Middle School Writing-Essays Assessment

1. 90 Day Reading Comprehension Bell Ringer Warm-Up Routine: This daily bell-ringer routine provides 90 days of reading comprehension practice, helping students build consistency in analyzing texts, identifying main ideas, and drawing inferences. Perfect for regular, bite-sized practice that reinforces key comprehension skills.
2. ECR Relay Race: Engaging STAAR Writing Prep: This interactive relay race activity is designed to make STAAR writing preparation engaging. With 12 prompts focused on extended constructed responses (ECR), students will work on crafting thoughtful, structured responses, honing their ability to articulate ideas clearly and support their answers with evidence.
3. STAAR ECR Mastery Resource for Informational Essays: This resource focuses on informational essay writing with a strong emphasis on developing thesis statements, claims, and supporting evidence. It’s a targeted approach to mastering the essential components of STAAR informational essays, equipping students with skills in organization and argumentation.
4. Thanksgiving Argument Writing Unit: Debate Topics & Lesson Plans: This seasonal resource engages students in argument writing through Thanksgiving-themed debate topics. Students will practice constructing persuasive arguments, making claims, and providing relevant evidence—core skills for STAAR ECRs and persuasive writing in general.

This bundle provides comprehensive practice in reading comprehension, essay structure, argumentation, and evidence-based responses, setting students up for success in standardized test preparation.

Includes prompts for writing informative and argumentative essays. Also includes writing powerpoints, outlines, and rubrics

Now with newly added material!

This resource features a bundle of all of our best-selling lesson plans, materials, and activities for Shakespeare's beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Each product is thoughtfully crafted and allows students to think outside the box by delving deeply into the play's themes, characters, and plot development. Lessons have all been classroom-tested and allow for differentiation while encouraging optimal student engagement. Comprehension questions, vocabulary words, and journal prompts for each scene are included so that students may achieve a basic level of understanding of the play, however the real winners in this bundle are the rest of the materials that bring the play to life!

Included in this bundle:

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Literature Guide

This resource features a comprehensive literature guide for use while reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. The packet provides an excellent basis for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for the play and promotes strong reader response by encouraging students to connect and have fun with this highly relatable text! The wide range of activities in this guide from daily journal prompts, illustration activity, and a creative writing assignment to the final essay questions will keep your students engaged throughout and help them to gain a deep understanding of possibly their first interaction with the great William Shakespeare. A full answer key is provided for this guide.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Anticipation Activity

This product features a fun and engaging pre-reading activity for A Midsummer Night's Dream called "Tossing Lines." Give your students a chance to become familiar with the lines before they even begin reading the play. This is a prediction activity that encourages critical thinking and actually gets students excited to start reading Shakespeare! Over the years, this non-intimidating approach to Shakespeare has been the most often requested anticipatory activity that I do with my students.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Bell-Ringer Prompts

One of my goals in teaching A Midsummer Night's Dream is for my students to be able to easily relate to the play. I begin each day with a reflective bell-ringer journal prompt that allows students to connect with the day's scene. These prompts are tried and true and encourage deep thinking from students but more importantly, they allow students to understand the timelessness of the play and Shakespeare in general.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

This resource features lesson plans and materials to conduct a formal set of Socratic Seminars for Shakespeare's most beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Socratic Seminars (or "Fish Bowl" Conversations as referred to in this resource) are higher order ways of assessing whether your students are able to understand and react to your class texts. These seminars rely on the power of inquiry and allow students to take the lead in their learning and discussion. The only problem? They require a great deal of preparation. Fortunately, this student-tested resource includes everything you need to conduct a structured and formal set of Socratic Seminars in your classroom surrounding the play... and no preparation is required by you at all.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Social Media Materials

This resource features two fun, interactive activities to bring A Midsummer Night's Dream into the current day! In this 50 minute lesson plan with accompanying materials, your classroom will transform into a real life "tweeter-world" in which students will create tweeter accounts for characters in the novel and interact with one another through their tweeter pages. The Snap Chatter worksheet and assignment is perfect for an engaging homework or sub-plan that your students will look forward to working on and sharing with their friends. Your students will thank you for offering such fun ways to connect with the play and will not even realize how much they are learning by digging deep into the text. Both activities work perfectly for a Friday or any day that students need a mental break and a chance to tap into their creativity!

