Archive

Honoring Hispanic Heroes this Hispanic Heritage Month

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with your class by teaching them about influential Hispanic activists, artists, and athletes. Hispanic Heritage Month, spanning from September 15th to October 15th, provides a great...

Snowball Your Students Reading Comprehension with CommonLit’s Book Pairings for Animal Farm

Provide students with historical background, and other relevant resources for Animal Farm by George Orwell. The CommonLit library offers over 100 “Book Pairings”, or sets of literary and informational texts...

"Characters Who Change & Grow": A Short Story Unit from CommonLit 360 that will Get Students Excited About ELA in 6th Grade

This ELA Unit includes engaging short stories and a nonfiction text that will engage students and help them reflect on their own lives to discuss how people change overtime. What...

6 Thought-Provoking Poems about Family for Middle School Students

CommonLit’s digital literacy program has a large collection of poems about family for middle school students that teach important literary analysis skills and reading comprehension. Many of CommonLit’s...

Electrifying Resources to help you teach Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Thrill students by pairing Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan with short stories, poems, and non-fiction texts to enhance your novel unit. The CommonLit library has...

Strengthen Student Reading Curriculum with New Short Stories from the CommonLit Library

Lead engaging classroom discussions and support student reading comprehension with these new short stories for grades 4-8! We are excited to share new short stories that you can incorporate...

“Following the Crowd:” A Short Story Unit from CommonLit 360’s ELA Curriculum That Will Pique Students’ Interest

This ELA Short Story Unit will get students excited about reading and spark incredible classroom discussions. What Is CommonLit 360? CommonLit 360 is a free English Language Arts curriculum for...

5 Texts to Explore Emotions in Elementary Classrooms

Create a safe learning environment for students to discuss how they feel about complex events with these short stories for elementary students. Emotions, such as sorrow and grief, can be...

6 Short Poems about Happiness for Elementary Students

Enrich your classroom discussions with poems about happiness from CommonLit’s digital library to help your elementary students build both their reading comprehension and personal development. Designed by expert ELA...

6 Poems about Community to Supplement Your Reading Curriculum

Planning a poetry unit for your English Language Arts class this semester? Inspire engaging classroom discussions with poems about community. For youth, it’s important that they know where they...

The Giver: Enhance your Novel Study with these Lesson Planning Resources

These high interest poems, news articles, and informational texts are the perfect compliment to a novel unit on The Giver. CommonLit offers over 3,000 reading lessons [https://www.commonlit....

“Writing Your Story: Memoir and Application Essays”: CommonLit 360’s 12th Grade Unit Helps Students Craft their College Essays

This ELA Unit includes high-interest memoirs by contemporary authors like Trevor Noah and Michelle Zauner to serve as examples for students’ application essays. What Is CommonLit 360? CommonLit 360...

The Great Gatsby Novel Study is Ideal for Fostering Reading Comprehension Skills in 11th Grade

This unit includes riveting class discussions that will enthrall your students, including conversations about the American Dream as well as a literary analysis on what makes a novel truly “great....

“The Art of Suspense”: A Thematic Story Unit from CommonLit 360 that Will Spark Incredible Discussions In the Beginning of 8th Grade

This ELA Unit includes high-interest stories about moral dilemmas and distinguishing right from wrong from authors like Roald Dahl and Richard Matheson. What Is CommonLit 360? CommonLit 360 is...

CommonLit’s School-Wide Data Reports Make Progress Monitoring Easy

CommonLit School Essentials PRO gives teachers and administrators performance, usage, and growth data access for all students At CommonLit, we’ve created a comprehensive and engaging literacy program with over...

“Community and Belonging”: A Thematic Unit from CommonLit’s 360 Curriculum that will Set Students Up for Success in 7th Grade

This ELA Unit includes engaging stories that will help students spark discussions and learn about adolescents’ struggle to fit into their communities. What Is CommonLit 360? CommonLit 360 is a...

5 Short Poems About Friendship

These five famous poems from CommonLit dive into the complexities of friendship. As educators – and former teenagers – you understand the complexities of relationships and friendships during our students' teenage...

"Coming of Age": A Short Story Unit from CommonLit's 360 Curriculum that is Perfect for the Beginning of 10th Grade

This ELA Unit includes high-interest short stories about growing up from contemporary authors like Jason Reynolds and Lucy Tan that’ll hook your students. What Is CommonLit 360? CommonLit...

6 Poems About the Environment

Let students experience the wild world around us through poetry! As educators, we know that students love nature! Learning about the environment allows students to build a connection with the...

7 Literary Texts by Powerful Women Authors

Check out these amazing short stories and poems on CommonLit from authors like Amy Tan and Sandra Cisneros. CommonLit’s award-winning, research-based digital literacy program has hundreds of...

Short Stories To Get Your Students Excited About Reading

These short stories from amazing authors like Gary Soto, Amy Tan, and Ralph Fletcher will help your students fall in love with reading! A love for reading begins with captivating...

Research Shows Accelerated Reading Comprehension Gains with CommonLit

Learn all about the benefits of implementing CommonLit’s evidence-based digital literacy program and benchmark assessments. Today, we’re thrilled to announce that students with higher usage of CommonLit’...

Usage of CommonLit's Digital Library is Correlated with Student Growth

Learn all about the benefits of implementing CommonLit’s evidence-based program CommonLit is on a mission to ensure that all students can graduate with the reading and writing skills...

8 Texts Featuring Disabilities and Learning Differences to Build Classroom Empathy and Inclusion

The beginning of the year is a key time to form trusting, meaningful relationships in your classroom community. These texts feature historical figures or characters with disabilities and learning differences,...

10 Texts That Will Line Up Perfectly with the Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

Elementary school teachers know the benefits of STEM education for kids. And, in 20 states and the District of Columbia, teachers must align science lessons to Next-Generation Science Standards...