Writing a Reading Response Essay: A Free Workbook for 6th Graders

Writing a Reading Response Essay:

 A Free Workbook for 6th Graders

 Writing a reading response essay can be a really daunting task for middle schoolers. At this age, most kids are just beginning to grasp the hidden meanings behind stories and books, the implied things in a story that are so much more obvious to us as adults who have experienced so much more.

So when I discovered that my daughter would need to write a reading response essay in an exam this year, I got to work doing my best research on how best to approach such a big topic with such young students. 

And what did the research point to?

Be short and to the point!

I came up with the idea of making a workbook of sorts for kids - but there are no busywork pages in here - the only thing they'll be writing are notes and their essays. They can just go at their own pace.

This could also be done as a class, a homework assignment over a few days, or a homeschool resource (as we will use it!)

The language in here is simple and easy for kids to follow - it encourages them to look at the themes, tone and mood of a story plus make connections and give their opinions on that story. If your learners don't know what any of this means - don't worry!

Every page and topic is filled with explanations and even sentence stems to use in their essays!

The workbook first uses the classic short story by Hans Christian Andersen called 'The Fir Tree'. It's a story that I find perfect for this unit as it's quite short - students can even have the webpage provided read it for them - and it has great theme, literary devices, and a definite tone to it.

Students will begin by reading a short page about what a reading response essay is and what will be expected of them in the essay. In this particular unit, I've included these topics:

• Thesis statement / topic sentence
• Theme
• Connections
• Mood, Tone, literary Devices
• Opinions and Conclusion

Next, they'll listen to or read the story while taking notes about each topic (on a special notetaking page in the workbook)

Finally, they'll get to work writing their essays and putting everything they learn on each new page together. 

Although this unit starts with the included short story, it can be used with any story. I've even included links to other great free short story websites. It could, however, be used with a longer novel as well.

I also made a handy checklist that kids can use as a reference while writing future reading response essays.

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

All I ask is that when sharing this unit you leave my website name on each page, and if you're showing it to someone online, to refer them to this blog (MessyBeautifulFun.com)

Thank you! Enjoy Learning!

Download Free Reading Response Workbook Here

 Mood and Tone
A Free Unit For Grades 5-6

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Mood and tone can be really tough concepts to teach. As adults, we might understand the concept of the mood of a story vs the author's tone, but for kids, it's a big concept to master. In this unit, your students will walk step-by-step through descriptions, exercises, and activities to help them discover what these two big concepts mean, and how they're different.

First, you'll use the posters/slides to teach your learners what mood and tone are. You'll discuss words that can be used to describe them, how authors use them, and how to describe the difference between them. The slides can basically be used as a teaching script and include discussion prompts to help you along.

After reading about what mood and tone are, you'll either choose an excerpt for students to use in class, or let your students choose one themselves. I have included 5 really fantastic excerpts from great books that will give quite a lot to work with. Some are shorter and some are longer, but all show the mood and tone of those books quite well.

Students will use these excerpts to write a paragraph about the mood and tone given in that excerpt using a guided writing exercise.

These tough concepts are broken down step-by-step here for your kids to write a full paragraph about the mood and tone of their chosen excerpt. If you're reading a novel in class, you may wish to discuss that novel first and the mood and tone they see there.

Students will choose an adjective to describe the mood and tone of the excerpt (examples are given to inspire them - I highly recommend letting them use a thesaurus too!). They'll then need to find 3 examples from the excerpt that prove this adjective describes the mood or tone of the text.

Finally, they'll put everything together into a final paragraph. This is a great way to prepare for writing a literary essay, and the posters and worksheets can be used throughout the year to practice the concept.

Download the Free Unit Below 

You can download this free unit by clicking on the link below. **You may use and distribute this product for FREE in your homeschool, classroom, or school, but you MUST leave my website name as it is on each page (MessyBeautifulFun.com). If you'd like to share the digital file directly, please direct people to this blog page and not the Google Drive link. You may NOT sell this unit or redistribute it for a profit. Thanks!**

Download Free Mood & Tone Unit Here

Summary and Theme A Free Unit for Grades 5-6

Summary and Theme A Free Unit for Grades 5-6

 Want more free ELA resources for this grade? Check out my ELA page here!

Writing about a book's theme can seem like a daunting task for most kids in this age group. Breaking down how an author is writing to their audience and what theme or lesson they want to get across is a big concept. The key to teaching it to fifth and sixth graders? Breaking it down step-by-step.

In this free printable unit, your learners will write a short summary and summarize the theme of a story using text evidence and their own thoughts.

