**THE OUTSIDERS 40-QUESTION UNIT EXAM PLUS ESSAY: 40-Question Unit Exam that includes 15 multiple choice comprehension/critical thinking questions, 15 character and terminology matching questions, 5 true/false, and 5 plot diagram questions (optional). Easy-to-read Answer Key. Also included is an Essay prompt that may be used as part of the exam (based on how much time your class periods allow for assessment) or assigned as an individual take-home or in-class essay. A Rubric, a Brainstorming Sheet, an Outline Sheet, and a Final Draft Sheet are provided. (The latter three are optional based on your preference.)

THE GIVER UTOPIA PROJECT: Activity for introducing the novel Get your students excited about reading this novel by starting off the unit with The Utopia Project. . .While this is a project designed to introduce students to the novel, it may be done during any portion of the unit. The purpose of this project is to not only introduce the novel, but to get your students actively thinking about the setting and theme of a Utopian vs. Dystopian world. Included in this product are guidelines to help your students create an advertisement or visual depiction of their perfect, Utopian society. Also included is a Rubric for quick and easy grading. THIS IS A *PDF FILE

Middle School Christmas Activity: Letter Writing (Exploring Cultural Traditions) This is a thoughtful and engaging activity with the Christmas and other Holiday Seasons in mind. In the month of December, Christmas is the holiday that tends to take precedence as we count down the final weeks to the holiday break. While many students celebrate Christmas, I think it is important to recognize our students who may celebrate a different holiday. This activity was created in order to give students the opportunity to explore and appreciate other cultures and their traditions. HANUKKAH KWANZAA CHRISTMAS BODHI DAY Activity Includes: Prompts to help students brainstorm how to express their gratitude Letter Templates to help structure the letter Facts Sheet with information for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and Bodhi Day Easy, thoughtful activity with NO PREP for you! Have a Happy Holiday!

**MIDDLE SCHOOL CHRISTMAS & HOLIDAY ACTIVITY: CROSSWORD AND WORD SEARCH (6th, 7th, 8th Grades) ** Three fun and easy activities for your students to do before the Holiday Break. The Crossword and Word Search Puzzles include Holiday Vocabulary. This packet now includes a Multicultural Word Search. Not all students celebrate Christmas, so it is important to be inclusive of all during the Holiday season! I hope you enjoy the updated packet! CHRISTMAS HANUKKAH KWANZAA BODHI DAY Happy Holidays!

Get ready for a laugh… This Parts of Speech Christmas Writing Activity is based on the popular and fun game of “Mad Libs!” Students LOVE this silly game, and you will too! In this Christmas version, students will rewrite the story of The Night Before Christmas by using different parts of speech: ADJECTIVES NOUNS VERBS IDIOMS This activity is one of the most popular products from my store–a student and teacher favorite! If you enjoy this one, be sure to purchase the Valentine’s Day version! :) Happy Holidays!

MIDDLE SCHOOL CHRISTMAS & HOLIDAY ACTIVITY: ACROSTIC POEM (6th, 7th, 8th Grades) Have your students create a Holiday Acrostic Poem using the Holiday of their choice. (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Bodhi Day). Easy-to-read instructions on how to craft an acrostic poem, as well as a short acrostic example provided. Easy, thoughtful activity with NO PREP for you! Have a Happy and Blessed Holiday!

5th, 6th, 7th, 8th MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH ELA HALLOWEEN ACTIVITY: HALLOWEEN WORD SEARCH Now includes BONUS ACTIVITY!! Create Your Own Halloween Word Search! Save yourself some time (and sanity!) with this quick “time-filler” for the crazy week around Halloween. Includes 15 Halloween-related words! This activity now includes a “CREATE YOUR OWN HALLOWEEN WORD SEARCH ACTIVITY” with detailed student instructions. HOCUS POCUS GHOST HAUNTED HOUSE ZOMBIE TRICK OR TREAT WITCH HAYRIDE COSTUME SUPERSTITION BROOMSTICK PUMPKIN HALLOWEEN CANDY BLACK CAT OCTOBER Answer Key provided!

