Free Making Inferences in Literature Unit

Want more ELA freebies for these grades (and others?) Check out my ELA Page!

Making Inferences in Literature

Making inferences in literature is an important standard that will teach kids how to look deeper into what they're reading and have a better understanding of the texts they read. This unit breaks the concept down into super simple chunks for kids in grades 5-6 and helps prepare them to write more solid literary analyses in the future.

 

Made for Teachers and Homeschoolers

I made this unit for my own kids, who will need to take some important exams in sixth grade - even though they are homeschooled. I want them to be as prepared as possible and have the best confidence going into those tests! So trust me when I say, I made this with a passion for teaching and with BOTH homeschoolers and teachers in mind.

The lesson plans included could easily be adapted to both. They're short and to the point, but still cover the topic really well for this age range. Each lesson includes guided notes on what to say and how to teach this concept, which can be tricky for some kids. Lessons also include practice to do as a parent-child or classroom. It would work well for both online or offline teaching too!

Made for Teachers and Homeschoolers

The unit includes 2 original mentor texts written by me that are great for this age range. They leave room for kids to draw simpler inferences, as well as inferences that are deeper and deal with emotions and problems. Another fun thing included is an excerpt from Charlotte's Web that allows kids to draw inferences of their own using their previous knowledge and the text.

The included worksheets go along perfectly with the mentor texts, but can also be used for any book throughout the year as extra practice.

Anchor Charts for Teaching Everything

I find anchor charts to be really helpful for students to refer to. But I also find them really helpful for myself while I'm teaching! Having something to refer to and use as a guide for those 'blank mind' moments or when I myself am not sure of a concept can be a really great help. So I've made sure to include plenty of posters in this unit to help you and your learners along. 

They can be displayed on an overhead projector or screen, or just used as posters throughout the year to remind students of important concepts/

Download the free Inferences in Literature By Clicking Here!

The Homeschool Preview Collection FREEBIES!

 

Hello my homeschooling readers!

I just wanted to make this post to let you know about a new FREE collection that is out right now that is giving away some incredible resource!

This 'free preview collection' is a great way to get ready for th eupcoming school year and features some AMAZING and FULL products that I know you're going to love - because I have been loving them myself!

This preview collection is meant to be a little taste of what will be coming in an upcoming bundle sale I am participating in this week - one that I am super excited about! The Homeschool Collection from HomeschoolResourceCo.

While the sale will be starting later this week, for now you can download some truly amazing freebies that will help you map out your school year! These include...

• A 97-page homeschool planner printable
• A Student Guide to Digital Projects (this is a course your kids can follow by picking their own digital projects to complete - super fun ones like creating a quote graphic on Canva through to making a virtual newspaper!)
• Identifying Your Child's Learning Profile (this  course for parents helps you to create or prepare for a custom IEP/work plan for your child who may have some special needs.)
• Why & How to do homeschool evaluations (this video course walks you through how to do your own evaluations to keep track of your child's learning - without those pesky state tests! This course includes a workbook and is definitely one I will be doing!)

You can download this freebie collection by clicking on any image on this page or by clicking on the link below.

Enjoy!!

Download The Free Preview Collection Here

Illustration in a Text Unit Free - The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

 Illustration in a Text Unit Free 

Visual Elements in Literature

Want more free ELA resources like this? Check out my ELA resource page!

Most kids grow up reading and being read picture books. But have you ever asked your students to make the connection between illustrations in a fictional text and how they change and affect the storyline?

In this unit, this all-important concept will be covered for grades 4-6 using the beautiful book by Peter Brown, The Curious Garden.

Lesson Plans and Worksheets

Included in this unit you'll find some guided lesson plans to use. There are 2 days of lesson plans that should take 45 minutes to an hour of classroom time, or about 30 minutes of 1-on-1 time to complete. Of course, you can choose to divide the lessons up even further by listening to the literature on one day and responding to it the next.

