Quick Tips and Texts

“I don’t know who doesn’t love a teacher,” says Rebecca Mieliwocki, the 2012 National Teacher of the Year. Mieliwocki recently spoke at Scholastic about the art of teaching, the dedication of its practitioners—and the simplicity that the English Language Arts Standards will bring to the classroom. Here are Common Core lesson plans, tips on crafting evidence-based questions, a glossary, and Common Core book lists.

Go-To Guides for Teachers

The Common Core and You

How will the CCSS affect ELA instruction? Here are 10 things you need to know.

CCSS Glossary

Our handy list of 25 CCSS terms will help you navigate the new ELA standards.

How to Craft Evidence-Based Questions

A teacher offers tips on how to create effective text-based questions for your classroom.

Common Core Lesson Plans

Teacher blogger Genia Connell offers a fun way to help your students become familiar with text features.

Navigating Nonfiction Text (Part I), Grade 3

Investigating Nonfiction (Part 2): Digging Deeper With Close Reading

Investigating Nonfiction (Part 3): Independent and Guided Reading

Nonfiction and Literature Booklists

Go beyond the exemplars. Our list of challenging nonfiction, grouped according to themes and grade-level bands, will engage your students and encourage them to deepen their knowledge in the content areas. We also have a great K-12 literature list arranged according to genres. 

Paired Texts: Hunting a Killer

Here’s a great CCSS-aligned feature about grizzly bears from Scope, Scholastic’s language-arts magazine for middle-school students.

Informational Text: Deep-Sea Plunge

This CCSS-aligned feature about deep-ocean submersibles from SuperScience magazine is bound to fascinate young readers.

Mathematics Lesson: Multiplication

Scholastic DynaMath’s CCSS-aligned feature about Australia’s endangered koalas offers a lesson in real-world math for elementary-school students.

Current Events

Get national and international news articles, evidence-based questions, map skills, videos, and more for your middle-school social studies classroom.

Solve Math Problems

Instructor magazine offers strategizes for helping students figure out why they aren’t getting math concepts.

Fact vs. Fiction

Think informational text = boring? Think again. Reinvent your reading lessons with dinosaurs, artists, and geologists!

Victory is Yours

Learn about the Common Core with our tool kit of activities. Plus, get advice from veteran teachers about implementing the CCSS.

Your Core Concerns

You asked, we answered. Our experts weigh in on your biggest questions about the ELA Standards.

Reading in Science Class!

These Core-ready activities will help you bring literacy lessons into the science lab.

Boost the Skills of Struggling Readers

Action magazine’s motivating online materials are designed to boost your students’ reading and writing skills.

A Sneak Peek at the ELA Assessments (Smarter Balanced)

With this nonfiction article about an unusual prom, you’ll also find a lesson plan and practice test to help you prepare students for the Smarter Balanced assessments coming in 2014-15.

A Readers Theater Play: After Earth

With this Readers Theater play based on After Earth, the new Will Smith movie, you’ll also find a lesson plan and practice test to help you prepare students for the PARCC assessments coming in 2014-15.