Welcome to The Literacy Cookbook

If your state is among those using PARCC Assessments, then you probably already know about the PARCC Website and Practice Tests.

Here are some important resources to review before you start PARCC prep:

• This TLC blog post featuring a PARCC ELA Prep Checklist.  See the updated checklist and PARCC Writing Skills Tracker in the Download Zone.
  
• This TLC Blog post, "Essential Literacy Work Before You Begin Test Prep."

The rest of this page looks at READING RESOURCES and WRITING RESOURCES.

IMPORTANT UPDATES:

• PARCC Released Items are now moved to a new Website HERE.

PARCC Prep READING RESOURCES:

General Information:

• See PARCC Released Items for sample assessments and scored student sample responses (NOTE: They changed the location of this Website!).  See PARCC ELA Practice Tests for more sample assessments.
  
  
• PARCC Prep: How and Why to Analyze Reading Questions (You will need the PARCC Prep Analysis of Reading Questions TABLE.)
• For PARCC-aligned questions from grades 3-11, see the Download Zone. (Thanks to the Pointe Coupee Parish School System for posting these online.) These can easily be interwoven into lessons via Do Now, class discussions, and homework.
• PARCC Prep: How to Unpack Reading Assessment Results
• COMMON CORE READING: A Solid Resource for Texts and Materials!
• COMMON CORE READING: Another Great Resource for Nonfiction Texts!
• Common Core and PARCC Prep: More Reading Resources!
• PARCC End-of-Year (EOY) ELA Practice Tests Are Now Available!
• Another Helpful Resource for Finding Appropriate Texts!
• PARCC Prep: Preparing for the May ELA Assessments (You will need the PARCC Prep Analysis of Reading Questions TABLE.)

As a reminder, here are the PARCC passage length requirements by grade:

Resources for Grade-level Appropriate Texts:

[Note: I have highlighted my favorite sites.]