I've included everything you need to teach, including an anchor chart, worksheets, and the lessons that tell you exactly what to do.

An Original Text and Response

In order to get your students warmed up and ready for a response to the picture book used in this unit, they'll start off with a short text. this an original mentor text I wrote for this unit that includes illustrations and a response worksheet.

You will read the text as a class, pausing as indicated in the lesson plans to discuss how the images that go with the story relate to it and add to it. This is a great way to get your students thinking more about illustration connections. They will then choose their favourite image from the story and the one or two sentences they felt connected with it the most and give an explanation as to why.

The Curious Garden Literature Response Unit

In the second lesson, students will listen to the video read aloud of the Curious Garden. Of course, if you would like to read the book yourself you can do this as well. The lesson plan guides you on where to stop in the story and discuss the text imagery vs illustration and when to connect the two.

After doing this, students will respond to the story using two excerpts and connect those to the illustrations in the book. As this book contains many wordless pages, it's a great choice for teaching this topic!

Download the Unit Below

You can download this free unit by clicking on the link below.

**Please do not share the direct link to the google drive, but a link to this post instead. This FREE resource may be shared for FREE, used in online teaching or in-person teaching so long as my website address (messybeautifulfun.com) remains on every page. You may NOT sell this unit for a fee or distribute it as your own work. Let's keep education free and accessible to everyone! Thank you**

Download the Free Illustration Unit Here

 Free Text to Self Student Response Unit 
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day

Need more free ELA resources? Check out my ELA resource page here!

Making text connections. When you think about this important concept we are supposed to teach our kids and classes, it's actually something we do all the time. We might watch a movie and compare it to the book we read (that's text-to-world connection!), we might compare a book we read to another book we read about a similar topic (text-to-text), or we may compare ourselves to a character in book, either feeling what they feel or criticizing their actions (text-to-self). There are many other examples and ways we can make text connections too!

As my own child prepares for sixth-grade English exams for next spring, I realized this is a skill we would need to work on. Although we always talk about these sorts of things in our everyday lives, would she know what to actually do if someone asked her to put that on paper? So here we are with my first text-to-self FULL teaching unit for homeschool or classroom! And with one of my favourite books from my own childhood!

Text-to-self Question Cards

The first part of this unit is all about making your students think of how they connect to the text. In this unit, we'll use a read-aloud version of this story on youtube (you may also just read the book if you'd like!) While you're listening to the story I've made some question cards you can use to get your students thinking and preparing to write their responses. You could use all of the questions or just a few.

These questions all pull your students into the story by trying to connect them to the way the main character, ALexander, feels. Can they relate to him, or not? (If not, don't worry - we've got plans for that later in the unit!). As you ask these questions, your students or yourself can take notes about their responses. You can have them write them down, or discuss them out loud depending on their abilities and how you'd like your lesson to go.

Lesson Plan & Writing Guide

After you've taken the time to dig deeper into how the book might relate to your students feelings, it will be time to write their response. This is included in the lesson plan and includes posters or anchor charts to guide your students through the writing process. It also includes sentence stems that they can use to get started on each part of their paper.

These plans take into account that you'll have students who will feel that they CAN relate to the character, as well as students who feel that they CANNOT relate to the character. There are options for both and they get to choose their own path in their personal response.

Different Options & Independent Work

I've also made sure to include a few different options you can use in your class or homeschool. If you'd prefer to have students write the essay on their own, you can use the personal-sized posters or the one-page response option depending on their response type. This way, if you don't have time to do everything together, kids in grades 5-6 can still easily do this on their own.

I've also included regular-sized and personal-sized posters with strong vocabulary suggestions for some of the emotions they might be expressing in their writing. It's always great to squeeze in some stronger words!

Download the free unit below

You can download this free unit by clicking on the link below. If you do use it I'd love to hear about your experience! Feel free to e-mail me (debbiejeansblog@gmail.com) or send me a message on Instagram!

**TERMS OF USE: This FREE unit is meant to be free and kept free! You may NOT distribute it for profit or sell it for profit. You MAY use it in classrooms (in-person or digital), homeschools, co-ops, tutoring, or pods. You MUST keep my website address (MessyBeautifulFun.com) on each page as it is. Thank you!!**

Download the Text-to-Self Unit Here

Mental Math for 6th Grade Unit 2 
100 Free Exercises

Want more free math resources? Check our my math resources page here!

Are your sixth-graders ready for the next set of Mental Math questions?

Here it is!

If you missed set one you can grab it on my math resource page for free as well! This second unit builds off of that unit and has some all-new fresh questions, with a few new beginning-of-the-year sixth-grade skills too! These questions are great for students following ANY math curriculum or standards, homeschoolers, or classroom teachers.

Take a look at all that is included below and how the units work - then download your free folder to get started!

Mental Math Practice Made Easy!

Practicing mental math exercises is not only important in order to prepare for math exams (especially in Quebec!) but can greatly benefit students as well. Being able to quickly calculate 5.6 x 1000 and coming up with strategies is an important step in students' math journeys. We use quick calculations in daily life every day - allowing students to practice this skill empowers them both in and out of school, well into adulthood.

Mental math exercises can also be beneficial when having to solve larger math problems, like situational problems or project-based learning situations. Students can sort information and make quick calculations to get themselves started and decode math vocabulary much quicker. So whether you're teaching for exams or tests or not, using these slides at home or in school can be a bonus!

The slides included in this unit can be used in any order - so you can mix and match them within this set or even with other mental math sets I've made! This is one way you can eventually re-use these questions later on in the year, doing them in a new order so that students will have forgotten about them and their answers.

Teacher Guide and Student Response Sheets

Mental math isn't a skill that can be memorized - it takes practice and learning new strategies. Included in each unit are different types of student response sheets, a quick-start guide, and responses to the questions for teachers/home educators. It is very important to explain to students that memorizing these answers won't help them answer quicker or be better at the problems. Strategy and practice will help the most - that is why I am hoping to make quite a few of these sets.

You can download this free unit below. You'll be taken to a folder in Google Drive with all of the resources mentioned. These include:

• Google Slides link (to make your own copy) with mental math questions
• PDF version of the slides that can be printed or projected onto a tablet easily
• Student response sheets with 5 or 10 answer spaces and a scorecard below
• Teacher guide with tips and answers

I hope this helps you in your class or homeschool!

**Please note: This FREE resource may be shared for FREE, used in online teaching or in-person teaching so long as my website address (messybeautifulfun.com) remains on every page. You may NOT sell this unit for a fee or distribute it as your own work. Let's keep education free and accessible to everyone! Thank you**

Download the Free Mental Math Unit Here

Quebec Historical Expeditions Unit 2 - Quebec 1905

 Quebec Historical Expeditions Unit 2

Quebec 1905

Want to see more Quebec History resources? Check out my Quebec History page!

Ready for another historical expedition? This time your students will sail over to Quebec around the year 1905. They'll discover the land, the people, the customs and industry, and how it has all changed!

Whether you're a homeschooler or classroom teacher, this resource will make meeting the Quebec progressions of learning for History engaging, fun, and simple!

Google Slides Make Learning an Adventure!

In these digital versions of the units, the student will use their navigation compass to read and research everything they need to learn. It's easy to follow thanks to the compass page that guides kids on their 'expedition' into history. 

Each link corresponds to a response sheet that students will use to show their learning by typing it on Google Slides or writing on the printable version worksheet.

Digital or Printable Options

Every Quebec Historical Expedition unit comes with many options that you can mix and match to suit your learners best. There are printable versions of the texts that students use to research online. This means that you can have them do the research online themselves, OR you can choose to give them the texts on paper or projected onto a screen. There are also both digital and printable student response sheets where kids will get to show what they've learned. These are both perfect for portfolios and can be used with either digital or printable information texts.

Great Rewards for Great Work!

With every unit, students will receive a piece of a map - available in both digital or printable formats. You can choose to use this portion of the program or not, but I highly recommend it! Once they will have completed all 10 of these units for grades 5-6 history, they will complete their maps and have a great way to show everything they have learned.

The best part of this program is how flexible it is. You can choose to have students cover every single progression by completing every single slide, OR you can pick and choose which ones you'd like them to do - and delete the rest. For example, one of my own kids will be using this program this year - since she has already covered part of it, we will do a few pages of unit 1 for review and let her get her first map piece, then move on to the next unit. 

It's completely up to you how much or little they will do.

Progressions? Covered!

Following the Quebec Progressions of Learning for history and geography is a must whether you're a homeschooler or classroom teacher. So I have been sure to include a list of the progressions that each unit covers so you can be assured that you'll be covering them all!

Ready to Download?

I hope this unit will help you in your homeschool or classroom as much as it is helping me! You can download the free unit by clicking on the Google Drive link below. You'll find 4 files including everything I have mentioned above.

**You are free to use this unit in your homeschool, classroom, or digital classroom, so long as my website remains on each page and my credit pages remain in place. You may NOT sell this unit or distribute it for a fee - let's keep learning free and accessible for everyone!**

Click Here to Download the Quebec Historical Expedition Unit 2

 French Sentence Writing Unit for Beginner Learners

Want more free French resources? Check out my French resource page!

Whether or not you're familiar with the French language, teaching kids to write in another language can be daunting! Much of the time, we start by teaching vocabulary and simple phrases - and while that's all amazing, if we ever want our kids to actually write in French they need to be able to build proper sentences - and then string sentences together into paragraphs.

This unit is the perfect place to start if your child has not written in French before or are only just beginning to. It is how I taught my youngest kids to write in French just a year and a half ago, and now they have gone from writing sentences to paragraphs!

Common Words and Nouns

When it comes to common words in language, it is important for kids to memorize these words and how to use them in sentences. Words like I, you, he, she, in front of, behind, a, the - we use them every day. One of the best ways to learn these words is through exposure and consistency - basically using them almost every day. 

This unit includes 162 word cards - most of which are sight words kids can learn. The rest are nouns that are common in our everyday lives that they can add to sentences.

So while 'c'est' (it's) and 'un' (a) might be common words, adding the word 'chat' can turn them into a sentence - "C'est un chat" - It's a cat. 

Every card includes the English translation so that your kids can start by building sentences with those words, and eventually barely need to look at them.

Worksheets for writing and learning

I have also included several worksheets that will help your kid(s) begin to write and use French vocabulary more.

First, there are two sheets where kids can write the sentences they have made using the cards. You can include your own vocabulary words in here too to make even better sentences.

Next, there are sheets for dictations. You could dictate either single words or sentences for them to write down, seeing how well they remember the spelling as well as what the words mean. Afterward, you can go over their writing together and review words if necessary.

Finally, I have included 'My dictionary' page and a page of blank cards where they can keep track of new words they want to add to their sentences. This will be perfect for introducing new vocabulary units and words they learn through reading or speaking.

Quick guides for teachers and parents

I wrote a quick introduction to the unit and how you might use it if your child (and yourself) and not familiar with writing in French. Take as much time as you need to go through each step, until you and your child feel confident expanding their writing.

Download the free unit

To download this unit, simply click on the link below. It will take you to Google Drive where you can download the unit to your own computer or device.

**Please note: This free unit may be shared for FREE so long as my website name remains on every page that it has been placed. You may not sell or distribute this unit for a fee. If you'd like to share this unit online, please do not link directly to the Google doc, but send readers here with a link to this page. Thank you!**

Enjoy learning! 

Download the French Sentence Unit Here