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream HOT SEAT!

This resource features all the materials you need to conduct a thoughtful and engaging "HOT SEAT" for A Midsummer Night's Dream. The hot seat is set up essentially like a talk show, however in order to allow for full class participation, there are multiple interviewers and multiple character guests. Through role play, this lesson tests your students' understanding of the play and allows them to showcase their knowledge of the characters and the relationships between them.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream ESCAPE ROOM

Get ready to have the most fun you'll have teaching with a lesson that your students will be talking about for years to come with A Midsummer Night's Dream ESCAPE ROOM! There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock! This meticulously-crafted resource features all of the materials you need to conduct a full-length Escape Room for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task, but this product provides everything from the basics and set-up instructions to signs and answer keys so that yours runs smoothly from start to finish. The activity involves movement, energy, creative thinking and most of all, collaboration. Your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing of this game!

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game

This resource features a lesson plan and materials for the Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game, an engaging and competitive way to review A Midsummer Night's Dream. Let's face it, review days can be difficult... and boring... so your students will appreciate you making learning fun with this collaborative game. The resource includes not only a meticulously detailed lesson plan and set-up instructions, but 75 questions on characters, plot, quotations, and vocabulary from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Besides simple set-up, very little preparation is needed for this lesson and if your students are like mine, they will ask for this form of review for every unit of study!

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay Prompts & Rubric

This product contains 9 thoughtful essay prompts for A Midsummer Night's Dream, all perfect for a 5 paragraph essay or a short open response for a test (I have used them in both ways). A detailed rubric is also included.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Puzzles

This resource features 3 fun puzzles that focus on elements from A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is the perfect activity for when a school vacation is coming up and you’re scrounging for lesson ideas or when you need a quick sub plan during your Midsummer Night's Dream unit. I like to use it prior to a break; while so many other classes are watching movies, you have three activities that will keep them busy and challenge their knowledge about the play.

⭐ A Midsummer Night's Dream Quote Posters - newly added!

Make your classroom pop with this set of 30 beautifully-made posters featuring quotes from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Each 7.5 x 7.5 (square) PDF poster contains a noteworthy quote from the play imposed over a stunning photograph that will spruce up your ELA classroom. The square format is reminiscent of Instagram and makes for an eye-catching arrangement on your wall or bulletin board. I suggest laminating the posters and using them not just during your Macbeth unit, but all year long!

Buying this bundle saves OVER 20% off the price of these resources.

__________________________________________________________________________________

⭐ Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

1. 18-Day Disabilities & Equity Unit Grades 6+ | Project, Essay, Assessments, Seminar

Description:
Explore the theme of equity and disabilities in schools and society with this 18-day unit designed for grades 6+. Students will engage with informational texts, videos, and case studies, leading to a STAAR-aligned extended essay and research project. This resource includes Socratic seminars, assessments, and creative projects to promote critical thinking and empathy. Perfect for SEL, humanities, and cross-curricular classrooms.

2. 18-Day Human Migration & Immigration Unit Grades 7+ | Project, Poetry, Assessments

Description:
Dive into the global topic of migration and immigration with this 18-day thematic unit for grades 7+. Through poetry, short stories, and informational texts, students will explore the historical and contemporary experiences of immigrants. Includes project-based assessments, writing tasks, and creative multimedia projects to foster understanding and empathy. A great resource for ELA, social studies, and SEL instruction.

3. 18-Day Multimedia Anti-Bullying Thematic Unit for Grades 5-8 | SEL Humanities

Description:
This 18-day multimedia unit on anti-bullying for grades 5-8 engages students with a range of media—films, political cartoons, short stories, and songs—to understand the impact of bullying in schools and society. Includes two Socratic seminars, a STAAR-aligned extended essay, and a creative capstone project. Ideal for SEL-focused classrooms and humanities teachers.