1984 BY GEORGE ORWELL NOVEL UNIT Reading and Writing Unit Activity: Letter to a Character This is a great lesson to help students think critically about how characters are driven by plot. In addition, this lesson will hold them accountable for their reading engagement. This lesson is also print-ready-to-go to allow for little effort on your part! For this lesson, students will be asked to write a letter to a round/dynamic character of their choice from the novel (simple definitions of round/dynamic characters provided). This lesson can be done mid-reading or upon completion of the novel. This assignment helps students review the parts of a letter (a skill quickly becoming lost in the age of technology!) by providing them with detailed prompts and a template to help them structure their final draft. The prompts for each paragraph will help them flush out the following: Description of character and reflection of self in comparison Description of a particular moment in the novel that has an impact on their character Reflection of how character has undergone a change (or if they are still reading–how they think a character may undergo a change) Optional Fourth paragraph for extra credit/extra reflection An easy-to-grade rubric and clear, lined drafting paper is also provided!

5th, 6th, 7th, 8th English ELA Fun Middle School Halloween Activity: "Mad Libs!"This Parts of Speech Halloween Writing Activity is based on the popular and fun game of “Mad Libs!” In this Halloween version, students will rewrite a Halloween story by using different parts of speech: ADJECTIVES NOUNS VERBS and more! REVIEWS: “My students enjoyed this resource, and while they were shy to share their stories with the whole group, they happily shared their responses in smaller peer groups. I will happily use this resource next Halloween!” “This was such a great ELA activity to do with my students before Halloween weekend!” Easy, thoughtful activity with NO PREP for you!

This is a pre-unit activity that asks the students to make inferences about each God and Goddess based on the accompanying images. This activity will get them activating prior background knowledge and making inferences about the powers, actions, etc. of each God or Goddess. After filling out their worksheet, you can go over the actual powers and titles of each God or Goddess. (I also like to show the Mount Olympus cartoon on the History.com website--it is a quick and entertaining look at the Gods and Goddesses of Greek Mythology). Answers included **Can also be used as a study guide once answers have been corrected**

******** THE OUTSIDERS TIMELINE PROJECT: This is a unit project for The Outsiders that is introduced prior to reading and worked on as you progress through the reading. (The project could also be done post-reading if preferred; students will just have to go back through the novel a second or third time to find his or her information). It includes a guideline with instructions for the students, a graphic organizer for note-taking, and an easy-to-grade rubric for you. This project encourages student engagement throughout the entire progression of the novel. I have found this to be an extremely helpful tool in my classroom with ensuring that students are engaged and comprehending. This Timeline can be done individually, in pairs, or in groups. With the timeline project, you are able to assess formative student engagement and comprehension throughout the unit, as opposed to a summative assessment at the end of the unit. *****************************************************************************

ESSAY RUBRIC AND STUDENT CHECKLIST: This Rubric and Checklist can be used for the Narrative Essay. The Rubric is comprehensive with the intent to cover the primary aspects of the narrative essay. Easy-to-grade with numerical choices per each Essay element and additional feedback box. The Student Checklist allows your students to review the following aspects of the essay: Brainstorming/Prewriting Rough Draft (Optional Secondary Drafts) Introduction/Conclusion Paragraphs Body Paragraphs/Support of Thesis Organization/Structure Grammar, Spelling, Usage *****************************************************************************

VERBALS UNIT ACTIVITY: CLOZE TEST: ☑ Common Core Standard: (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.1.A) ☑ This is an activity to help introduce gerunds, infinitives, and participles. ☑ A Cloze Test is a way to measure a student’s prior knowledge on a subject by asking the student to fill in the missing words that have been removed from a passage. This Cloze Test will measure how much the student knows (or is able to predict) about GERUNDS, INFINITIVES, and PARTICIPLES. ☑ After completing the test, you will give the students the correct terminology (TIP: always fun to make it a COMPETITION! Whoever gets the most correct gets candy, 5 points on exam, etc). ☑ Once they have all of the answers, they will be able to use this as a guide for review before assignments and quiz or exam. ☑ Easy-to-read Answer Keys always included in my products

