Every classroom I’ve taught has a diverse range of student proficiency. As ELA teachers, we have to be flexible in our teaching approach and make sure we provide the best-fitting resources for each student. Here are 5 upper elementary resources I use all the time that can easily adjust to the different needs of each student.
While I have included my own resource creations for the examples, most of these ideas are easy enough to create yourself. The real goal here is to highlight the flexible use cases for each suggestion.
Task Cards
Task cards are simple and versatile, and they can be created for almost any learning topic. Being able to narrow a student’s focus down to one idea or sentence can really help them unlock the concept you are teaching. Best of all, a task card station can be setup anywhere in the classroom, with or without technology.
I use task cards for everything from context clues and connotation to character analysis and test prep. The image below features my athlete informational text task cards, which work really well for inspiring some of my reluctant readers who love sports!
Close Reading Passages
Online resources like Newsela offer excellent reading passages if you are lucky enough to have access. My school does not, but even with the other options out there, I still utilize my own close reading passages. I created seasonal passages by month that also feature different genres.
Similar to task cards, the print-and-go flexibility of these passages gives them dozens of uses. I use them for weekly reading homework, one-on-one interventions, extra credit opportunities, and literature circles. The image below features my March reading passages. It includes 5 different genres of texts: expository, poem, fable, informational text, and fictional narrative.
Reader’s Theater
If you’ve been following for a while, then you know how much I love reader’s theater. This is another resource that can help you fill any learning gaps you might have with fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The best part is that students are always excited for a chance to perform in front of their classmates.
Reader’s theater makes it easy to cover your reading literature standards while engaging your students. I combine my scripts with post-reading work that includes comprehension questions, word work, and writing activities. Below I’ve highlighted my School Store script and toolkit, which is an evergreen story you can use any time during the year.
Novel Study Units
I utilize novel units as “practice guides” to help students develop independence as readers. I want them to think about how the setting, characters, and plot line come together, not just regurgitate what those things are.
There are a couple ways to adjust novel units to fit different levels of proficiency. You can use a template approach like this novel project resource, or you can dig deeper into books with a more comprehensive novel study. I’m lucky to have created several versions of each, so I always have options for all of my readers. The example is my Freak the Mighty novel study.
Word Wall for Academic Terminology
Upper elementary introduces a lot of different ELA terminology from 4th grade through 6th grade. Often times, students will need to recognize and understand literary terms just to answer comprehension questions or complete a journal prompt. Because of this, I display a word wall of key terms in my classroom.
Reinforcing these terms with visual representation and referring to the word wall during our lessons has helped my students better grasp these new concepts. I also print extra copies of word cards for small group work and test prep review activities.
If your students struggle with certain ELA terms, try displaying the difficult ones around your room. My word wall resource, featured below, is an easy way to implement this idea right away.
More ELA Resources
How many of these ideas do you use in your language arts classroom? Hopefully, you found a new resource idea to test out with your upper elementary students. If you’re like me, then you are always looking for new ideas to engage and inspire your learners. Sign up for my email newsletter to receive a special free resource and get notified when I announce something new.
