CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 9th Grade Thematic Unit: Education
Complete teaching unit for 9th Grade Thematic Unit: "Education." Students will read six informational texts focusing on the essential question: "How can education be used to create change?" They will gather information from their...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 5-10) to pair with "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio. Wonder is the story of Auggie, a 10-year-old boy who has Treacher Collins Syndrome, a condition that causes numerous physical deformities and...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "When I Was a Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 6-8) to pair with the nonfiction book "When I Was a Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago. Esmeralda Santiago, also known as Negi, describes her childhood growing up in Puerto Rico and her eventual...
CommonLit
Common Lit: The Watson's Go to Birmingham 1963" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Selected (7)reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with "The Watson's Go to Birmingham -- 1963" by Christopher Paul Curtis. At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Kenny Watson and his family embark on a road trip from Michigan to...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
Selected (12) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. A young Scout watches her father, prominent lawyer Atticus Finch, defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman in the...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe
Selected (12) reading passages (grades 6-11) to pair with "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. In this classic novel, Okonkwo, a wealthy and respected member of the Umuofia clan, resists the forces of change brought to Africa by...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. In the years following World War I, a group of disillusioned expatriates travel from Paris to Spain to watch bullfighting and participate...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 5th Grade Author Study: Gary Soto
Complete teaching unit for 5th Grade Author Study: Gary Soto. Students will read 4 short stories and 2 poems by Gary Soto that examine romantic and family love. Students will analyze these texts while considering the essential question:...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: Teaching Units
Complete teaching units (12) by grade level. CommonLit units are crafted to be both engaging and rigorous, featuring a variety of literary and informational texts from diverse sources. Reading, writing, and discussion are prioritized in...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "World Without Fish" by Mark Kurlansky
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 6-10) to pair with "World Without Fish" by Mark Kurlansky. Mark Kurlansky discusses how humans treat the oceans and the fish that live in them, and what the world will likely look like if fish...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Wave" by Todd Strasser
Selected (4) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with "The Wave" by Todd Strasser. A high school teacher conducts a social experiment to teach his students about the atrocities of the Holocaust. However, the wave starts to spin out of...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 8th Grade Argumentative Writing Unit: Improving Society
Complete teaching unit for 8th Grade Argumentative Writing Unit: "Improving Society." Students will read six texts about problems in society. Throughout the unit, 8th graders will gather information from their readings in a graphic...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 7th Grade Thematic Unit: Happiness
Complete teaching unit for 7th Grade Thematic Unit: "Happiness." Students will read 6 texts that speak to the theme of happiness. Students will revisit the essential question "How we can achieve happiness?" throughout the unit. They will...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 6th Grade Informational Unit: Success
Complete teaching unit for 6th Grade Informational Unit: "Success." Young scholars will read six informational texts focusing on the essential question: "What does it take to be successful?" Students will gather information from their...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 12th Grade: Thematic Unit: Morality
This is a complete teaching unit for 12th Grade Thematic Unit: "Morality." In this unit, 12th graders will read eight texts that speak to the theme of morality. Students will revisit the essential question "How do we evaluate what's...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 11th Grade: Thematic Unit: Values and Beliefs
Complete teaching unit for 11th Grade Thematic Unit: "Values and Beliefs." Students will read 8 short stories that examine how values and beliefs are shaped. They will analyze these stories, and the short story form, while considering...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Units: 9th Grade Thematic Unit: Love
Complete teaching unit for 9th Grade Thematic Unit: "Love." In this unit, 9th graders will read six texts that speak to the theme of love. They will revisit the essential question "What is love, and how does it change us?" throughout the...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 8-10) to pair with the drama "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. When a struggling African-American family receives a large insurance check, a conflict erupts on how to spend the money....
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare
Selected (6) reading passages (grades 7-10) to pair with the drama "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. The overlapping story of several couples and the inevitably complicated road to love encompasses a play within a play,...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams
Selected (6) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams. After losing her family estate to creditors, Blanche DuBois moves in with her younger sister, Stella, and her working class...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 10-12) to pair with "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd. In this novel about family connections and racial equality, Lily Owens and Rosaleen, Lily's housekeeper, run away to Tiburon, South...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 10-12) to pair with "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. After being forced to wear a scarlet "A" and live on the outskirts of the colonial Puritan settlement, Hester Prynne struggles to...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Sahara Special" by Esme Raji Codell
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 5-8) to pair with "Sahara Special" by Esme Raji Codell. Sahara Special is the story of Sahara Jones's 5th grade school year and the struggles she overcomes to make friends and reach her potential as...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 6-10) to pair with "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry tells the story of the Logan family combating racial tension and segregation in Mississippi during...