Short Story of the Month
What is the Short Story of the Month Club?
It’s a collection of short story units created specifically around the CCSS for grades 5-8.
Each grade level has its own set of short stories that cover ALL the Reading Literature
Common Core Standards for that grade level.
Read on to learn more about these short story units, or click any grade level below to see what stories are included.
What comes with each individual story?
Each short story unit includes a day-by-day teaching guide for 8-10 days of teaching.
You’ll get teaching instructions for 12-18 CCSS aligned activities, any hints or links that I found helpful, and the approximate time it takes to complete each activity.
Low prep and ready to go activities include
- Mini lessons to introduce or review skills
- Vocabulary lessons that just make sense and fit with the story and skills
- Graphic organizers
- Close reading lessons with annotation guides
- Paired text analysis, likely a related nonfiction selection, poem, song lyrics or video clip
- Text evidence activities
- Comprehension and skills-based assessment
- Essential question activity for students to tie everything together
Can I really teach all of the Reading Literature Standards?
Yes! Using the year long bundle ensures that you cover every reading literature standard for that grade level. A CCSS alignment is available for each grade so you can see exactly where every standard is covered.
Do your follow a different set of standards? You’ll also receive an alignment of specific skills, such as plot or figurative language, categorized by story and activity.
You can download the free CCSS and Skill alignments for grades 6-8 here:
*Grade 5 will be available once all of the units are complete.*
What if my classroom is digital?
I’ve got you covered!
All student activity pages are available in Google Slides.
Quizzes and tests are available as self grading Google Forms.
DAILY TEACHING GUIDE
Every unit includes a teaching guide. This is where I explain how I use each activity. I include hints and links that I found helpful. I’ve even mapped out the days for you with approximate times for each activity.
Do you have to follow this guide? No, you can mix things up and choose whatever activities are right for your classes. Feel free to take or leave what you like. Even if you don’t plan to follow this schedule, I still recommend reading through this section to get the most out of these activities.
Are The Short Stories Included?
Most of these short stories are copyright protected and not included in the resource.
I did choose stories that I can easily direct you to with suggested links in case the story is not in your anthology.
Stories that are available in the public domain and no longer copyright protected, like like Rikki Tikki Tavi, The Tell-Tale Heart, Paul Revere’s Ride, and others, are included.
You Can Edit Activities and Assessments!
Want to change a question on a test or remove something from an activity?
Use the editable PowerPoint file to make changes to the comprehension quiz, the skills test, and most student activities.
The only items that aren’t editable are activities I’ve pulled from other units, like Interactive Notebook activities.
Teach all the Common Core Reading Literature Standards with confidence using short stories that I promise your students will love!
The first month of each grade level is FREE so you can get started with the Short Story of the Month today!
Click any of the free units below to download.
