Middle School Daily Common Core Reading Passages

    

 

Review the Common Core Standards and literature skills in just a few minutes each day. Original passages and questions are included.  Each week includes a checklist of the reading skills that were covered in the week.

Click Here To Access Grade 6

Click Here To Access Grade 7

Click Here To Access Grade 8

This series is available across most grade levels.  Access a middle school grade level.

Click Here To Access Grade 6

Click Here To Access Grade 7

Click Here To Access Grade 8

Use these as the question of the day or question of the week.

Grade 6 Daily Common Core, Grade 7 Daily Common Core, Grade 8 Daily Common Core,

High-Interest Nonfiction Middle School Passages

High-interest worksheets for eighth grade ela and seventh grade ela

Click Here To Access It

Access the New Bundle With Even More Passages

Click Here For The New Bundle

If you are looking for a way to get your middle school students interested in nonfiction, these worksheets will definitely help.  This document includes four high-interest nonfiction texts.  Students will learn unusual, but true, facts as they practice their close reading and comprehension skills.

Quick Eighth Grade ELA and Seventh Grade ELA Practice

Four original nonfiction texts, written response prompts, comprehension questions, and an answer key are all included.  Each nonfiction text can be completed in two or three class periods. 

Lesson Plan (Option 1)

Day 1:  Closely read the selection.  Take notes or highlight information.

Day 2:  Reread the selection and answer the written response question.

Day 3:  Answer the comprehension questions.  Discuss them together.

Lesson Plan (Option 2)

Day 1:  Closely read the selection.  Take notes or highlight information.  Answer the comprehension questions.

Day 2:  Reread the selectin and answer the written response question.

A Detailed Answer Key Is Included

High-Interest and Nonfiction

The texts are not only high-interest, but they relate to topics that students will read in science and social studies.  Eighth grade ELA and seventh grade ELA topics are included to integrate reading instruction with other subjects.

What was it really like at hospitals 200 years ago?  What are the unusual abilities of plants? 

Your students will enjoy finding out the answers to these questions as they practice closely reading text and interpreting information.

Leveled Practice

The lexile level and grade equivalent has been provided for each practice.  This makes it easier to plan lessons and create individualized educational plans for students and classes of varying levels.

See What Other Teachers Are Saying

Casey F.

LOVE THESE!

Dawn O.

I haven't used these yet, but I teach 6th grade, and I think that my students will enjoy them.

Paul S.

This was so interesting for my students

High Interest Low Readability Daily Common Core Practice for Middle School Students

This quick, daily practice is a great resource for middle school students that read below grade level.  It provides middle school level questions with high interest passages that are great for below grade level students.Click Here for More Information

These are great in place of daily grammar warm-ups for middle school.  Review comprehension skills. 

Writing Tips

There are many strategies that students can use to make their writing sound smoother and more interesting.  Add this free handout to student notebooks to serve as a writing guide.

Access the Free Handout

Click Here To Access Argument Writing Exit Slips

Writing Exit Slips Bundle

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