The unit follows the story 'After the Fall' by Dan Santat, a story about Humpty Dumpty and how he braves climbing the wall once again after his fall. You can use the book itself, or listen to the story read aloud on Youtube. Either way it's a great book to start with that could give your students  few different themes to work with. 

They will start by writing a quick summary using SWBST method (Somebody Wanted But So Then). They'll then flesh out their summaries a bit into a small paragraph. 

Next, students will learn what the theme of a story IS. They'll listen to some common story themes, think up some themes from books or movies, and finally work as a group to come up with quick story ideas for different themes.

You'll then have them write a short paragraph using sentence stems provided on posters to write about the theme of the mentor text, After the Fall.

Finally, they will put it all together into a short essay that includes a quick summary of the story and a paragraph about the theme. I've included excerpts from the story that can be used as text evidence, as well as checklists students can use to be sure they've included everything in their papers.

The 5 lesson plans in the unit guide you through teaching all of this, and make planning a breeze too!

Download The Free Unit Below

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

**You may use and distribute this product for FREE in your homeschool, classroom, or school, but you MUST leave my website name as it is on each page (MessyBeautifulFun.com). If you'd like to share the digital file directly, please direct people to this blog page and not the Google Drive link. You may NOT sell this unit or redistribute it for a profit. Thanks!**

Download Summary & Theme Here

 Free Phonics Program Unit 2 
CVC AN Words and Sight Words

Want more free phonics resources? Check out my phonics page here!

Unit 2 is here!

I hope my Let's Get Reading! Phonics Unit 1 has been helpful for you and your readers! Reading is such an important skill that everyone should have the ability to learn. I'm looking forward to releasing more units in the coming weeks too!

In this unit, the focus will be on CVC (-an) words, like man, can, and van. Your readers will also learn some new sight or heart words to help them read sentences quicker (if you're following a SOR-style or heart words approach to sight words, kids will learn the phonics rules for these later on)

These units follow the same pattern with each new one so that your learners will not have to deal with learning new activities each week. Posters can be displayed or projected for practice every morning, while cards can be used as practice at home or with partners.

Of course, we want our kids to actually use the reading skills we teach them, so they'll get plenty of reading practice in these units too! There are shorter and longer options for readers at different levels, and I've included both with and without illustrations.

The sentence strips have great cues for readers on them too! These use words from previous weeks as well so that students are always practicing learned skills.

Centers are included for practice and fun too! There is a flip and cover center in which students choose a word card and find that picture on the page. There is also a sight word BINGO game and a build-a-word center for extra practice.

I have also included worksheets for extra practice in reading and spelling too! There are missing letter worksheets, sight word writing, drawing a sentence, writing and drawing a sentence, and a dictation page that you can use if you'd like to dictate words or a sentence.

Download the free Phonics Unit below!

You can download this free phonics unit by clicking on the link below - it will take you directly to a Google Drive file. From there, you can download or print the file. 

**You may use and distribute this product for FREE in your homeschool, classroom, or school, but you MUST leave my website name as it is on each page (MessyBeautifulFun.com). If you'd like to share the digital file directly, please direct people to this blog page and not the Google Drive link. Thanks!**

Download Let's Get Reading Unit 2 Here

Free Repeated Addition to Multiplication Lesson and Worksheets

Free Repeated Addition to Multiplication 

Lesson and Worksheets

 Want more math freebies? Check out my math page full of them!

Kids following most math curriculums will typically spend the first 3 years learning about addition and subtraction. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that when we throw in a completely new symbol, many kids get stuck. Teaching multiplication doesn't have to be scary though, or even take up a lot of time. As soon as kids realize exactly what multiplication is, it becomes a whole lot easier for them to get to know their facts and tables.

In this open-and-go lesson, you'll take your learners step-by-step from addition to repeated addition, to multiplication! The lesson slides or pages keep it super simple with easy explanations and real-life situations. It will go over what multiplication is, what the symbol for multiplication is, the commutative property of multiplication, and how to use skip counting and/or strategies to multiply.

Your learners will get plenty of practice too! Not only is practice built into the lesson, but I have included an easy-to-use center and worksheets for you as well. These can be used with markers or manipulatives when placed inside a plastic page protector or laminated. We also love to use them with dice or a spinner. Just have kids spin for the numbers and fill them in.

Download for free below!

You can download this lesson and practice unit by clicking on the link below. All I ask is that when sharing this resource with others, please share the link to this blog post, not the Google Drive! You may distribute paper copies of this resource for FREE or store it for use in your school's resources so long as my website name remains on each page. You may NOT distribute this resource for any profit in any way. Thank you!