VERBALS GERUNDS PRACTICE WORKSHEETS: ☑ Common Core Standard: (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.1.A) ☑ 2-page handout that breaks down the definition of a Gerund and how it plays a part in certain parts of speech. I have tried to make understanding the Gerund as clearly as possible with this handout by using color-coding and providing easy-to-follow examples. (My students really struggled with the Gerund before creating this packet). Included in the handout is a "trick" that helps them decide if the -ing word in the sentence is a gerund or a participle. ☑ Five worksheets that offer practice by determining Gerund use through context, creating sentences, identifying Gerund phrases, and using Gerunds as an object of a preposition. ☑ Easy-to-read Answer Keys always included in my products

VERBALS UNIT EXAM: 30-Question Unit exam for student comprehension with Verbals (Gerunds, Infinitives, and Participles). ☑ Common Core Standard: (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.1.A) ☑ The first portion of the exam asks students to identify the verbals within the given sentences through tasks such as indicating where the verbal is within the sentence, and how the verbal is functioning (as an adjective, verb, etc.). ☑ The last section of the exam asks students to identify the verbals within a paragraph (in context) and indicate if the verbal is a gerund, infinitive, or participle. The writing portion requires the same, but they are to create their own paragraph. This last section can be optional depending on your preference. ☑ Easy-to-read Answer Keys always included in my products

SHORT STORY CREATIVE WRITING PACKET: This packet offers your students Graphic Organizers for the Short Story Process. The organizers walk the students through each step of the writing process by brainstorming and organizing each part of the plot. Each organizer also gives a helpful description of the plot point with guided prompts to help your students get started. These tools could be used in grades 5-9. The Packet includes the following sections: 1) Brainstorming: --Topics and Ideas for my short story -- Word Web 2) Exposition: --Creating Characters, setting, conflict --How do I start? 3) The Rising Action: --Important Events/Moments of my short story --How do these moments affect the conflict? 4) The Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution: --How is the conflict resolved? --How does the resolution answer all the reader's questions? *****************************************************************************

PERSUASIVE ESSAY RUBRIC AND STUDENT CHECKLIST: Your grading life just got a lot easier. Of course we always want to give our student's individual feedback, but that does not mean you should sacrifice all of your free time. This rubric allows you to quickly and efficiently grade your students' persuasive essays while also providing brief feedback. Included is a student checklist that will help ensure your students' papers are grade-ready. **This Rubric and Checklist can also be used for the two other thesis-based essays: Expository/Explanatory, and Definition/Exemplification.** The Rubric is comprehensive with the intent to cover the primary aspects of thesis formed essay. The structure makes it easy-to-grade with numerical checkboxes. Just add them up and go! Your students will be graded based on the following: Brainstorming/Prewriting/First Draft(s) Thesis Statement Introduction/Conclusion Paragraphs Body Paragraphs/Support of Thesis Organization/Structure Grammar, Spelling, Usage

MIDDLE SCHOOL ELA ENGLISH HALLOWEEN CROSSWORD PUZZLE: Save yourself some time (and sanity!) with this quick “time-filler” for the crazy week around Halloween! 20 Spooky Clues! For 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Grades Answer Key provided

**MIDDLE SCHOOL THANKSGIVING ACTIVITIES: ACROSTIC POEM (6th, 7th, 8th Grades) ** Have your students create a “thankful” acrostic poem with the words “GIVE THANKS.” Easy-to-read instructions on how to craft an acrostic poem, as well as a short acrostic example provided. Easy, thoughtful activity with NO PREP for you! Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!