• Achievethecore.org is “full of free content designed to help educators understand and implement the Common Core State Standards. It includes practical tools designed to help students and teachers see their hard work deliver results.”  It features, among other resources, “Annotated Mini-Assessments for Grades 3-11”: The site, produced by nonprofit Student Achievement Partners, boasts “a growing collection of English language arts / literacy mini-assessments that illustrate the shifts required by the Standards. These mini-assessments are designed for teachers to use either in the classroom, for self-learning, or in professional development settings.”  The assessments include fiction and nonfiction.  For a more detailed review and explanation of how to use Achievethecore, click HERE.
• Commonlit.org is "a collection of poems, short stories, news articles, historical documents, and literature for classrooms."  Its free resources are organized by theme, essential questions, Lexile levels, and more for grades 3-12 (just added 3-4!).  It also offers PAIRED TEXTS and LESSON PLANS.  YOU CAN EVEN HAVE THE TEXTS READ ALOUD TO YOU!!!
• C-SPAN includes a plethora of resources--esp. video clips--for teachers designing Research Simulation Tasks and DBQs.  See my TLC Blog post about C-SPAN.
• EdCite.com is FREE and offers PARCC-released assessments which enable teachers to give students practice tests and collect data.  You can also create tech-enhanced questions.
• The Learning Network: This blog, "Teaching and Learning with the New York Times," bases lesson plans on articles.  This post offers 12 ways to use this blog effectively.
• LearnZillion: This free Website, designed for use by teachers and students, contains more than 2,000 video lessons on math and ELA, aligned with the Common Core Standards for grades 3-12.
• Newsela.com: Newsela is free and presents articles (and quizzes) on a range of topics (War and Peace - Science - Kids - Money - Law - Health    - Arts - Sports).  You can filter your search by grade level, reading standard, and whether the Newsela folks have designed a quiz for the article.  Even better, the system enables you to convert the articles INSTANTLY into higher or lower Lexiles so you can use them with any grade from 3-12.  For reviews that explain how to use Newsela, click HERE and HERE.  It also offers TEXT SETS!
• Next Gen Assessments: "The purpose of this website is to collect and share free online resources that can be used to help students develop familiarity and proficiency with the technology skills they will need for next generation assessments. These resources include sample assessment items and interactive online activities that simulate the types of technology tasks students will need to complete." (Thanks to Virginia Woolley at Queen City Academy CS for this lead!)
• PBS Learning Media: PBS LearningMedia provides "access to 100k+ standards-aligned digital resources, productivity tools that can help you integrate content into your instruction, and professional development opportunities that will strengthen your teaching skills."
• ReadWorks.org:The non-profit ReadWorks is committed to solving the nation’s reading comprehension crisis by giving teachers the research-proven tools and support they need to improve the academic achievement of their students.  ReadWorks provides research-based units, lessons, and authentic, leveled non-fiction and literary passages directly to educators online, for free, to be shared broadly.  The ReadWorks curriculum is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and the standards of all 50 states. Most importantly, ReadWorks is faithful to the most effective research-proven instructional practices in reading comprehension.  For a review that explains how to use ReadWorks, click HERE.  It also offers PAIRED TEXTS!
• Smithsonian TweenTribune is a free online educational service offered by the Smithsonian for use by K-12 grade teachers and students. TTribune consists of daily news sites for kids, tweens, and teens, and includes text (with a Lexile-leveling feature), photos, graphics, and audio and/or video materials prepared by the Smithsonian and others about current events, history, art, culture and science. TTribune also includes lessons, instructional and assessment tools, and opportunities for the registered users to communicate with other participants. TTribune is a moderated comment sharing community where registered teachers can assign educational content (like news stories) to students and the students using a screen name have the ability to create comments which, if approved by their teacher, are then published either to the other students within the teacher’s TTribune classroom page, or publicly on TTribune. (Thanks to Adina Medina at HoLa CS for this lead!)
• ThinkCERCA.com is a “CCSS-aligned literacy program with tools and content teachers need to help students learn to read closely, think critically, and develop powerful arguments.”  It provides grade-leveled informational texts with PARCC-aligned questions and includes tools to produce reading and writing lessons.  The site promises to “help students build college and career readiness skills with engaging real-world ELA, Science, and Social Science topics for grades 3-12.”  This is a great resource for quick practice on Reading Informational Text Standards!
• TLC "Historical Writing: DBQ Essays" page contains links to additional history-related resources!
• TLC "Speeches" page provides speeches with video clips!

PARCC Prep WRITING RESOURCES:

General Information:

• See PARCC Released Items for sample assessments and scored student sample responses (NEW LOCATION!).  See PARCC ELA Practice Tests for more sample assessments.
• How to Prepare Students for PARCC Writing Tasks
• PARCC Prep: How to Unpack Literary Analysis and Research Writing Prompts
• User-Friendly PARCC Writing Rubrics! (See MORE rubrics in the Download Zone.)
• UPDATED PARCC Writing Rubrics (effective July 2015):  ***For the most current information I have on PARCC Writing Rubrics, click HERE.
  • PARCC Writing Rubric GRADE 3-July 2015
  • PARCC Writing Rubric GRADES 4-5-July 2015
  • PARCC Writing Rubric GRADES 6-11-July 2015
• How to Pace PARCC Writing Preparation
• Suggested Grading Conversion Charts for PARCC ELA Rubrics
• PARCC Writing Skills Tracker
• PARCC ELA Prep Checklist rev 2019***UPDATED 3-14-19

Research Writing Tasks:

• PARCC Prep: Research Simulation Task Writing Lesson Cycle--UPDATED 2-2-2020--This lesson cycle is recommended for SS, Science, and ELA teachers!  Note: It helps to work with students on paragraph writing first.  See the TLC "Argument vs. Evidence" page for details.
• PARCC RST Prep: How to Connect Note-taking to Sentence Writing--This TLC Blog post offers a useful 2-day lesson sequence!
• PARCC Research Simulation Writing Prompts 1-29-19 ***UPDATED
• PARCC Preparation: Tackling the Research Writing Task
• PARCC Prep: How to Unpack Literary Analysis and Research Writing Prompts
• User-Friendly PARCC Writing Rubrics!  (See note above*** and MORE rubrics in the Download Zone.)
• See TLC "Historical Writing: DBQ Essays" page for additional resources!
• For speeches with video clips, see TLC "Speeches" page.
• See PARCC Released Items for sample assessments and scored student sample responses (NEW LOCATION!).  See PARCC ELA Practice Tests for more sample assessments.
• For support on how to teach students to build "quote sandwiches/lasagna" (context, evidence, and explanation), check out these TLC Blog posts on quote sandwiches.
•  In the Download Zone:
  • 3rd Grade RST 2016 MODELING GUIDE
  • 3rd Grade PARCC RST 2015 MODELING
    
  • 4th Grade Research Writing PARCC 2015 Modeling
  • PARCC RST Unpacking-the-Prompt Practice for Grade 5
  • PARCC RST Unpacking-the-Prompt Practice for Grade 3
    
  • 4th Grade RST 2017 Sample Body Paragraph (Thanks to Patrice Richards at RCCS for her help with this!)
  • 4th Grade RST Exemplar Essay (Thanks to teachers at RCCS for their help with this!)

Narrative Writing Tasks:

• PARCC Prep: Narrative Writing Task Lesson Cycle--This lesson cycle will make your life easier!  Note: It's best to begin with untimed narrative writing first, then shift to timed work.  This cycle prepares students for the timed genre.
• PARCC Narrative Writing Prompts 1-29-19 ***UPDATED
• PARCC Prep: How to Approach the Narrative Writing Task
• User-Friendly PARCC Writing Rubrics!  (See note above*** and MORE rubrics in the Download Zone.)
• OTHER TOOLS YOU MAY NEED:
  • Characterization Methods: DDAT
  • Character Analysis ORGANIZER
  • Character Analysis Organizer MODEL
  • Narrative Writing Pre-Writing Organizer-rev 9-22-22
  • Narrative Pre-Writing Organizer MODEL rev 9-22-22
  • How to Begin a Narrative (Thanks to Sanjana Hossain at Great Oaks Legacy CS for this lead!)
  • Partner Feedback Protocol for Narrative
  • Peer Support Narrative Checklist
  • PARCC Narrative Extend the Story Checklist--NEW!
  • Here's a fun way to invite students to apply their inference skills: Read "The Conversation Piece" by Ned Guymon (which originally appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1950) and figure out what is going on in this dialogue.
• See TLC "Narrative Writing" and "Analyzing Literature" pages for additional resources.
• See PARCC Released Items for sample assessments and scored student sample responses (NEW LOCATION!).  See PARCC ELA Practice Tests for more sample assessments.
• PARCC Prep: "Extending the Story" for PARCC Narrative Writing Task
• PARCC Prep: Narrative Writing Task Revision Checklist

Literary Analysis Writing Tasks:

• PARCC Prep: Literary Analysis Writing Lesson Cycle, UPDATED 1-28-2020--This lesson cycle will make your life easier! Note: It helps to work with students on paragraph writing first.  See the TLC "Argument vs. Evidence" page for details.
• PARCC Literary Analysis Writing Prompts 1-29-19 ***UPDATED
• PARCC Prep: Literary Analysis Writing Task
• Literary Analysis Writing: How to Infer Themes from a Text (CCS#2)
• How to Infer Themes ORGANIZER (in the Download Zone, and for FREE PDF version, click HERE)
• PARCC Prep: A Better Way to Teach Compare and Contrast (in the Download Zone, see Outlining Your Compare-and-Contrast Essay)
• PARCC Prep: How to Unpack Literary Analysis and Research Writing Prompts
• User-Friendly PARCC Writing Rubrics!  (See note above*** and MORE rubrics in the Download Zone.)
• PARCC Prep: Learning from Failure
• See TLC "Literary Response Paper Guide" and "Analyzing Literature" pages for additional resources.
• See PARCC Released Items for sample assessments and scored student sample responses (NEW LOCATION!).  See PARCC ELA Practice Tests for more sample assessments.
• For support on how to teach students to build "quote sandwiches/lasagna" (context, evidence, and explanation), check out these TLC Blog posts on quote sandwiches.
• PARCC Prep: Literary Analysis Writing DEMO LESSON
• In the Download Zone:
  • 7th Grade Lit Analysis PARCC 2015 Modeling-UPDATED 2-7-19
  • 8th Grade Lit Analysis PARCC PRACTICE Modeling
  • 3rd Grade Lit Analysis PARCC 2015 Modeling Thesis and 1st Body-rev 3-2019
  • 6th Grade Lit Analysis Comparative Paragraph and Conclusion Demo
  • 4th Grade PARCC 2018 Literary Analysis MODELING
  • PARCC Lit Analysis Unpacking-the-Prompt Practice for Grade 3
  • PARCC Lit Analysis Unpacking-the-Prompt Practice for Grade 5
    

PS--If you have any suggestions for other useful materials, please let me know at sarahtantillo@literacycookbook.com.  Thanks, ST

IN THE DOWNLOAD ZONE for PARCC Prep:

• Grade 3 User-Friendly PARCC Writing Rubric
• Grades 4-11 User-Friendly PARCC Writing Rubric
• PARCC Prep Analysis of Reading Questions TABLE
• How to Infer Themes ORGANIZER
• Characterization Methods: DDAT
• Character Analysis ORGANIZER
• Character Analysis Organizer MODEL
• Narrative Writing Pre-Writing Organizer-rev 9-22-22
• Narrative Pre-Writing Organizer MODEL rev 9-22-22
• Outlining Your Compare-and-Contrast Essay
• PARCC Narrative Writing Prompts 1-29-19***UPDATED
  
• PARCC Literary Analysis Writing Prompts 1-29-19***UPDATED
  
• PARCC Research Simulation Writing Prompts 1-29-19***UPDATED
  
• PARCC ELA Prep Checklist rev 2019***UPDATED 3-14-19
  
• PARCC Writing Rubric GRADE 3-July 2015
• PARCC Writing Rubric GRADES 4-5-July 2015
• PARCC Writing Rubric GRADES 6-11-July 2015
• 4th Grade Research Writing PARCC 2015 Modeling
• 7th Grade Lit Analysis PARCC 2015 Modeling--UPDATED 2-7-19
• 8th Grade Lit Analysis PARCC PRACTICE Modeling
• PARCC Questions for Grades 3-11
• PARCC RST Unpacking-the-Prompt Practice for Grade 5
• 4th Grade RST 2017 Sample Body Paragraph
• 3rd Grade Lit Analysis PARCC 2015 Modeling Thesis and 1st Body-rev 3-2019
• How to Begin a Narrative
• Partner Feedback Protocol for Narrative
• Peer Support Narrative Checklist
• 4th Grade RST Exemplar Essay
• 3rd Grade RST 2016 MODELING GUIDE
• 6th Grade Lit Analysis Comparative Paragraph and Conclusion Demo
• PARCC Narrative Extend the Story Checklist--NEW!
•  4th Grade PARCC 2018 Literary Analysis MODELING
• PARCC RST Unpacking-the-Prompt Practice for Grade 3
• 3rd Grade PARCC RST 2015 MODELING
• PARCC Lit Analysis Unpacking-the-Prompt Practice for Grade 3
• PARCC Lit Analysis Unpacking-the-Prompt Practice for Grade 5
• PARCC Writing Skills Tracker
• Suggested Grading Conversion Charts for PARCC ELA Rubrics rev 2-2-23