Lesson Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Units: 6th Grade Poetry Unit: Identity

For Teachers 6th Standards
Complete teaching unit for 6th Grade Poetry Unit: "Identity." Students will read 6 poems that speak to the theme of creating an identity. They will revisit the essential question: "How do we forge an identity?", read thematically-paired...
Lesson Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Units: 5th Grade Author Study: Shel Silverstein

For Teachers 6th
Complete teaching unit for 5th Grade Author Study: Shel Silverstein. Students will read 6 poems by Shel Silverstein that speak to the theme of how we should live our lives. Students will revisit the essential question "According to Shel...
Lesson Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Units: 5th Grade Author Study: Gary Soto

For Teachers 5th
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:...
Lesson Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Units: Teaching Units

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Units: 7th Grade Thematic Unit: Happiness

For Teachers 7th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Units: 12th Grade: Thematic Unit: Morality

For Teachers 12th
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...
Lesson Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Units: 11th Grade: Thematic Unit: Values and Beliefs

For Teachers 11th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Units: 9th Grade Thematic Unit: Love

For Teachers 9th Standards
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...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Text Sets

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is a collection of 35 Grade-Leveled text sets (4-11). They are great for social studies teachers or for building background knowledge in reading class, CommonLit's text sets cover a range of historical, cultural, and political...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Introduction to the Vietnam War

For Students 9th - 10th
A learning module that begins with "Introduction to the Vietnam War" by USHistory.org, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Keeping Up With the Joneses" by Common Lit Staff

For Students 7th - 9th
A learning module that begins with "Keeping Up With the Joneses," accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "The Blue Eyed, Brown Eyed Exercise" by Common Lit Staff

For Students 6th - 8th
A learning module that begins with "The Blue-Eyed, Brown-Eyed Exercise," accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "The Nature vs. Nurture Debate" by Common Lit Staff

For Students 7th - 8th Standards
A learning module that begins with "The Nature vs. Nurture Debate," accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Pet Rocks" by Common Lit Staff

For Students 4th - 6th
A learning module that begins with "Pet Rocks," accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and student accounts. Text...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Herd Behavior" by Common Lit Staff

For Students 7th - 8th Standards
A learning module that begins with "Herd Behavior," accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and student accounts....
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe

For Students 9th - 10th
This is the full text of the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe; it was published in 1849 and is the last complete poem published by Poe before his death. Guided reading, discussion questions, and quiz are available [Free account...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Adolf Hitler" by Jessica Mc Birney

For Students 7th - 8th
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was a German politician who was a leader of the Nazi Party and later became a dictator in Germany. Hitler's leadership in Germany resulted in World War II and the deaths of countless soldiers and citizens,...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "The 1972 Andes Flight Disaster" by Common Lit Staff

For Students 7th - 8th
A learning module that begins with "The 1972 Andes Flight Disaster," accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher and...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "A Lonely Planet Ponders" by John P. Curtin

For Students 5th - 7th
John P. Curtin (1967-2012) was a writing professor at DePaul University. He also led bike tours in Seattle, and on one trip he crashed and broke his neck, leaving him paralyzed. He wrote the following poem using a voice-activated...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Can't We All Just Get Along?" by Bird Brain Science

For Students 5th - 6th Standards
Earth is full of a variety of living things that interact with one another in many different ways. This informational text explains the various different types of relationships they can have with one another. It also offers guided...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "About Treacher Collins Syndrome" by Common Lit Staff

For Students 7th - 8th
This informational text gives a brief overview of the causes and effects of Treacher Collins syndrome, the same condition that Auggie, the protagonist of Wonder by R.J. Palacio, has.As you read this text, try to imagine the different...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson

For Students 9th - 10th
A learning module that begins with "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Teaching Shakespeare in a Maximum Security Prison" by Michel Martin

For Students 11th - 12th
A learning module that begins with "Teaching Shakespeare in a Maximum Secruity Prison" by Michel Martin, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or...
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "The Great Depression" by Mike Kubic

For Students 11th - 12th
A learning module that begins with "The Great Depression" by Mike Kubic, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher...