Daily Common Core High School Level Practice

Daily Common Core review is available at the high school level.  Click the link to access a full month of quick, daily review.  Each day of the week contains a unique passage and comprehension questions.  

Passages cover a range of genres such as contemporary literature, 19th century literature, dystopian fiction, nonfiction, and more genres to provide authentic literature review.  Each bundle contains five weeks of daily practice.

Questions cover close reading, literary devices, characterization, plot structure, common themes in literature, vocabulary, and more topics. Follow the link for a free preview and to access a full month of quick, daily practice.Click Here To Access It

Possible Uses:

• Use as as a quick review at the beginning of class.
• Use as literature or Common Core test review.
• Use to preview skills such as characterization, literary devices or more skills that will be taught in upcoming weeks.
• Use as a quick review for students that need extra practice or reinforcement.
• Since each week is thematic but short, use the passages to supplement novels or current units of study.

(Freebie) The Types of Fallacies in Argument and Persuasive Writing

When some students are asked to explain whether or not an author has fully defended the ideas written in text, some students do not know what to say.  This chart will help.  It lists and describes the different types of fallacies that writers and speakers make.Click Here To Access This Freebie

Vary Sentence Structure

When students write, they must pay attention to several aspects of writing as they read. One of those aspects is sentence structure. Using a variety of sentence structures adds flow and makes writing more appealing. 

This blog post includes free task cards to help students remember to use sentence variety.

Free Varying Sentence Structure Task Cards

The Case for Using Sentence Variety
Why should students be concerned about sentence variety?  Writing clear and cohesive sentences are not only focus points of the new Common Core Standards, it is also a valuable tip that will help students score higher on ACT and SAT exams. Understanding how and when to use different sentence structures not only improves writing, it also helps students understand how authors develop and convey ideas to their readers.

How Authors Use Different Sentence Structures
Varying sentence structures can heighten the tone in an action story.  In informational text, it draws a reader's attention to specific ideas.

In addition to experimenting with different sentence structures, students should analyze the writing structures that authors use.  They can ask questions like:

• How does the author convey tone in the text?
• How does the use of this sentence structure (in paragraph 10) help the speaker be more convincing to listeners?

The Common Core Connection

The Common Core English Standards lead students into deeper levels of analysis as they progress into higher grade levels.  While words such as analyze, think about, and compare are used at the lower and middle grade levels, terms such as diction and syntax are directly used at the high school grade levels to address this deeper level of analysis.
View additional posts on Classroom Freebies

To access close reading task cards from my TpT store, Click Here

Short Response Answers~Balance Summary and Analysis

Many students struggle with striking a balance between including text details and details that explain their central idea(thesis). Common Core will measure reading comprehension by evaluating what students write in their written responses.  Understanding how to answer multiple-choice questions and written response questions will be important for success.  Beyond the Common Core assessments, this skill is necessary for success across the grade levels.

How to Get a Higher Grade/Score on Short Response Writing

1.  Be specific. Students should not be general.  Cite specific names, places, character traits, etc. within the details.

2.  Connect ideas.  Each detail should be linked to an explanation that tells how the detail supports the central idea (thesis) of the short response.  Example of an explanation:

Friends that are loyal will stay by your side. Kristin showed that she is a loyal person by not leaving with the rest of the team.  She instead stayed back at the school with Amber.

3.  Students should strike a balance between including details that support their central idea details that explain.  When students use highlighters, they became more aware of whether or not they are balancing their details.

For More Information about Activity Cards that Teach Students How to Analyze Characters Click a Link Below

Click Here For Inference Exit Slips

Click Here For Theme Exit Slips

Click Here for Figurative Language Exit Slips