A Year of Change:1963 to 1964- Informational Texts for Middle School Common Core

Finding non-fiction text for middle school can be challenging. In this packet are twelve original texts, free of ads and comments, appropriate for middle school, ready to use with no additional work (other than copying!) This resource can be paired with "The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963," "The Help," "The Story of Ruby Bridges," or research on the civil rights movement to help students understand the changes our society went through in the sixties.

***This product was originally titled "Fifty Years Ago- Informational Text Practice for Middle School ELA Common Core."

This product has been updated with the digital overlay feature, perfect to use with distance or virtual learning! It can be assigned to students in a Google Classroom. You can either use the digital overlay already created, or create your own! For more information, read here!

In the 1960's, the United States was a rapidly changing society, going through the pains of racial tension, mourning the assassination of the President, facing political concerns of the space race, and the Baby Boomers embracing rock and roll. Reading about our history, students can learn how much our country has changed, and how much it has stayed the same.

For each month of the school year, you will find one original informational text, (there are two for November,) one worksheet with questions taken from the Common Core Curriculum, and an answer key. Typically, there are 3-5 multiple choice questions and 1 – 2 open response questions. Some texts and worksheets contain graphics to respond to. Duration of the activity is 15 -20 minutes for each article. The informational texts can be springboards into further research and discussion.

Below is the monthly topic list- the topics range from political, to pop culture, to international.

August 1963- Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”***

***We believe that this topic is so universally important, that you can get this article and questions as a free download in the preview section above.

September 1963- 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, AL

October 1963- Hurricane Flora hits Haiti

November 1963- President Kennedy’s assassination (2 versions, the first is a table with information about the four presidents who were assassinated and died while in office, and the second is an article about Kennedy’s assassination)

December 1963- Kenya gains independence

January 1964- 9th Winter Olympics begin in Austria

February 1964- Italy asks for help with Leaning Tower of Pisa

March 1964- Kennedy half dollar introduced

April 1964- Unmanned Gemini I launched

May 1964- Beatles get #1 hit with “Love Me Do”

June 1964- Nelson Mandela sentenced to life in prison.

ELA Common Core Standards addressed in the questions that follow the articles are:

RI.6.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite textual evidence when writing to support conclusions drawn.

RI.6.2 Determine central ideas or themes of a (nonfiction) text.

RI.6.4 Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text.

RI.6.5 Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences and paragraphs relate to each other and the whole.

RI.6.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text.

Please check our store for other ELA products such as The Sneetches and The Lorax- A Middle School Common Core Comparison and

Figurative Language Card Sort .

For an Earth Day nonfiction text source, please visit our product Earth Day Activities! Informational Texts Plus More.

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