4. 19-Day Social Identity Unit | Low Prep | Grades 6-8 | Texts, Videos, and Project

Description:
Help students explore their own social identity and the factors that shape it in this 19-day unit for grades 6-8. The unit includes videos, readings, and group projects focused on themes like identity, community, and belonging. A low-prep, high-impact resource that encourages self-reflection and empathy through engaging multimedia activities and a culminating project.

5. 20-Day Social Media Mental Health Unit Grades 7+ | Project, Essay, Assessments

Description:
Explore the intersection of social media and mental health in this 20-day unit for grades 7+. Students will examine the effects of social media on well-being through informational texts, videos, and podcasts. Includes a STAAR-aligned essay, Socratic seminar, and multimedia project, making it an essential resource for teaching critical thinking and digital literacy.

6. 7-Day World Religions Research & Presentation Unit: Interdisciplinary Grades 6-8

Description:
This 7-day research and presentation unit allows students to explore major world religions through research-based learning. Perfect for grades 6-8, students will develop presentations on various religions, fostering understanding and global awareness. Includes guided research templates, presentation rubrics, and cross-curricular connections.

7. Human Rights 5-Day Research and Writing Unit | Middle School Social Essay Project

Description:
Introduce your middle school students to the concept of human rights in this 5-day research and writing unit. Students will engage with informational texts to explore human rights issues globally and locally, culminating in a social justice essay project. This unit is ideal for quick yet impactful lessons that combine research, writing, and advocacy.

This resource bundle features two comprehensive and cohesive literature guides and final compare/contrast essay assignment for use while reading The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. The activity bundle provides an excellent basis for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for the short stories and encourage students to think critically about plot structure, literary elements, figurative language, unreliable narrators, perspective, and the superstitions within the stories. A compare/contrast essay assignment is included that will encourage students to think critically and specifically about the similarities and differences between the two famous tales. The wide range of activities will keep your students engaged and help them to gain a deep understanding of two of the most highly regarded stories of American literature.

The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide:

• Attractive cover page for student packet
• The Tell-Tale Heart Anticipation Guide and Lesson Plan
• Vocabulary
• Vocabulary drawing activity
• Comprehension questions
• Freytag’s pyramid graphic organizer
• Literary elements graphic organizer
• Figurative language graphic organizer
• The Tell-Tale Heart Creative Writing Assignment on Perspective
• Snap Chat Story Graphic Organizer
• The Tell-Tale Heart Figurative Language Challenge Activity
• Full answer keys for teacher use

The Black Cat Literature Guide:

• Attractive cover page for student packet
• Anticipation guide - "Debate Statements"
• Vocabulary
• Vocabulary drawing activity
• Comprehension questions
• Freytag’s pyramid worksheet
• "History of the Black Cat" extension article and comprehension questions
• "Putting it all Together" short essay question
• Literary elements worksheet
• Figurative language worksheet
• Unreliable Narrator of The Black Cat Lesson Plan
• Full answer keys for teacher use

The Tell-Tale Heart & The Black Cat Compare Contrast Essay

• Complete assignment directions
• Specific similarities/differences chart with 17 story components
• Venn diagram template
• Essay graphic organizer (Block Method)
• Rubric
• Teacher key for chart

The Tell-Tale Heart & The Black Cat "Breaking News" Article

• Comprehensive project directions
• Scoring Guide

Buying this bundle saves 20% off the price of the two literature guides and compare/contrast essay.

________________________________________________________________________

More resources to round out your Edgar Allan Poe unit:

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe PowerPoint

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe Scavenger Hunt

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Bell Ringer Journal Prompts

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Crossword Puzzle

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe's Obituary

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Resource Bundle

But why stop with two tales? We have enough Edgar Allan Poe resources to frighten your students for months!

⭐ The Raven Literature Guide

⭐ The Pit and the Pendulum Literature Guide

⭐ The Cask of Amontillado Literature Guide

⭐ The Fall of the House of Usher Literature Guide

⭐ The Masque of the Red Death Literature Guide

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Short Story BUNDLE

________________________________________________________________________

Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence