$5 - $10 8th Grade Short Stories Assessment (by date, oldest first)

Your students will be transported back in time to hunt dinosaurs! They will have to find the various time guides to gather information necessary to prevent the disturbance of the timeline. Only by carefully following all of the employees’ directions will they be able to return to the present, thus successfully completing the escape room!

The seven stations address the elements of the short story, including characterization, symbolism, summary, vocabulary, syntax and diction, foreshadowing, and figurative language. This is a rigorous review and analysis activity. Students should read the text BEFORE they do the escape room.

Download one of the 7 stations to preview here! Freebie Station!

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This resource bundles two products from Stephen King's Night Shift! You'll get a Speed Dating Discussion Activity and a set of Socratic Seminar booklets + rubric! Please check out each product individually using the links below. Thank you!

This bundle includes the 3 resources I use to teach Ray Bradbury's iconic short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains". There is a comprehension quiz (answers included), a poetry foldable for the Sara Teasdale poem that appears in the text, and a Tabletop Twitter Silent Discussion Activity for analyzing the text. Please check out each item individually, and let me know if you have any questions!

This Bundle contains 2 products for Hawthorne's story "The Birthmark": a question trail that is chock full of text analysis questions, and a Socratic Seminar that could be used as a final assessment. Check out each of the products above in further detail! Buying them together saves you $$!

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Get ready to have the most fun you'll have teaching with a lesson that your students will be talking about for years to come with Shirley Jackson's The Lottery ESCAPE ROOM!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock! This meticulously-crafted resource features all of the materials you need to conduct a full-length Escape Room for The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task (and it is!), but this product provides everything from the basics and set-up instructions to signs and answer keys so that yours runs smoothly from start to finish. The activity involves movement, energy, creative thinking and most of all, collaboration. Your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying in the playing of this game!

How does it work?

In this escape room, students will try to escape the picturesque American town with a dark secret by solving 5 different skills-based puzzles, deciphering an encrypted message, and finding clues along the way.

• Close Read: In the first task, students must answer challenging multiple choice questions about The Lottery. The corresponding letters of the correct answers reveal their first code.
• Vocab Challenge: In the second task, students must fill in the blanks with vocabulary words from the text. Shaded boxes within the correct answers form their second code.
• Character IDs: In the third task, students must fill in a blank character chart about important characters in the story. When assembled correctly, letters of the correct answers reveal the third code.
• Criss-Cross: In the fourth task, students must solve a crossword puzzle with questions about literary elements and plot events of the story. Circled boxes on the crossword once unscrambled will reveal the code.
• Encrypted Message: In the fifth and final task, students must decipher an encrypted message (a quote from The Lottery) using clues they collected during the first four tasks. When the message is written on the scroll, final question is answered, and booklet brought to you, they can finally escape before it is their turn to pick from the dreaded black box.

Product Includes:

- Escape Room Basics

- Detailed Day-Of Instructions

- Escape Room Print Checklist

- Student Teams Chart

- Welcome Sign for Your Door

- Materials for 5 Tasks: task signs to be folded upright, task instructions (2 per page for easy printing), and necessary information to be kept at stations

- Student Answer Booklet

- Teacher Answer Keys

- Escape Room Reflection for homework or in-class writing activity

- Theme Reflection for homework assignment or in-class writing activity

Because this is a skills-based escape room, it is perfect for a review of the story before the test.

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Check out these great products to supplement your study of The Lottery:

⭐ The Lottery Digital Escape Room - paperless version

⭐ The Lottery "Tossing Lines" Pre-Reading Activity

⭐ The Lottery Social Media Activities

⭐ The Lottery Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan and Materials

⭐ The Lottery Comprehension Questions, Literary Elements & Vocabulary

Check out these great DYSTOPIA resources to frame the study of this tale:

⭐ Introduction to Dystopia Powerpoint Presentation

⭐ Escape from Dystopia ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Dystopian Literature Socratic Seminar

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⭐⭐⭐For the escape room enthusiasts out there, you can now build your own bundle at 20% off the cover price of 3 or more escape rooms! Click the link to check out all of the escape rooms Language Arts Excellence has to offer: Build Your Own Escape Room BUNDLE⭐⭐⭐

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This bundle includes resources for the first five short stories in the book Flying Lessons and Other Stories. Those stories are: How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium, The Difficult Path, Sol Painting, Inc., Secret Samantha, and The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn.