Download Repeated Addition to Multiplication Lesson Here!

Free Phonics reading Program Unit 1 CVC Words -AT Word Family

 Free Phonics Reading Program 

Unit 1 CVC Words -AT Word Family

Teaching kids to read can feel downright daunting! whether you've been teaching for a while, are a homeschooling mom, or just beginning your teaching journey, it's a tricky skill to pass on. While we as adults may know how to read, how did we get here? How do we get our kids here? I'm happy to tell you that it is totally possible and you, yes you, can do it!

This first unit is part of a new free program I will be releasing over the coming year that will bring kids from knowing letter sounds to reading fluently! Read on below, or scroll down to the bottom to download it!

This unit includes everything you need to get started - all your kids need to know before starting are their letter sounds. They should know them well! 

This unit starts by teaching kids 5 high-frequency words (sight words, or heart words) as well as some words following the word family -at (like cat, bat, sat, etc.)Cards, posters, and sentence strips all have colored dots underneath them to help kids learn to slow down and sound their words out. Have your littles point to each dot using their finger or a pointing stick as they read the word. They may need to sound it out quite a few times before they realize what the word says. 

I do give a teaching plan in this unit as a suggestion. I suggest starting with just the word cards (without pictures) so students focus on the words instead of just guessing.

I've included two versions of sentence reading activities using the high-frequency words and word family words. You'll find a sentence strip version using only words, as well as a picture version showing visuals. It's up to you to decide how to use them and in which order depending on your curriculum needs or goals.

I have included a few centers as well that are great for extra practice sounding out these words. These can be used in groups or as an individual activity and are a great way to move around while learning. These can be used throughout the week for class-time practice.

You'll also find some great worksheets for every day of the week to practice both word family words and high-frequency words. These are great to do during learning time or as homework practice. Kids always love the fun clipart on many of these too!

I always recommend reviewing these sheets together once the kids have completed them. It's a great way to gauge whether or not everyone understands how to sound out the words and what they mean.

You may also wish to use the write-a-sentence page at the end of the week, having your kids use the word cards to build sentences. They then write and illustrate them. There is also a dictation page included if you'd like to dictate a sentence.

Download the Free Phonics Unit Below

You can download this free unit by clicking on the link below and pressing the download button in the top right corner of your screen. 

**You may share this resource for FREE with others so long as my website name remains on every page. You may NOT resell this resource in any way. If you'd like to share this with others, please send them to this blog, not the Google Drive page. Thank You <3**

Download the Free Phonics Unit Here

NEW! French Read, Spell and Write Unit 4

NEW! French Read, Spell and Write Unit 4

 Want to try a free 2-day sample of this program? Click here!

Want some awesome French learning FREEBIES? Click here!

I am so happy to be releasing the fourth unit in this multi-week series today that will cover weeks 7 and 8 of learning to write in French!

If you have French Second Language writers who are struggling to jump from writing vocabulary words to writing full sentences, then this program is for you! In this unit kids will learn about prepositions, the verb 'to be' in French, and so much more!

Lesson Plans, Scripts & Dictations! Oh My!

Each of these French units lasts a total of two weeks. This gives your kids the chance to really get to know the rule and the words they are learning without feeling too rushed. But don't worry about your learners just writing words without context on a page - this unit gets them really putting their OWN unique sentences together!

In unit 1-3 (weeks 1-6), students will have gone from writing very basic sentences (Il y a un chat) to, in this unit, writing 3 sentences on their own or from a word/picture prompt. Since they've had plenty of time to build these skills, they'll be able to look at a simple picture or photo and write about it. 

They will also continue to learn about the verb être (to be) in the present tense and how to properly use it. I've included a teaching script you can follow, as well as rule posters to display and give out, daily dictations, student reading booklets, and a lesson plan or rhythm you can follow.

Worksheets, Quizzes and More!

In these units, learners will also practice identifying masculine and feminine nouns (this rule was learned in weeks 1 and 2), reading sentences, writing sentences, and correcting grammar mistakes in sentences.

There is a worksheet to do everyday (3 days per week) and a weekly quiz to use on the fourth day. There are also daily dictations that you can read aloud and have students write down on the included dictation sheets. This is a great way to get students writing too!

Learning from previous weeks is also spiralled into each week, so rules and words are not forgotten.

Grab Your Units Below - Or Try it For FREE!

You can find these units in my TeachersPayTeachers shop by clicking on the link below.

You can also download a FREE 2-day sample of weeks 1 and 2 here.

Grab This new Unit HERE on TPT!