8 Poetry Lessons to Help Your Students Become Well Versed in Verse

This April, celebrate all forms of poetry in your classroom with curated lessons for grades 3-12. Poetry comes in many shapes and sizes. From Shakespearean sonnets to free verse works by modern poet laureates, students will be engaged in these 8 poetry lessons celebrating different poetic forms. “Dimples” by Chrystal

Find Women’s History Month Resources for Your Classroom with These Lessons by Powerful Women Authors

Celebrate Women’s History Month with our favorite texts by women authors for middle and high schoolers. Discover poetry lessons, biographical texts, and short stories by diverse women authors that will engage your students and increase reading comprehension. Find reading lessons by famous women authors like Zora Neale Hurston, Julia

7 Women’s History Month Lesson Plans for Elementary Students

Discover the women’s voices that have shaped the literary world. Despite making up half the population, women are often underrepresented in classroom resources. Fortunately, our digital library is filled with amazing women authors. Dive into some of our favorite lessons that meet ELA standards, boost reading comprehension, and will

Teach Your Elementary Class about Black Women who Shattered Glass Ceilings

Dive into 8 informational texts about powerful women who made history. Explore our digital literacy platform and find amazing informational texts about inspiring Black women. Learning about these empowering leaders will spark reading engagement for elementary students and bolster reading comprehension with guided reading questions and annotation tools. “What a

This Valentine’s Day, Teach Reading Lessons Your Whole Class Will Love Most Ardently

As they say in Romeo and Juliet, “My bounty is as boundless as the sea.” Check out our bounty of love stories on CommonLit. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, bring the love to your classroom with these reading lessons about love that will get students’ hearts beating. Bolster student’

7 Texts to Celebrate the Harlem Renaissance

These engaging and diverse works help teachers showcase and explore the Harlem Renaissance with their students. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual movement in the 1920s and 1930s. Black Americans in Harlem celebrated self expression through music, fashion, theater, literature and more. Artists of the Harlem Renaissance, such

Heat Up Your Class Discussion Surrounding Fahrenheit 451 with these 7 Supplemental Texts

Explore fascinating dystopian themes and bolster student reading comprehension using CommonLit’s novel companion lessons. CommonLit’s online literacy program offers thousands of detailed reading lessons. Additionally, teachers can find Book Pairings for over a hundred classic books taught in schools across the country. The lessons included in Book Pairings

Fly through To Kill a Mockingbird with CommonLit’s Curated Lesson Plans

Here are 12 informational and literary texts to introduce alongside Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The CommonLit library has over 3,000 high-quality lessons that engage students and strengthen their reading comprehension. Additionally, we offer over 100 Book Pairings [https://www.commonlit.org/en/library?contentTypes=book_pairing&

Fall in Love with these Lesson Plans for Your Romeo and Juliet Unit

Build upon your Shakespeare unit with literary and informational lessons that bewitch your class and ask big questions that are raised in  Romeo and Juliet. CommonLit offers thousands of lessons, a full-year ELA curriculum, and additional paid benchmark assessments for your classroom. Additionally, CommonLit has created Book Pairings for over

Decipher Code Talker in Your Classroom with CommonLit’s Book Pairing

Use historic texts and literary resources to engage students and deepen their understanding as they read Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac. The CommonLit digital literacy program offers over one hundred Book Pairings that help students build reading comprehension. Book Pairings allow a class to do a deep dive into a

Stellar Book Pairings for The Fault in Our Stars

Treat your class to this classic young adult romance novel and boost their reading comprehension as you go! The CommonLit digital literacy program has thousands of high-quality lessons that will engage your students while simultaneously meeting ELA standards. Additionally, we offer over one hundred Book Pairings for your classroom. Every

7 Satirical Lessons for Your Classroom

Introduce satire with these playful, yet thought-provoking, satirical pieces! These satirical articles from famous authors like Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, and Johnathan Swift will introduce students to how authors use humor, irony, exaggeration, and ridicule to expose and critique the world around them.  Take your students reading comprehension to the

Help Students Discover the Magical Power of Reading with Book Pairings for Matilda

Matilda knows there’s magic in reading – help your class discover that magic by teaching the novel alongside these supplemental materials. Strengthen your student's reading comprehension through CommonLit. Our digital literacy program has thousands of high-quality lessons that will engage your students and meet ELA standards. Additionally, we offer over

7 Stories Filled with Halloween Spirit

Here are some festive and spooky reading lessons perfect for October! Trick treating, dressing up, and jack-o'-lanterns are on every student’s mind this time of year. Lean into the festivities with these spooky and fantastical texts your class is sure to love! Our digital literacy program comes with tools

9 Spooky Stories for the Eeriest Time of Year

This October, haunt your classroom with thematically rich horror and suspense short stories! CommonLit’s array of horrifying ghost stories and haunting dystopian tales are guaranteed to send shivers down students’ spines while boosting reading comprehension! Student engagement will be at an all time high after you introduce these chilling

Have A Ball This Fall with 7 Fall-Themed Lessons

Pique students’ interest with these seasonal interviews, poems, and short stories. The leaves are changing and pumpkin patches are popping up everywhere you look; with the help of CommonLit your classroom can be just as seasonally festive! Whether you’re teaching reading comprehension or looking to dive into a thematic

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 opportunity to teach your students about influential Hispanic figures. The CommonLit Library has many engaging and informative texts to celebrate

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 that support teachers when introducing books to the classroom. With the help of Book Pairings, students can hit ELA curriculum

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 of high-quality lessons that engage your students and strengthen their reading comprehension. Additionally, we offer over 100 Book Pairings [https:

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.org/en/library?contentTypes=text&initiatedFrom=library] in its digital library. Each lesson comes complete with standards-aligned comprehension questions, discussion

5 Fantastic Poems about Friendship

These five poems from CommonLit dive into the complexities of friendship. As educators – and former teenagers – you understand the complexities of relationships during our students' teenage years. Poetry can be pivotal for students. Due to its deeply personal nature and tendency to challenge social norms, poetry allows students to engage

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 natural world. As they do this, they'll learn key reading comprehension skills to help them analyze poetry. These six poems