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....
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Common Lit: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Fredrick Douglass
Selected (11) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with the autobiography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Fredrick Douglass. Frederick Douglass recounts his experiences as a slave in Maryland, and his treatment at the...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 9-11) to pair with "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro. After decades of striving to be the perfect butler, Stevens embarks on a drive through postwar England that prompts him to reflect on...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America" S. Robinson
Selected (17) reading passages (grades 5-11) to pair with "Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America" by Sharon Robinson. In Promises To Keep, Sharon Robinson, daughter of the baseball legend, shares memories of her famous...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 9-11) to pair with "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet clashes with the proud Mr. Darcy, but soon questions her rush to judgement - in this classic commentary on love, propriety,...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Selected (11) reading passages (grades 8-11) to pair with "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. This story follows the wife and four daughters of a Baptist preacher who moves them to the Belgian Congo in 1959, setting the...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 7-9) to pair with the autobiography "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi. "Persepolis" is an autobiographical graphic novel depicting Marjane Satrapi's experience during the Islamic revolution of 1979....
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Othello" by William Shakespeare
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 10-12) to pair with the drama "Othello" by William Shakespeare. Othello, a revered general of the Venetian army, has his newlywed wife meet him in Cyprus where he's stationed. But while there his...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with the coming-of-age novel "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton. Ponyboy Curtis, a member of the Greaser gang, learns the value of family and friendship through his conflict with a rival...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
Selected (6) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with the novella "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. This novella tells the story of Santiago, an old fisherman who struggles to reel in a giant marlin far off the coast of...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 9-11) to pair with the novel "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. George and Lennie are two migrant workers trying to stay employed and out of trouble. Their dream of having their own farm may be...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Odyssey" by Homer
Selected (6) reading passages (grades 8-11) to pair with the epic poem "The Odyssey" by Homer. Odysseus, an ancient Greek war hero and leader of Ithaca, embarks on a twenty-year long return to his homeland after the fall of Troy. It is...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 5-11) to pair with "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry. Number the Stars is historical fiction set during WWII in Nazi occupied Denmark. 10-year-old Annemarie Johansen risks her life to help the Rosens,...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Night" by Elie Wiesel
Selected (10) reading passages (grades 8-11) to pair with the autobiography "Night" by Elie Wiesel. In this autobiographical account, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel recounts his horrifying experiences at the Auschwitz and Buchenwald...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: Ancient Civilizations Around the World
Collection of 21 Grade-Leveled texts (4-11) on the topic "Ancient Civilizations Around the World." Learn about ancient and medieval civilizations from South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East in this text set. [Free account...