$5 - $10 8th Grade ELA Test Prep Centers

Transform your students’ writing skills with this STAAR ECR Mastery Resource, designed to make essay writing both engaging and effective for grades 6-8. This product breaks down the often overwhelming task of essay writing into clear, manageable steps, ensuring that your students feel confident and prepared for the Extended Constructed Response (ECR) section of the STAAR exam. Whether for classroom instruction, intervention, or test prep, this resource delivers everything you need to support your students in writing strong, structured essays.

✅ Thorough Skill Development Across 3 Days

This 3-day lesson plan guides students through each critical step of informational essay writing. Starting with a solid foundation in developing a thesis, students will then practice writing claims, supporting them with evidence, and providing sound reasoning. By the end of the unit, students will have completed a full-length informational essay on a highly engaging topic—Fortnite—a subject that captures their attention while reinforcing essential writing skills.

✅ Engaging and Interactive Resources

To maintain student engagement, this resource includes interactive slides that break down each element of essay writing. These slides are designed to support all learners by making the concepts of thesis development, claims, evidence, and reasoning more accessible and relatable. The step-by-step instructions and accompanying answer keys ensure that students receive clear feedback and can refine their skills with guided practice.

✅ Real-World Topic for Practice

Students will have the opportunity to write a complete essay on Fortnite, a popular video game that they are likely familiar with and excited to discuss. This essay topic makes practicing the skills they need for STAAR ECR a fun, relevant experience, allowing them to see the real-world application of writing techniques.

✅ Key Features of the Resource:

• Full 3-Day Lesson Plan: Walks you through each stage of essay instruction, from teaching concepts to peer review and revision.
• Comprehensive Essay Practice: A full-length essay assignment on Fortnite to engage students while practicing thesis, claims, evidence, and reasoning.
• Interactive Slides: Detailed slides to introduce and guide each stage of writing, ensuring clarity and engagement.
• Answer Keys: Provided for every activity so that students can receive clear, actionable feedback.
• Test Prep and Intervention: Ideal for helping students strengthen their essay writing skills, both for general classroom use and targeted interventions.

✅ Perfect for Test Prep and Classroom Instruction

This resource is perfect for helping students master the skills needed to succeed on the STAAR Extended Constructed Response. Whether used for whole-class instruction or focused intervention, the STAAR ECR Mastery Resource delivers everything you need to elevate your students' essay writing abilities.

Prepare your students for STAAR writing success with a resource that not only builds essential writing skills but also keeps them engaged and excited to learn. Perfect for middle school teachers looking for practical, engaging ways to improve writing outcomes.

Additional STAAR resources:

ECR Relay Race: Engaging STAAR Writing Prep Grades 5-8 Comprehension 12 Prompts!

Thanksgiving Argument Writing Unit Debate Topics & Lesson Plans 4 STAAR ECRs

THIS IS A PDF FILE

Why teach word meaning through nonsense words?

• Students must use critical thinking to solve
• Students must read the whole passage for context clues
• Students must problem solve to find the best word that makes the most sense.
• They can't find the answer except through problem solving.

All of these are things we want every student to do! This is something that is already adapted for high and low learners.

Starting with three nonsense words gets students going so they can work in groups or independently to decode the meaning of 7 REAL words (selected from the SAT vocabulary list).

This is a perfect activity for group problem solving and critical thinking!

Who Wants to Be an Millionaire: Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots (Oh my!) Digital makes it easy! Differentiated learning makes reviewing affixes fun! Animated, automated, with video/audio engagement, this is the best ELA-related Who Wants to Be a Millionaire game experience on this marketplace! Elevate your English Language Arts (ELA) classroom review sessions with this digital, dynamic, and interactive Millionaire game that offers unlimited replay and is designed to make learning about affixes (prefixes and suffixes), base words, and roots (Greek, Latin, etc.) fun and engaging for students of all ages.

This digital Millionaire-inspired game focuses on English Language Arts (ELA), with a particular emphasis on identifying, decoding, and comprehending prefixes, suffixes, base words, and Greek, Latin, and other roots. This differentiated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire game is perfect for test prep, topic review, early finishers, end-of-year review, or just a lively classroom activity.

My Who Wants to be a Millionaire-style game mimics the excitement of the popular TV show while reinforcing what you’ve taught about prefixes, suffixes, base words, and roots, but with animation, automation, and a few fun and engaging twists. If you are ready to take your class through a next-level Who Wants to Be a Millionaire experience, this is the game for you! So let me ask, "who wants to score a million points?"

Suggested Price: $8.99 - $11.99 (AI generated)

Key Features:

• Interactive Gameplay: Students advance through one round of 12 increasingly challenging topics. The game includes three boosters — Go Halfsies, Text a Buddy, and Poll the Audience — to help students when they’re stumped.

• Differentiated: Learners choose their review:

  • Timed and scored
  • Timed only
  • Scored only
  • No pressure

Engaging: You’ll find learners amazed and sometimes even laughing out loud when they discover that some of the Text a Buddy boosters include school-approved texting lingo, emojis, dad jokes, a working “x” key, diverse buddies, and even occasional reminders from their “teacher”. Also, learners will appreciate the additional opportunity to continue earning points even after they’ve answered a question incorrectly.

• No Prep Whatsoever: This game is ready to use right out of the box —simply save the link as a Favorite and share with learners accordingly.

• Comprehensive: Check out these categories!

  • 1K – 10K: Define and identify prefixes, suffixes, base words, and roots
  • 15K – 50K: Consider affixes to decode and build words
  • 75K – 500K: Distinguish words with similar roots
  • 750K – 1 Million: Align affixes to parts of speech

Play the preview version to see this in action.

Benefits:

• Reinforces key concepts in an engaging, memorable way
• Encourages critical thinking and decision-making under pressure
• Supports differentiated instruction allowing learners to choose their review
• Promotes friendly competition when students try to outscore each other

Perfect For:

• Test prep and review sessions
• End-of-unit assessments
• Substitute teacher plans
• Engaging students in hybrid or virtual classrooms
• Self-paced learning

Basic Features:

• Standards Aligned: Meets TEKS, CCSS, and VA SOL.
• Remote Learning Friendly: Online game. Internet required.
• Fully Automated: Automatic scoring and self-correcting answer key. Learners get immediate notification of correct or incorrect answers.
• Sleek and Professional: High-quality design with no annoying home or back button.
• Unlimited Replay option: Questions are selected randomly from a pool. Each question level is aligned to at least 12 questions, and there are well over 170 questions in total. This makes it possible to produce a unique quiz with each replay attempt and ensures you get the biggest bang for your buck when you buy once and use forever. In addition, new questions will be added to the pool periodically to keep the pool robust and current.
• Personalized Fun: Learners are acknowledged by the name they entered when launching the game.
• Truly No Prep: Automatic scoring and answer key. Just open/send the link and go!
• Copyright-friendly audio.
• No macros = play on any device.
• A Google account is not required!
• Quick and Effective: 10 - 15 minutes = Perfect for a quick refresher or energizer.

Why Students Love It:

• Differentiated review options empower students with the flexibility to engage in ways that best support their learning preferences while keeping them motivated and improving key skills.
• Personalized recognition for correct answers encourages, motivates, and boosts engagement, as students feel that the game is tailored specifically for them.
• Engagment through discovering various Easter eggs with the Text a Buddy booster.

Why Teachers Love It:

Teachers love how this game turns review sessions into a high-energy, student-centered activity. It’s a fantastic way to motivate students and help them retain important information. Plus, with the easy-to-use format, there’s no need to spend hours prepping!

What to Expect:

Please play the preview version before purchasing. This is the best way to understand how the game works and is also the best way to avoid surprises after purchase.

This fully automated game is packed with engaging audio, video, and animations for an immersive experience! To ensure everything runs smoothly, it may take a moment to load depending on your Internet speed—but trust us, it’s worth the wait!

You'll receive a PDF file that includes a link to the online game. This content is not editable. If there is something you would like added, please let me know.

While I'll update the game periodically, I will do my best to retain the same link. After purchasing, you'll be notified about any updates to this product.

Want more? Here's a preview of other learning games.

This product is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with any television game show or any other intellectual property owned by their respective trademark holders. All content has been independently created for educational purposes to provide an engaging and interactive learning experience.

Help Me Get Better:

If you encounter any issues, please email me at zaneylaneylearning@gmail.com before posting a negative review. I have a lot of ideas, and I'm trying my best to present an error-free, high-quality product. Again, please play the preview version before purchasing. This is the best way to understand how the game works and is also the best way to avoid surprises after purchase.

Shake up your classroom by playing this fun ELA matchmaker review game! As the testing season approaches, this comprehensive 81-page PDF resource offers a perfect blend of fun and education, ensuring a thorough review of essential literary concepts.

Our resource is thoughtfully crafted to cover five crucial categories: Synonyms, Antonyms, Figurative Language, Literary Elements, and Affixes & Roots. Each category is rich with 30 pairs, enabling full class participation and ensuring that every student is actively engaged in the learning process.

Our 'ELA Review Extravaganza' is designed to be flexible and adaptable to your classroom needs. Here are two effective ways to use this resource:

Option 1: Print and Cut

Prepare the Activity:

• Print out the pages of the resource
• Carefully cut out each pair from the categories

Distribute the Pieces:
Hand out one piece of the puzzle to each student.

• Activity Instructions for Students:
  Each student should first define or describe their term or concept.
• Then, allow students to get up and mingle in the classroom, searching for the student who holds the matching pair to their piece.

Finding Matches:

• As students find their pairs, they can sit together and discuss why they are a match, reinforcing their understanding of the concept.

Class Discussion:

• After everyone has found their pairs, have a class discussion or sharing session about the matches.

Option 2: Assign & Go (Digital Version)

Assign the Activity:

• Assign the digital version of the resource to students through your preferred educational platform.

Independent or Pair Work:

• Students can work through the slides independently or with a partner. They will find the best match for each term or concept from the word bank provided in the slides.

Interactive Learning:

• The digital format allows for interactive learning, as students can easily navigate through the slides and select their answers.

Review and Feedback:

• After completion, you can review their answers and provide feedback, or students can share their answers with the class.

Embrace the Versatility

• Print & Digital Formats: Choose the print version for a hands-on classroom experience or the digital version for a seamless, tech-integrated lesson. The digital version is perfect for 1:1 device classrooms and offers an easy-to-assign-and-go option for busy teachers.
• Interactive Learning: Students can enjoy the interactive elements in the digital version or the physical engagement of the print version.
• Ideal for Centers & Independent Work: Set up as learning stations in your classroom or assign digitally for individual completion - adaptable to various teaching strategies.
• Hassle-Free Preparation: With the digital version, say goodbye to cutting and prepping. It's all ready to use at the click of a button!

Perfect Tool for Diverse Educational Needs

• Comprehensive Test Review: An engaging way to review and reinforce ELA concepts before exams.
• Builds Core Skills: Enhances vocabulary and understanding of literary terms in an interactive manner.
• Encourages Critical Thinking: Students analyze, match, and connect concepts, fostering deeper comprehension.
• Flexible and Convenient: Whether in a traditional classroom setting or a remote learning environment, this resource fits seamlessly into your lesson plan.

Transform your ELA review sessions into an 'Extravaganza' of learning and excitement. With our 'ELA Review Extravaganza,' education is not just about memorizing; it's about engaging, interacting, and understanding. Download now for an enriching educational experience that your students will love!