Each resource includes a presentation and student worksheets which come in color and b/w for easy printing.

This bundle includes:

38 student worksheet pages

52 slides

Answer Keys

Each resource includes:

story vocabulary

pre-reading activities

tiered reading questions

an emphasis on one particular ELA standard

Depending on the length of your class periods, this resource could last 4 days or 2 weeks.

This bundle of lessons should accompany the last five short stories of the book Flying Lessons and Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh.

Those five stories are:

- Choctaw Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains by Tim Tingle

- Main Street by Ellen Oh

- Flying Lessons by Soman Chainani

- Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents by Kwame Alexander

- Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push by Walter Dean Myers

Each lesson includes a presentation and student worksheets which address:

- pre-reading journal prompts

- story vocabulary (except Main Street)

- tiered reading questions

- questions focused on one specific ELA standard

- answer keys

Depending on the length of your classes, this resource could take 4 days or 2 weeks. I have 50 minute classes, and it would take me 2 weeks.

Engage your middle school students with a thrilling 5-day detective unit centered around Roald Dahl's gripping short story, "Lamb to the Slaughter." This comprehensive unit combines critical thinking, inferencing, and multimedia analysis, making it perfect for ELA classrooms. Students will step into the shoes of detectives, analyze texts, watch film adaptations, and compare their experiences, all while meeting key CCSS standards.

What’s Included:

• Detailed Lesson Plans: Each day is thoughtfully planned to guide students through reading, analyzing, writing, and discussing "Lamb to the Slaughter."
• Graphic Organizers: Scaffolded organizers for each day to help students track evidence, make inferences, and compare the text with the film.
• Texts and Multimedia: The original short story and a link to the film adaptation, complete with an introduction by Roald Dahl.
• Writing Prompts: Engaging prompts to encourage students to write opinion essays and reflections.
• Class Discussion Guides: Questions and prompts to facilitate meaningful classroom discussions.

Day-by-Day Breakdown:

Day 1: Introduction to the Detective Activity

• Students are introduced to the murder mystery and work in groups to analyze witness statements and evidence photos.
• Focus on inference and deduction skills.

Day 2: Writing an Opinion Essay

• Students write an opinion essay based on their detective work from Day 1.
• Emphasis on textual evidence and structured writing.

Day 3: Reading "Lamb to the Slaughter"

• Students read the short story in chunked sections, making inferences and annotating the text.
• Use of scaffolding techniques to support all learners.

Day 4: Comparing Text and Film

• Students watch the film adaptation of "Lamb to the Slaughter."
• They use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the text and film, analyzing differences in storytelling techniques.

Day 5: Final Analysis and Discussion

• Students discuss their findings and the differences between the text and film.
• Wrap-up activities include reflective writing and sharing insights.

CCSS Alignment:

This unit aligns with CCSS standards for grades 5-8, focusing on quoting accurately from texts, citing textual evidence, and analyzing multimedia elements. Standards covered include:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.1
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.7
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.7
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.7

Benefits:

• Engaging and Interactive: Students love the hands-on detective work and multimedia elements.
• Skill-Building: Focus on inferencing, textual evidence, and critical thinking skills.
• Comprehensive and Ready-to-Use: All materials and instructions are included for a seamless implementation.

Bring excitement and depth to your ELA classroom with this 5-day detective unit on "Lamb to the Slaughter." Your students will love stepping into the role of detectives while honing their reading and analytical skills.