MLK Close Reading Passage and TDQs

Whew! Who would ever take a week to create one lesson for Dr. King Day? That would be me! I wanted this new close reading mini-unit to be just perfect for my class because I plan to make many more for our themes and major units of study. I am working to increase the rigor within our current reading program by supplementing with lots of close reading lessons and activities. I am very happy with how this brand new pack turned out! It took many revisions to perfectly adjust the wording to reach my lexile target for text complexity so it is just the right amount of challenge for my kiddos but not overwhelming or frustrating for them.

Do you like his speech bubble? Hehe!

We have been doing these types of activities with informational text all year but this one is a little different in its layout and expectations. We will start by doing it whole-group so I can model for the class. Once the students know a predictable format that should be followed, they will be able to read, annotate and respond more independently for future close reading activities like this.

I also created a rubric/checklist based on a 2 point scale for the culminating constructed response item. It helps to have a quick and easy way to communicate progress to parents.  

Here's a little peek at the item:

It's a hot bargain at just $1.20 right now! It will make for a great reading/writing lesson to integrate with social studies for MLK Day or Black History Month. To read more, you can see the full description {here}. I hope you like it! 

Did you enjoy your day off? If every day was a Saturday, I could be so productive! I'm beat, so I'm calling it quits for now. I'll be back tomorrow to share some fun highlights from last week and a little freebie too.

 Try to stop by!

:)

MLK Packet and Civil Rights Photo Freebies

Tomorrow it's back to school for me! Break has been a whole lot of fun and I got some creating accomplished too!

I was able to finish my Dr. King Packet over break, which was a huge accomplishment! Some of it we will do on MLK Day and some activities I will save for Black History Month in February. It's an entire bundle of Common Core ELA activities integrated with social studies!

There are posters, a timeline project, a nonfiction reading selection and a guided highlighted reading activity, writing pages, word work activities, an easy bulletin board display project and some mind maps to get the kids doing some higher level thinking about the important issues of equality, justice, peace and diversity. 

Click here to read more!

Over break, I visited The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. I am so fortunate to be able to go often, because it's only an hour-long drive from home. I snapped a few photo freebies while I was there to share with all of you for your lessons for MLK Day. This is the actual bus where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat! Feel free to right click and save them from here. Everything at the museum is enclosed in glass and track lighting is all over the displays so there are a lot of reflections. For more interesting photos, click here to download a slideshow freebie from my dropbox. 

Feel free to Pin and share!

Remember to enter the Teachers Notebook Sweepstakes every day! :)