CommonLit
Common Lit: "America and I" by Anzia Yezierska
This is an essay about Anzia Yezierska, an immigrant from the Russian-Polish border, and her struggles adapting to living in America. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary notes are provided. This site offers links to paired...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Growing Down" by Shel Silverstein
In this poem by Shel Silverstein, a speaker tells an adult that he should try "growing down" rather than growing up. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary notes are provided. This site offers links to paired texts, questions and...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Abuelito Who" by Sandra Cisneros
In this poem by Sandra Cisneros, the speaker describes their aging grandfather. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary notes are provided. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary notes are provided. This site offers links to...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Excerpt Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases by Ida b.wells
This is an excerpt comes from "Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases" by Ida B.Wells. In it she talks about lynching, or the murder by mob for an alleged crime without a legal trial. The targets of such violence and hatred were...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "The Gettysburg Address" by President Abraham Lincoln
This speech was given in 1863 after the Union and Confederate armies had been at war for more than three years and several hundred thousand Americans had already died. Thousands of Union soldiers died at the Battle of Gettysburg alone. A...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "On Tragedy" by Aristotle
In this chapter from "Poetics", Aristotle seeks to define "tragedy" as it relates to literature and human emotion. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary notes are provided. This site offers links to paired texts, questions and...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Ronald Reagan on the Challenger Disaster" by President Ronald Reagan
President Ronald Reagan delivered this speech to the grieving nation on January 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, leading to the death of its seven crew members. A specific purpose for reading...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus
This poem is currently engraved on a bronze plaque and displayed on the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. The statue stands across from the historic Ellis Island, through which millions of immigrants came into the U.S. in the late 1800s and...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
In this short story, a wealthy prince holds a party for his powerful friends within the safety of his home, as a disease rips the rest of the country apart. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary notes are provided. This site...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "The Road to American Independence" by Jessica Mc Birney
This informational text recounts America's road to independence, starting from the beginning of English colonization in North America and ending with the final battle of the American Revolution. A specific purpose for reading and...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "When Good People Do Bad Things" by Ann Trafton
In this informational text, Rebecca Saxe, associate professor of cognitive neuroscience at MIT, and her colleagues conducted an experiment to study the way people behave in groups. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary notes are...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Tech/progress/industry: What Are Costs and Benefits of Technology?
This is a collection of Grade-Leveled texts (3-12) to address the question, "What are the costs and benefits of technology?" Select a grade level and a collection of grade-appropriate reading passages comes up. [Free account registration...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "Truth" by Nikki Grimes
This poem appeared in Grimes' book "One Last Word", a collection inspired by poems from The Harlem Renaissance that follow the "Golden Shovel" form. In this poetic form, the poet takes a "striking line" from an inspirational poem and...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "I Have a Dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech to over 250,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In this speech, King discusses racial...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Letter From Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
While in jail, King responded in a letter written on the margins of a newspaper, because it was the only paper available. King gave the letter to his lawyers, who published what is now known as the famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail."...
CommonLit
Common Lit: The Marshall Plan
A learning module that begins with news article by Mike Kubic called "The Marshall Plan" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through...
CommonLit
Common Lit: The Spanish Civil War
A learning module that begins with news article by Mike Kubic called "The Spanish Civil War" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Excerpt From Swann's Way
A learning module that begins with an "Excerpt from Swann's Way" by Marcel Proust accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Easter 1916
A learning module that begins with William Butler Yeats' poem "Easter 1916" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Marshall Plan Speech
A learning module that begins with a George Catlett Marshall's "Marshall Plan Speech" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Excerpt From "Civil Disobedience"
A learning module that begins with Henry David Thoreau's "Excerpt from 'Civil Disobedience'" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania
A learning module that begins with Benjamin Franklin's "Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a...
CommonLit
Common Lit: The Battle of Bull Run: The End of Illusions
A learning module that begins with Ernest B. Furgurson's "The Battle of Bull Run: The End of Illusions" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College
A learning module that begins with Thomas Gray's poem "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned...