11th - 12th Grade Common Core Worksheets

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA) provide a framework of educational expectations for students in reading, writing, and other language skills. The goals of the CCSS ELA are broken out by grade and subject area, including Reading: Literature, Reading: Informational Text, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language, as well as expectations in additional subject areas such as science and technology, history, and further writing areas. Eleventh and twelfth graders are expected to master reading and analyzing fiction and non-fiction texts, be able to execute complex writing and grammar skills, branch out into new technologies and collaborations in their oral presentations, and continue to deepen the complexity of their reading choices. See the subheadings for each ELA category for more information on the specific expectations for students.

Charles Dickens Visits America

In 1842 Charles Dickens was probably the most famous English language author in the world. In this year he visited America. Students read about the trip and answer the questions.

Circle It! Correct Punctuation

Students will practice identifying correctly used punctuation in this printable activity. They will be asked to read through the given sentences and circle the number of the sentences that have correct punctuation. Ideal for 6th – 12th grade, but can be used where needed.

Edgar Allan Poe and the Fall of the House of Usher

In this activity, students read a passage from Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and write what they think the underlined words mean.

Figurative Language: What Is It?

This multiple choice worksheet asks your student to identify the type of figurative language used in the sentence or phrase.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

This activity helps students develop a strong thesis statement for their essays by providing practice writing sample statements.

How to Write an Introduction: Bridge Building Activity

This activity is designed to help students learn about writing introductions through a fun bridge building activity to join the lead noun card and thesis statement card.

Irony in Poetry

Two poetry passages from classic literature are the focus of this irony worksheet.

Organize the Main Idea

Help your students learn how to better organize their ideas with this Main Idea Organizer. Students will be asked to come up with a title, write a main idea, and support the main idea with three written details. In order to excel at writing, it is important to learn how to construct paragraphs in a way that is easy for the reader to understand the argument.

Situational Irony vs. Dramatic Irony

Your student will determine which passage shows situational irony and which shows dramatic irony.

Visual Irony

Can your student spot the visual irony in the pictures in this worksheet?

Warm Up to Irony!

Here is a worksheet to print out for your students learning about irony! irony is a statement where the actual meaning is different from the literal meaning or a situation where the result is different than expected. WIth different examples given, students are asked to explain the irony in different phrases as well as come up with examples of their own.

Working with Figurative Language

In this worksheet your student will match up the figures of speech with the phrase or sentence.

A Tale of Two Cities: The Beginning

Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities which was published in 1859. Students read the passage and answer questions.

Adverbial Phrases

Here’s some practice for understanding adverbial phrases.

Context Clues for Meaning

Here’s a high school drill for using context clues for finding word meanings.

Context Clues in Julius Caesar

“Julius Caesar” is the text for this context clue worksheet.

Context Clues: Reading for Meaning

A passage from “A Tale of Two Cities” is the focus for this context clues worksheet.

Correct Spelling: Right or Wrong

In this “Right or Wrong” classroom activity, your students will correct spelling mistakes while proofreading the sentences on this worksheet.

Cyrano de Bergerac: Poetic Speech

Edmund Rostand wrote Cyrano de Bergerac in 1897. It is a play about a French musketeer who is a man of many gifts and talents. Students read from the play and answer related questions.

Discuss the Paradox

This worksheet asks your student to explain the paradox in each situation.