Five Ways to Help (older) Students Build Reading Skills Simple strategies to improve students’ reading comprehension abilities and build their reading engagement According to the 2022 NAEP Reading Assessment, only 32% of 4th grade students are proficient in reading,... Re Marzullo Re Marzullo March 20, 2024 · 5 min read
How a CommonLit Teacher Ambassador Empowers all Students Leigh Pafford teaches special education as well as English as a Second Language (ESL) in New York City, and she was also one of CommonLit’s founding Teacher Ambassadors for... Re Marzullo Re Marzullo October 5, 2023 · 3 min read
CommonLit Can Assist With ACT/SAT Test Prep The testing season is here! No, not the end-of-year testing that schools across the country gear up for each spring. Instead, this is the annual “rite of fall” where thousands... Re Marzullo Re Marzullo September 21, 2023 · 2 min read
7 Satirical Lessons for Your Classroom Introduce satire with these playful, yet thought-provoking, satirical articles! These satire examples from famous authors like Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, and Johnathan Swift will introduce students to how authors use... Linden Brett Wicinas Linden Brett Wicinas October 14, 2022 · 4 min read
7 Science Fiction Short Stories for Secondary Students Looking for the best science fiction short stories to add to your ELA curriculum? Here are texts to get your secondary students engaged in reading! Set in the future, dystopian... Eryn Reighard Eryn Reighard October 14, 2022 · 4 min read
7 Lesson Planning Resources to Bolster Your Novel Study on 1984 Elevate your book unit on George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 with informative and engaging texts for high school students. CommonLit’s free online reading program offers more than 100... Chelsea Nuesi Chelsea Nuesi October 7, 2022 · 5 min read
7 Engaging Myths for Secondary Students Exposing students to classic mythology can be daunting. That’s why we’ve put together a roundup of engaging myths from our digital literacy program that both teachers and students... Dorothy Hodges Dorothy Hodges October 7, 2022 · 4 min read
7 Short Poems with Figurative Language For Middle and High School Students Incorporate poems with figurative language into your upcoming poetry unit and boost student reading comprehension with assessment and discussion questions. Got an upcoming poetry unit? CommonLit offers dozens of poems... Olivia Franklin Olivia Franklin October 3, 2022 · 4 min read
7 Short Coming-of-Age Stories to Stir Thought-Provoking Classroom Discussions Boost Your ELA curriculum with relatable coming-of-age short stories for middle school and high school students. Looking for short stories with a coming-of-age theme? We’ve compiled several compelling short... Olivia Franklin Olivia Franklin October 3, 2022 · 4 min read
9 Spooky Stories for the Eeriest Time of Year This October, haunt your classroom with thematically rich horror, suspense, and spooky short stories! CommonLit’s array of horrifying ghost stories and haunting dystopian tales are guaranteed to send shivers... Linden Brett Wicinas Linden Brett Wicinas September 30, 2022 · 6 min read
7 Genuine Poems on Love and Relationships Strengthen your ELA instruction and student reading comprehension with these poems on love for middle and high school students. CommonLit offers hundreds of engaging poems for students to practice close... Chelsea Nuesi Chelsea Nuesi September 22, 2022 · 5 min read
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... Linden Brett Wicinas Linden Brett Wicinas September 21, 2022 · 3 min read
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... Linden Brett Wicinas Linden Brett Wicinas September 20, 2022 · 5 min read
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... Yelena Salvador Yelena Salvador September 13, 2022 · 4 min read
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 thousands... Linden Brett Wicinas Linden Brett Wicinas September 13, 2022 · 5 min read
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 into... Chelsea Nuesi Chelsea Nuesi September 12, 2022 · 4 min read
Engaging Short Stories about Identity for Middle and High School Students Boost reading comprehension and engagement with seven relatable short stories for students in grades 6-12. With CommonLit’s digital library, you can introduce your students to hundreds of texts that... Ellie Viggiani Ellie Viggiani September 2, 2022 · 4 min read
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... Chelsea Nuesi Chelsea Nuesi September 2, 2022 · 4 min read
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.... Linden Brett Wicinas Linden Brett Wicinas September 2, 2022 · 5 min read
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... Linden Brett Wicinas Linden Brett Wicinas August 29, 2022 · 3 min read
"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 360... Olivia Franklin Olivia Franklin August 23, 2022 · 4 min read
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 poems, short... Chelsea Nuesi Chelsea Nuesi August 22, 2022 · 4 min read
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... Allie Liotta Allie Liotta August 18, 2022 · 3 min read
6 Texts About Adventure and Independence Experiencing new adventures is an important part of becoming independent. Trying different things and going new places helps establish teens' sense of self. As educators, it is important to... Ellie Viggiani Ellie Viggiani May 31, 2022 · 3 min read
7 Exciting Texts About Sports Middle and high school students are sure to love these texts about different sports! From soccer to basketball to baseball, sports are a meaningful part of many teens' lives.... Ellie Viggiani Ellie Viggiani May 19, 2022 · 3 min read
9 Compelling Texts by Asian American Authors These meaningful texts by Chinese American Authors are sure to engage your students! It is essential to celebrate the diversity of voices in our classrooms. In order to do so,... Ellie Viggiani Ellie Viggiani May 3, 2022 · 3 min read
8 Empowering Texts About Protecting the Environment Our Earth is beautiful, but it is currently facing many challenges. From pieces of plastic dotting our oceans, to deforestation and disappearing species, the problems the Earth faces can often... Ellie Viggiani Ellie Viggiani April 13, 2022 · 3 min read
7 Twisty Tales for Teens Middle and high school students will love these suspenseful stories! Many teenagers are drawn to dark and twisty tales. Stories that utilize twist endings to shock the reader shed light... Ellie Viggiani Ellie Viggiani April 7, 2022 · 3 min read