Homeschool Short Stories Assessment (by date, oldest first)

This product features all the materials you need to assign a compare/contrast essay for two classic tales of irony: O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi and Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace.

For this assignment, students will need to think critically and specifically about the similarities and differences between the two famous stories. Two comprehensive literary device charts are provided to prompt students to take a close look at both tales and to think beyond the obvious (like the fact that they are written by different authors) and consider the deeper similarities and differences differences (like plot structure, values of the characters, and lessons the stories try to teach) between them. These thoughtfully-constructed materials will help students develop exemplary compare/contrast essays that they can be proud of!

Product Includes:

• Complete assignment directions
• 2 Literary device worksheets
• Venn diagram chart
• Essay graphic organizer (Block Method)
• Rubric
• Teacher key for charts

This assignment is perfect during the holiday season or can be used as a part of any short story unit!

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Also, check out these resources to round our your unit on The Gift of the Magi:

⭐ The Gift of the Magi Anticipation Guide & Lesson Plan

⭐ The Gift of the Magi ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ The Gift of the Magi Socratic Seminar Materials

More great holiday products by Language Arts Excellence:

⭐ Christmas ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Christmas Poetry ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ A Christmas Carol ESCAPE ROOM

⭐‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Figurative Language Lesson Plan

⭐ The Little Match Girl Sensory Details Lesson Plan

⭐"Christmas Talk" Lesson Plan

⭐Figurative Language in Christmas Songs Task Cards

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This product features an engaging final project that meaningfully incorporates technology in a culmination of your unit on Edgar Allan Poe.

For this final assignment, students will showcase their knowledge of Edgar Allan Poe, his works, and his life by creating brochures using Microsoft Word. Students will love the chance to practice using technology with this project as opposed to writing the same-old same-old essay and if they are like my students, will not even realize how much research and writing they are actually accomplishing with this project.

Product Includes:

• Complete Assignment Directions
• How to Make Brochure Directions
• Scoring Rubric
• Teacher Model including proper Works Cited Page using Microsoft Word
• Pictures of Exemplary Student Examples

This project works for any of the stories you read during your Edgar Allan Poe unit.

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Save 20% off this resource when you purchase as part of a bundle of Edgar Allan Poe products:

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Resource Bundle

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Also, check out these great products by Language Arts Excellence to supplement your Edgar Allan Poe unit:

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe PowerPoint

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe Scavenger Hunt

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Bell Ringer Journal Prompts

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Crossword Puzzle

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe's Obituary

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters

Chilling literature guides to frighten your students for months:

⭐ The Raven Literature Guide

⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide

⭐ The Black Cat Literature Guide

⭐ The Pit and the Pendulum Literature Guide

⭐ The Cask of Amontillado Literature Guide

⭐ The Fall of the House of Usher Literature Guide

⭐ The Masque of the Red Death Literature Guide

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Short Story BUNDLE

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

**Now with newly added material!**

This resource features a bundle of all of our best-selling lesson plans, materials, and activities for your unit on the Master of Suspense, Edgar Allan Poe. Resources perfectly complement any of Poe's twisted tales and can be used to introduce the unit (like the Scavenger Hunt and PowerPoint), throughout the unit (Bell Ringers and the Obituary Project), as a review (Escape Room, Brochure, Human Tic Tac Toe Game), and even to decorate your classroom (Quote Posters). Each product is thoughtfully crafted and inspires students to delve deeply into Edgar Allan Poe's life and works. Lessons have all been classroom-tested and allow for differentiation while encouraging optimal student engagement. You will not find tedious lists of comprehension questions and vocabulary words in this bundle; instead you will find materials that will make Edgar Allan Poe relevant in the eyes of your students and bring the Father of Horror back to life!

Included in this Bundle:

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe PowerPoint

This product features a highly-engaging introductory PowerPoint Presentation for the Father of Horror himself, Edgar Allan Poe. A unit of study on Poe is not complete without learning the gory and heartbreaking details of his life and what made him into the master poet and writer whom we continue to marvel at today. This 20-slide powerpoint runs through his tragic family life and childhood, relationships, early occupations (before he was the Poe that you know), synopses of some of his most famous works, death theories, and current pop culture references. It concludes with a 10 question quiz to see how well students listened... and trust me, they will be hanging on your every word! This powerpoint encourages class participation, is fully editable to suit your class' needs, and lasts about 30-40 minutes to run through. I suggest presenting this on the very first day of your unit on Edgar Allan Poe. Enjoy and let the horror begin!

⭐ Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe Scavenger Hunt

This resource features a comprehensive introduction to the life and times of Edgar Allan Poe. Students will be shocked to learn some of the gruesome details of his life. The scavenger hunt includes 15 questions about Poe, a full answer key, and links for credible websites to use to find the information.

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Bell Ringer Journal Prompts

This resource features a set of 20 reader response journal prompts for use during your unit on Edgar Allan Poe. Each bell ringer is comprised of a quote from the Master of Suspense himself and a thoughtfully crafted question that encourages students to personally connect and appreciate the timelessness of his musings. Prompts can be used as bell-ringers (most popular and mean the first 5 minutes of every class for more than a month are planned for you!), exit tickets, stations, full class or small group discussion questions, for homework, task cards, sub plans, as a filler activity… the possibilities are endless!

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe ESCAPE ROOM

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 the Edgar Allan Poe 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 on the Father of Horror himself. Planning an escape room may seem like quite the daunting task, 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!

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Brochure - Final Project

This product features an engaging final project that meaningfully incorporates technology in a culmination of your unit on Edgar Allan Poe. For this final assignment, students will showcase their knowledge of Edgar Allan Poe, his works, and his life by creating brochures using Microsoft Word. Students will love the chance to practice using technology with this project as opposed to writing the same-old same-old essay and if they are like my students, will not even realize how much research and writing they are actually doing!

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe's Obituary - Halloween Lesson Plan

This product features an engaging activity that will fit in perfectly with your unit on Edgar Allan Poe or on Halloween. Students get the chance to create the epitaph for the gravestone of one of the most revered authors in American literature. The activity encourages students to be thoughtful with their knowledge of Poe but also to be creative with their inscriptions. This can be done in or outside of class and also works as a great emergency substitute plan during the month of October. To be festive, I love to give this assignment on the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's actual death day, October 7.

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game - newly added material!

This resource features a lesson plan and materials for the Human Tic Tac Toe Review Game, an engaging and competitive way to review the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe. Let's face it, review days can be boring for both teachers and students, so liven them up with this collaborative game. The resource includes not only a meticulously detailed lesson plan and set-up instructions, but 25 questions on the Master of Suspense. Besides simple set-up, very little preparation is needed for this lesson and if your students are like mine, they will ask for this form of review for every unit of study!

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Quote Posters

Make your classroom pop with this set of 25 beautifully-made posters featuring quotes from Edgar Allan Poe. Each 7.5 x 7.5 (square) PDF poster contains a noteworthy Poe quote imposed over a stunning photograph that will spruce up your ELA classroom, especially during Halloween. The square format is reminiscent of Instagram and makes for an eye-catching arrangement on your wall or bulletin board. I suggest laminating the posters and using them not just during your Edgar Allan Poe unit, but all year long.

By purchasing these great resources as a bundle, you save 20% off the cover price of all materials!

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Looking for something more specific? We have enough Edgar Allan Poe literature guides to frighten your students for months:

⭐ The Raven Literature Guide

⭐ The Tell-Tale Heart Literature Guide

⭐ The Black Cat Literature Guide

⭐ The Pit and the Pendulum Literature Guide

⭐ The Cask of Amontillado Literature Guide

⭐ The Fall of the House of Usher Literature Guide

⭐ The Masque of the Red Death Literature Guide

⭐ Edgar Allan Poe Short Story BUNDLE

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⭐Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence⭐

This resource should accompany Walter Dean Myers's short story Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push. The story is not included but can be found in the book Flying Lessons and Other Stories.

This resource includes 5 worksheet pages in color for posting online and in b/w for easy printing. A presentation aligns with the worksheets and includes an answer key for vocabulary and short answer questions.

This resource has:

- a pre-reading journal prompt

- story vocabulary

- tiered reading questions

- a focus on the standard: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

- answer keys

This lesson should accompany the short story Eraser Tattoo by Jason Reynolds. The story can be found in the anthology Fresh Ink.

This lesson focuses on making inferences and identifying themes. Students will provide and explain textual evidence that supports inferences and themes that they identify from the story.

This resource includes 6 slides for display at the front of the class and 2 student worksheet pages which come in color and b/w.

This resource should accompany Meg Medina's short story Sol Painting, Inc. This short story can be found in the book Flying Lessons and Other Stories, which is an amazing compilation of short stories by diverse authors about diverse characters. This resource includes a 12 page presentation and 6 student worksheets. The worksheets and presentation include a pre-reading journal entry, a focus on theme and central idea (which I teach as two separate things), vocabulary using context clues, tiered reading questions, and post-reading questions regarding the story's themes and central idea. The worksheets come in a colored version for posting online and a b/w version for printing.

This resource defines theme as the message, lesson, or moral of the story. Central idea is defined as what the story is all about- a single sentence which unifies all elements of the story.

This resource should accompany Tim Tingle's short story Choctaw Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains. This resource includes 4 student worksheet pages in both color and b/w. There is also a 12 page presentation to accompany the worksheets. The presentation contains answer keys for vocabulary and short answer questions. You will also get an Easel reading quiz with this resource.

This resource includes:

- a pre-reading journal question

- story vocabulary

- tiered reading questions

- questions focused on ELA standard about point of view and its impact on suspense and humor

- an Easel reading quiz

This resource should accompany the short story The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn by Kelly J. Baptist. The page numbers listed in this resource align with the book Flying Lessons and Other Stories. This resource includes 4 pages of both color and b/w worksheets which include a pre-reading journal question, tiered reading questions, vocabulary, and a focus on supporting analysis with textual evidence. A 10 page presentation accompanies the worksheets and includes an answer key.

This is a sensitive story. One of the tiered reading questions addresses coping strategies in times of grief. This question needs to be approached in an open, honest, non-judgmental way. If this is not the way you operate, skip this resource.

This bundle includes lessons for all stories in the book Flying Lessons and Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh. The stories are not included in this resource. Lessons are focused on the following stories:

- How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium by Matt De La Peña

- The Difficult Path by Grace Lin

- Sol Painting, Inc. by Meg Medina

- Secret Samantha by Tim Federle

- The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn by Kelly J. Baptist

- Choctaw Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains by Tim Tingle

- Main Street by Jacqueline Woodson

- 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 WORKSHEETS and a PRESENTATION. Worksheets come in color and b/w. Presentations include answer keys.

Each lesson contains:

- Pre-reading journal prompt

- Story vocabulary (except Main Street)

- Tiered reading questions

- Questions focused on one particular ELA standard

- Answer keys

BONUS ESSAY WRITING PROMPTS ARE INCLUDED!

If you teach 90 minute block classes, you would likely get through one lesson per day. If you teach 50 minute classes like I do, each lesson could take two days. This bundle could last from 2 weeks to 4 weeks depending on your schedule.

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.