Less than $5 Higher Education Reading Strategies Activities (by date, oldest first)

These three pre-reading activities are the perfect introduction to the literature unit for The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne. The activities are anticipatory and get students in the mindset of Puritan and Colonial New England life, put in the shoes of the community members of those times, learn some initial vocabulary, and have the opportunity to tie this all together by writing what they think the novel is about based on these pre-reading activities.

What does this product include?

• One debate/discussion slideshow with 15 statements such as, "People should always be forgiven for their mistakes, no matter how serious the mistake."
• One group/class game "Secret Sinner"
• One printable worksheet with 8 vocabulary words such as "redemption" and "ostracism" for students to match with the definition. This worksheet has an added game in which when all the vocab words have been matched with their definition, students will unscramble the secret word (which is another vocab word), and they have space to write what they think the novel, The Scarlet Letter, is about based on the vocabulary words

How should I use these activities in the classroom?

You will ultimately determine how these three activities can be used, and they truly can be used in whichever order you see fit. And if you have a class full of students who are completely unfamiliar with the plot of The Scarlet Letter, I suggest completing the slideshow first, the Secret Sinner game second, and the worksheet third (or send it home as homework).

Grab the annotation-supported digital and print copy of the novel here.

15 Commonly Confused Words A-I with engaging activities for students to learn. Includes:

A-I game with fill-in-the-blank, definitions, make your own

sentences/slides (individual/groups & competitive play)

2 Crossword puzzles with Commonly Confused Words

2 Word Searches with Commonly Confused Words

All answer sheets included

Directions and Suggestions with Extensions

Words used are:

1. accept except

2. aloud allowed

3. bare bear4. brake break

5. coarse course6. council counsel

7. desert dessert

8. dose doze

9. envelope envelop

10. forbear forebear

11. grisly grizzly

12. glance glimpse

13. hair hare

14. hole whole

15. ingenious ingenuous

Students will have fun learning these Commonly Confused Words.

All writers have it, but do you know what style is and how to recognize it? This 18 page presentation for upper level learners will help students understand and analyze their own writing styles, as well as other authors' styles. Easy to follow format will have students analyzing style in no time! Includes: Checklist for Authors Handout Definitions for Author's Style . Examples of Famous Novels and Poems to Analyze Quotes Extra Style Analysis Activities Author's Style Workshopping Handout Terminologies and definitions include: Audience—listeners, readers, viewers of work Author’s voice—sets writing apart from others; uniqueness of writing Genre—category/organization pattern of writing Purpose—intent of writing Mood—reader’s emotion to the writing Tone—author’s attitude about subject matter Sentence fluency—cadence, flow, transitions used Sentence variety—lengths/mixture of sentences Word choices—descriptions, figurative language, repetitions, synonyms… Excellent for introducing style, writing concepts, standardized testing reviews, class assessments, college readiness, CCSS, literacy centers, and grammar/editing revisions, Students will be able to identify their authors' styles after working through this presentation.

FREE! Decipher the context clues and symbols to figure out the words to famous Christmas movie titles, such as: Elf Night Before Christmas Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Santa Claus is Coming to Town Frosty the Snowman Nutcracker Home Alone White Christmas Little Drummer Boy Polar Express Plus, have fun writing your own inferencing and logic Christmas movie puzzle at the end. Fun activity for small/whole group with colorful illustrations and Answer Key (at end).

This fun technology activity for all ages introduces and uses synonyms to turn students' photos into word-photo images! Can be used as individual/small/whole group activity. Includes: Definition and Example Whole Class "Give It a Try" Activity Step-by-Step Directions Materials List Websites and Links Ipad/Ipod/Android Apps Students' Examples Student Activity Directions Can be used with flipped classroom models, homeschool, and with minimal teacher instruction. Technology-based grammar/reading activity needs computers and internet access.

Reinforce word origins by having students come up with their own made-up words! Use compound words, foreign words, prefixes/suffixes, shortened words, sound words, rhyming words, etc...for this fun, visual activity. Includes: Directions Definition Example from Classic Poem Student Examples Application Activity Publishing Activities Meets CCSS, improves vocabulary, uses decoding skills, and visualization. Use for individual or group activity.