the Bundle:

• Interactive Reading Bookmarks
• Interactive Writing Bookmarks
• Interactive Grammar Bookmarks

I'd love to hear how you use this resource in your classroom! Feel free to email me at iteachiwrite@yahoo.com with any questions or suggestions you may have. And don't forget to rate this product in order to earn TeachShare Credits for future purchases!

Copyright © iTeach & iWrite by Betsy Newmeyer.

All rights reserved by the author.

Permission to use for single classroom use only.

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Teaching Theme Passages, Anchor Charts, Worksheets, and Posters Activities: Determining Theme BUNDLE

Teaching theme can be a tricky task! If you need theme passages, activities, printable theme anchor charts, and task cards that will engage your students and help them understand theme, this is the bundle for you!

In this Teaching Theme Bundle, you will find the following products. Please click on their title to see previews.

• THEME POSTERS
• THEME TASK CARDS AND WORKSHEETS
• THEME READING PASSAGES AND WORKSHEETS

NOTE: ALL the files in this bundle include a digital distance learning option in Google Slides.

THEME READING PASSAGES INCLUDES:

These theme reading passages are perfect for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students for finding the theme in a passage. Teaching this reading skill can be difficult due to the inferential elements, but this no prep printable pack makes understanding THEME much easier for students.

This product includes:

• one theme explanation page
• one page of product notes
• 8 full-page, SEQUENTIAL narrative passages
• a theme questions page for each passage
• sample answer keys for each printable

BONUS: A one-page option to find the "big idea theme" for each passage as well as a reference sheet (designed to be copied front to back) for big idea themes are also included. The theme reference pages would be perfect for to keep as a reference for students throughout the entire year.

THEME TASK CARDS INCLUDES:

Finding the Theme: These Theme Task Cards and Worksheets are perfect for 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade. These THEME task cards have differentiated answer sheets to meet the varying needs of the students in your class. Since each answer sheet asks the student to do different things, you can use these task cards THREE TIMES with each student, if you choose.

Please note that on 4/1/20, a digital distance learning option has been added to this file. EACH OF THE THREE ANSWER SHEETS can be used in either Google Slides or Google Forms (three answering options each, for a total of six different links for students).

This product includes:

• one theme explanation page
• 2 pages of ideas about how to use the theme task cards
• 24 task cards (each task card contains a full passage/story)
• 3 different options for answer sheets along with corresponding answer keys (option 3 does NOT have a key since student answers will vary)
• 3 worksheets that can be used with any story or passage

This product is differentiated into three different ways the students will choose their answers.

One Word Theme Task Card Answer Sheet:

You might use these if you just want your students to understand simple one topic themes. You also might use this for your below grade level learners to keep it simple.

Choose the Best Sentence Theme Task Card Answer Sheet:

You might use these if you want your students to identify the theme in a complete sentence. This could also be used for on level learners.

Write your own Theme Task Card Answer Sheet:

This one does not have any answers they have

to write their own theme statement. Great for

those above level learners.

THEME POSTERS INCLUDES:

Teaching theme and finding the theme is a very difficult concept to teach due to the inferential element. These BIG IDEA THEME POSTERS can be hung and used as a reference for your students as they explore the big ideas in THEME.

This product includes:

• One theme explanation page
• 31 (half-sheet) Theme Posters
• 2 Blank Posters (just in case you need to add additional themes)
• A picture book list organized by theme (corresponds to the posters)

NOTE: THIS FILE INCLUDES A DIGITAL DISTANCE LEARNING OPTION!

These products include a digital option (as well as the no prep printable option). The instructions for utilizing the digital portion appear at the end of the packet.

You may also be interested in these Language Arts products:

• TASK CARD PRODUCTS
• GRAMMAR PRODUCTS
• FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE PRODUCTS
• CHARACTER TRAITS PRODUCTS
• VOCABULARY PRODUCTS

• STAAR ECR Mastery Resource Informational Essay Test Prep Grades 6-8 Thesis Claim
  This comprehensive resource breaks down the Extended Constructed Response (ECR) process for middle school students. It guides them through crafting a solid thesis, developing claims, and supporting their ideas with evidence and reasoning. The engaging, step-by-step format ensures students master the writing skills they need for STAAR success.

• Thanksgiving Argument Writing Unit Debate Topics & Lesson Plans 4 STAAR ECRs
  Make argumentative writing fun and seasonal with this resource. Students tackle Thanksgiving-themed debate topics while practicing essential STAAR ECR skills. The unit includes structured lessons, 4 debate topics, guided notes, and activities that focus on developing strong arguments with evidence and counterarguments.

• ECR Relay Race: Engaging STAAR Writing Prep Grades 5-8 Comprehension 12 Prompts!
  Turn essay writing into a collaborative, competitive game! This relay race-style resource includes 12 engaging prompts and helps students build comprehension and writing skills through interactive learning. Ideal for both individual and group work, this resource is perfect for STAAR test prep and building writing confidence.

Bundle includes 46 Pages total & 3 Google Forms

I made these after realizing that my students in high school needed practice with the mechanics of how to construct a sentence before I could begin instructing them on best practices for structure in their essays. There are pages for them to practice (on paper) or you can use as a quiz for after instruction! All of the Google quizzes will self-grade and they are editable.

This is the essential Test Prep Bundle for students testing for state or district exams.

They're also adaptable for students who are doing self-directed learning as each includes a short teaching page for students to reference as they are working through the activities.