Say hello to a platform dedicated to industrious, yet overtasked teachers like you. Say goodbye to countless hours spent developing relevant and engaging ELA lessons. Whether you are teaching the fundamentals of grammar, creative writing skills, classic literature, or contemporary fiction, you will find thousands of activities and assessments to help you achieve a healthier work-life balance without sacrificing academic rigor.
Say hello to a platform dedicated to industrious, yet overtasked teachers like you. Say goodbye to countless hours spent developing relevant and engaging ELA lessons. Whether you are teaching the fundamentals of grammar, creative writing skills, classic literature, or contemporary fiction, you will find thousands of activities and assessments to help you achieve a healthier work-life balance without sacrificing academic rigor.
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement the Gothic short story “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe. A crossword puzzle, a word search activity, a vocabulary application worksheet, the public domain narrative, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: coarse, contempt, diffuse, feeble, fiendish, insuperable, lethargy, lurid, pertinacity, prostrate, ravenous, recusant, stagger, stealthily, sullen, trifles, vague, vigor, vivacity, and
writhe.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Help high school students go beyond basic reading comprehension and develop critical thinking skills with this close reading analysis worksheet covering Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum,” a short story of special appeal to students who are interested in horror stories and Halloween. An answer key and copy of the public domain short story are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
This resource may facilitate small-group discussions in which students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development. Using this resource for structured guidance, students will improve their ability to present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly and convincingly.
Students will perform the following tasks:
Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
Demonstrate knowledge of the conventions of Dark Romanticism
Determine the effects of the author’s language and narrative techniques
Consider the role punctuation plays in terms of developing suspense and advancing plot with an emphasis on em dashes
Examine how characters think, behave, interact, and develop
Apply knowledge of literary devices with an emphasis on allusion, metaphor, onomatopoeia, paradox, personification, sibilance, situational irony, and more
Articulate how the author establishes and maintains a surreal tone throughout the story
Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
Write about Gothic fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision
“The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story of special appeal to high school students interested in horror stories and Halloween. Use this plot-based quiz on “The Pit and the Pendulum” to evaluate general reading comprehension and promote homework accountability. The assessment may double as a guided reading handout to facilitate active engagement with Gothic fiction. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the following:
Point of view
Setting
Disturbing imagery
Accusations against the protagonist
Diabolical punishments
The role of the rats in terms of plot development
How the protagonist attracts the rats
An abrupt sound
The resolution
With this summative test covering the entirety of Dracula by Bram Stoker, English teachers will evaluate students’ reading comprehension, essay writing skills, and ability to analyze key aspects of plot. Included are the following: an answer key, standards-based writing rubric, and test prep study guide. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. By taking this assessment, students will:
Demonstrate knowledge of primary and secondary characters and the key aspects of their lives
Demonstrate knowledge of significant events that take place throughout the novel
Evaluate substantive quotations for deeper meaning
Respond to an essay prompt about the effects of fear and curiosity on characters in the novel
Cite relevant textual evidence in support of claims made in an academic essay
Frontload assigned readings with these vocabulary games and activities to facilitate comprehension of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. Alternatively, stash these materials in an emergency sub folder to keep students meaningfully engaged in the book during unexpected teacher absences. Included are eight vocabulary application activities, eight crossword puzzles, answer keys, and the public domain text. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
A total of 146 challenging words are addressed: abasement, absolved, acquiesce, afresh, alacrity, anguish, appease, ardor, armament, ashen, assent, avarice, badinage, barren, bauble, benign, beseech, brooding, brute, cackle, carafe, celerity, cerebration, chagrin, coarse, conspicuously, consternation, contemptuous, corroborate, decorum, demurely, desecration, desolate, detrimentally, dilapidated, disdain, disheveled, dismay, doggedly, eccentricity, emaciated, engrossed, enigmatical, exquisite, famished, feeble, fervor, fitfully, flourish, furtively, genially, gloomy, gnarled, haggard, harrowing, hasten, haughty, heresy, horrid, humbly, impalpable, imperious, impetuosity, implore, importunate, incite, indifferent, indignation, injunction, insolent, keen, laconically, languid, lethargic, livid, lugubrious, lurid, meekly, melancholy, menial, mirth, multitude, mundane, nebulous, obsequious, obstinately, obviate, odium, omnipotent, pallid, paroxysm, pedantry, perfunctory, peril, phlegmatic, pious, pique, placidly, plaintive, poignant, polyglot, precipice, procure, profuse, prosaic, quaint, redress, remonstrance, reproach, repudiate, resolute, reticent, reverently, salient, salvation, sanctify, saunter, scrutinize, sentimental, serpentine, servile, shrill, sneer, solemn, sternly, stertorous, stupendous, suavely, subdued, sulky, surly, swoon, tacit, tangible, tremulous, uncanny, vague, verbatim, vindictive, vivacity, vivify, vocation, wary, weary, withered, and woefully.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of activities to complement the Gothic fiction novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (chapters 25, 26, and 27). A crossword puzzle, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: afresh, appease, ardor, conspicuously, corroborate, desolate, enigmatical, hasten, impetuosity, incite, keen, meekly, peril, procure, quaint, remonstrance, subdued, and vindictive.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of activities to complement the Gothic fiction novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (chapters 22, 23, and 24). A crossword puzzle, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: abasement, absolved, anguish, armament, barren, disdain, flourish, multitude, odium, pallid, perfunctory, profuse, prosaic, sanctify, saunter, solemn, vague, and vivify.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of activities to complement the Gothic fiction novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (chapters 18, 19, 20, and 21). A crossword puzzle, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: benign, carafe, celerity, contemptuous, fervor, importunate, indifferent, lugubrious, mundane, plaintive, scrutinize, servile, shrill, sternly, stertorous, sulky, surly, and withered.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of activities to complement the Gothic fiction novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17). A crossword puzzle, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: beseech, chagrin, consternation, demurely, desecration, detrimentally, eccentricity, genially, indignation, laconically, livid, phlegmatic, redress, reproach, repudiate, tacit, tremulous, and verbatim.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of activities to complement the Gothic fiction novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (chapters 11, 12, and 13). A crossword puzzle, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: ashen, avarice, badinage, decorum, dismay, emaciated, engrossed, feeble, fitfully, harrowing, insolent, obsequious, pedantry, placidly, poignant, sentimental, wary, and weary.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of activities to complement the Gothic fiction novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (chapters 8, 9, and 10). A crossword puzzle, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: furtively, haughty, horrid, injunction, languid, lethargic, lurid, melancholy, obstinately, obviate, omnipotent, paroxysm, remonstrate, stupendous, suavely, swoon, vocation, and woefully.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of activities to complement the Gothic fiction novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (chapters 5, 6, and 7). A crossword puzzle, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: acquiesce, assent, brooding, brute, cackle, cerebration, exquisite, gnarled, haggard, heresy, humbly, implore, pious, pique, resolute, reverently, salvation, sneer, and vivacity.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of activities to complement the Gothic fiction novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4). A crossword puzzle, a vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: alacrity, bauble, coarse, dilapidated, disheveled, doggedly, famished, gloomy, impalpable, imperious, menial, mirth, nebulous, polyglot, precipice, reticent, salient, serpentine, tangible, and uncanny.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Frontload assigned readings with these vocabulary games and activities to facilitate comprehension of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Alternatively, stash these materials in an emergency sub folder to keep students meaningfully engaged in the book during unexpected teacher absences. Included are nine vocabulary application activities, nine crossword puzzles, nine word search games, and answer keys. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
A total of 162 challenging words are addressed: abortive, abounding, abyss, adventitious, aesthetic, affront, ajar, ambiguously, apathetically, ashen, banter, bewildered, boast, brooding, coarse, complacency, confounding, contempt, continually, continuously, cordial, corroborate, corrugated, countenance, credulity, dart, deft, defunct, dejection, desolate, dilatory, disheveled, dismayed, earnestly, effectually, elicit, elude, engrossed, epigram, euphemism, evoke, exasperated, exultant, feign, fervent, flounce, fluctuate, fumble, gaudily, genially, ghastly, gibberish, haste, haughty, hospitality, humidor, implore, imply, incessant, incoherent, incorruptible, incredulous, indifferent, indignantly, indiscernible, ingratiate, innumerable, inquire, insidious, interminable, inviolate, jauntily, jovially, keenly, languid, laudable, lethargic, lingeringly, melancholy, melodious, meretricious, modish, monopolize, murmur, muslin, nebulous, notoriety, notorious, obliged, obscure, obstinate, obtrusive, peasantry, penitentiary, permeate, poignant, portentous, presumptuous, protégé, punctilious, ragged, raspingly, ravenously, recede, redolent, relinquish, reluctance, reproach, retribution, reverent, reveries, riotous, sagely, saunter, scamper, scarcely, scornful, scrawny, scrutinize, scurry, sentimental, shiftless, shrill, skeptically, sneer, solemn, solidarity, squeamishness, strident, subdued, subtle, sumptuous, supercilious, superfluous, suppressed, swank, swoon, tactlessly, tangible, tinny, totter, tranquil, transitory, truculent, turgid, unintelligible, unpunctual, unscrupulously, unwavering, urbane, vacuous, vague, vehemently, veranda, vestibule, vigorously, vitality, wan, weary, whimper, wistfully, and withered.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement chapter 9 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A crossword puzzle, word search activity, vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: adventitious, aesthetic, brooding, complacency, continuously, ghastly, imply, indignantly, lingeringly, raspingly, recede, reverent, solidarity, squeamishness, superfluous, transitory, unpunctual, and vestibule.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement chapter 8 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A crossword puzzle, word search activity, vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: ashen, bewildered, corroborate, dejection, exasperated, humidor, incoherent, incorruptible, indiscernible, interminable, protégé, ravenously, redolent, scarcely, scurry, tranquil, unscrupulously, and withered.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A crossword puzzle, word search activity, vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: abounding, abyss, affront, dart, earnestly, elude, gibberish, inviolate, keenly, portentous, presumptuous, relinquish, sagely, sneer, tangible, truculent, weary, and whimper.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A crossword puzzle, word search activity, vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: cordial, dilatory, dismayed, elicit, euphemism, genially, hospitality, ingratiate, insidious, laudable, lethargic, meretricious, notoriety, obtrusive, reveries, shiftless, turgid, and unwavering.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A crossword puzzle, word search activity, vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: abortive, confounding, corrugated, defunct, disheveled, exultant, fumble, gaudily, innumerable, nebulous, obliged, obstinate, peasantry, ragged, reluctance, scrutinize, suppressed, and tactlessly.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
Support vocabulary development and enhance reading comprehension with this set of games and activities to complement chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A crossword puzzle, word search activity, vocabulary application worksheet, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.
Specifically, the following vocabulary terms are addressed: effectually, engrossed, evoke, fluctuate, haughty, incredulous, inquire, jauntily, melodious, modish, monopolize, penitentiary, punctilious, retribution, scornful, sentimental, subtle, and vitality.
By engaging with these activities, students will:
Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences