Mr. Donald Morton+ is a prolific online reading, language arts, and teaching enthusiast. Holding a B.A. in English from Northern Illinois University and an M.A. in Literature from Northeastern Illinois University, Mr. Morton has been immersed in the higher study of the reading and language arts for the last decade.
Perhaps his more practical experience was acquired during his tenure in Chicago Public Schools (continuing presently), where Mr. Morton has been teaching reading, writing, and language arts to students in areas of high need since 2005. With an unwavering pattern of student growth according to ISAT reading assessments, Mr. Morton can document the efficacy of his methods.
In the winter of 2010-2011, Mr. Morton began sharing his unique resources with teachers, parents, and students via this website: ereadingworksheets.com. Â The site has received an overwhelmingly positive response from those who have managed to find it. Â As the site continues to grow in popularity, Mr. Morton remains committed to improving the overall quality of the site and expanding available resources, as well as offering unrestricted access to everyone free of charge.
Also, Mr. Morton has made some online reading video games. He is working on making more of these games and making them compatible with touch screen devices as well as expanding the online practice content on this site.
You may contact Mr. Donald E. Morton at mortonteaches@gmail.com
Thank you for visiting.
Maria
/ October 4, 2016I loved the poetry cat! Keep up the great work.
Mr. Morton
/ October 5, 2016I’m so happy you do. That game is special to me. Thank you for playing and taking the time to comment.
Leonora Reiley
/ October 4, 2016This resource makes me want to be a reading teacher! I used a point of view worksheet in the past from this site that featured a piece from Stephen Raichlen. It was one of the few sheets I have found that featured 2nd person. I don’t see it here now. Can you kindly direct me towards it?
Thank you!
Mr. Morton
/ October 5, 2016Thanks for the nice comments.
I rewrote all of the worksheets on this site that featured passages from
works that have copyright protection.
It’s debatably fair use, but I don’t want to enter that debate,
so all of the content on this site is either written by me or in the public domain.
However, the new point of view worksheets contain many examples of passages written from the 2nd person perspective.
I hope that you will find them helpful.
Anitra Lahiri
/ May 10, 2016I teach ESL, and this is a great resource to have stumbled upon! THANK YOU so much for putting all these resources together in such an organized way.
john
/ April 13, 2016Hi your website has been very helpful.
Keep up your good work
Mike
/ March 10, 2016I bet Mr. Morton doesn’t reply to comments
Mr. Morton
/ March 15, 2016I reply to most of them. It just takes me a while.
Miss R
/ January 15, 2016Thank you so much for your generosity. The work you do is so truly appreciated. Thank you for your kindness in helping other educators like myself.
Q. Gholson
/ September 10, 2015Thank you Mr. Morton for sharing your expertise and lessons. Your site is the best I have ever come across.
I have been teaching ELA for 1st-8th grade at a small NYC school, for many years. I found it difficult to incorporate the Common Core. Due to the endless rhetoric, or lack of clear direction in most of the Core materials It was expensive, time consuming and difficult to put together. The common core resources you have provided, free of charge, are the best I have come across. I consider you a mentor teacher because I have learned so much about how to structure lessons through the year, and how not to cram too much information in one lesson. I am able to combine your lesson plans with my own. You have given me my confidence and creativity back.
Thank you and God Bless you for your help.
Mr. Morton
/ September 11, 2015I can relate with and am inspired by your experiences. Thank you for the blessings and for visiting my website. Best wishes!
Krysha Voelz
/ July 14, 2015Again, I want to say “thank you” for all of the materials you provide free of charge. I stumbled across your website in early spring and used some items during the school year. I have had time this summer to thoroughly examine your lessons. What wonderful material! You are so generous to share your hard work with all of us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
evie
/ June 3, 2015Thanks you so much Mr. Morton for generously sharing your work for free. My son is taking a California-based curriculum in Shanghai and is about to finish Grade 5. His reading is bit behind so I hope to help him with your worksheets this summer.
Mr. Morton
/ June 3, 2015I’m so pleased to hear it. Best wishes!
Annie Fonseca
/ May 8, 2015Your persuasive essay topic list was excellent! It helped me narrow down research topics for my kids to choose from and was very specific. Thank you so much for making this available.
Renee Dermott
/ February 2, 2015I am hoping that someone could help me with the quizzes. I took one and submitted it to see how it would work for the kids. In any case, I did it twice, once to email and one time to print. I had to put my name in prior to beginning the quiz, but both times it came up as “undefined” in the name section. Therefore, I have no idea which child would submit which test. Is there anyone that has this type of issue?? Perhaps I am doing something wrong. I can’t wait to use them as a quick formative type assessment to monitor progress. Thanks. 🙂
Mr. Morton
/ March 2, 2015This may be happening because of your browser.
Are you using Firefox?
These tests only work well in Chrome and Safari. Maybe Explorer too. I don’t know,
but I know that there are some issues with Firefox such as the one that you are describing.
I am redesigning the format this summer so that there will be fewer cross-browser issues such as you are experiencing.
In the meantime I suggest that you use Google Chrome as your internet browser when taking these tests, as that will likely solve your problems.
Best wishes
Morton
Lurena Johnson-White
/ December 16, 2014Dear Mr. Morton,
I also really appreciate your wwbsite. I have 2 children attending CPS schools. I saw your post on CPS Obsessed about the grading scale changes and how you enter grades in gradebook as A, B, C, D, etc. Your post is the only one that I have been able to locate that actually describes the problems that I have seen with gradebook and averaging numeric values. Can you explain to me why you would rather enter letter grades into gradebook than mathematical percentages?
I am having a difficult time trying to explain to the administration at my daughters school why the students grades are not averaging properly.
Thanks,
renadjw
Mr. Morton
/ December 18, 2014The issue that I had with the CPS grading scale is that it differs so much from my experience with grading scales that I refuse to accept it. I suppose to project an image of rigor, they raised the grading scale in such a way that a 77% is a D, and 69% is an F. My solution to this problem was that I just began issuing the alphabetical grades, rather than the numeric, which would be more subject to their insane grading scale.
I don’t know how much this relates to your situation, but that was mine.
Jennifer Rueda
/ November 1, 2014Thank you for this site. It’s helpful for my adult esl writing class.
Shazzie
/ October 5, 2014Am loving this website,its teaching me alot of things….
Marisa Skiles
/ June 13, 2014I have hit a gold mine. I LOVE this website. It touches on all of my State’s reading skills and has so many wonderful resources. Much more than just busy seat work. How gracious of you to offer this for free. Thank you!!
Marisa
Connie Thornton
/ May 7, 2014I teach 7th and 8th Grade Critical Thinking (Reading). Our district has recently moved to Common Core Standards and I had struggled to find materials appropriate to teach the skills at the level needed for standardized tests. Your worksheets and lessons are a Godsend! I have worked through most of them and will continue next year. Not only did my students feel prepared and ready for the FCAT this year, but I feel that I am a better teacher by seeing lessons structured this way. Thank You so much!
I would like to know what other books and materials you use in your classroom. Thanks.
Mr. Morton
/ May 7, 2014Thank you so much for saying so.
I am honored to play a small part in your development as an educator.
I have a whole bunch of new content to add for next year,
so please come back.
Best wishes!
Tadrik Nack
/ April 22, 2014Thank you for sharing your Materials… I like your great work.
Mr. Morton
/ April 22, 2014Thank you.
I am happy to hear it.
Meredith
/ March 15, 2014Thank you for sharing your materials! My kids love them, and always laugh at some of the examples. You do a great job creating these, and thanks for sharing them for free too.
Mr. Morton
/ March 15, 2014It’s my pleasure. Thanks for taking the time to comment. It sounds like you’re doing some great work over there.
Pamela Didier
/ February 5, 2014I have been teaching English/Language Arts for 17 years, and this is the best resource I have ever come across in terms of really teaching a topic fully. I have spent hundreds of dollars and hours on lesson planning, and I am thrilled that Mr. Morton is providing these unique and straight-forward lessons free of charge. What a blessing for teachers!!!
Mr. Morton
/ February 7, 2014Thank you for saying so.
SSwink
/ January 21, 2014Well, we aren’t nearly as exciting as Turkey, Perth, India, or Baltimore 🙂 but for what it is worth- Coal City 8th Grade ELA team is digging your work!!! Thanks for helping us get ready for this year’s ISAT’s/ ICORE/ almost PARCC assessments. Stay warm.
Mr. Morton
/ February 11, 2014Culture is everywhere. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Best wishes!
Tiffany
/ January 16, 2014Thank you for these wonderful resources! I teach middle school English, and it’s difficult finding free resources rigorous enough the meet the STAAR test standards in Texas.
Mr. Morton
/ April 21, 2014I’m happy that you found what you wanted here.
Best wishes!
lotus
/ October 9, 2013Hello Mr. Morton! I am university student and ı really appreciate you. in fact we appreciate you because my friends benefit from this site also. Your helping is priceless ı think . also you should know that you are very popular in Turkey too, thank you 😀
Mr. Morton
/ October 15, 2013That’s fantastic. Maybe I shall visit there and sign autographs and such 😀 Best wishes.
Susan Hammond
/ September 7, 2013I mentor new teachers in a high needs middle school in Baltimore (there’s more to our kids than what you see on the Wire!). Your site makes it so easy to SHOW as opposed to tell what a particular skill looks like. Your skills connection to Common Core Standards piece is priceless!! Thank you!
Mr. Morton
/ September 28, 2013Omar’s coming, ya’ll!
Jacque
/ April 19, 2013Thank you!!! I love all of your worksheets.
Camille
/ April 15, 2013Favorite place for End of Course exam prep. Thank you!!!
sadegh ghobadi
/ February 1, 2013I was looking for some introductory exercises for teaching “inference” and I bumped into your website. I haven’t checked all the content, but the exercises that I downloaded were useful. Thank you for free sharing your valuable teaching experience (a thing people don’t do often these days). S. Ghobadi. Iran.
Mr. Morton
/ February 3, 2013I find it amazing that we are interacting. Best wishes.
Alj
/ November 20, 2012Hi Mr. Mortini. I admire you so much.
Can you help me in choosing a topic about technology or internet? Please help me. Thank you! 🙂
Mr. Morton
/ December 2, 2012Thank you for saying so. How about researching privacy and the internet: can one really search the web anonymously? What sorts of information are you transmitting every time that you use the internet or mobile phone applications. Just a suggestion. Best wishes.
sunny
/ August 27, 2012I cannot believe I have never stumbled upon this set of resources before. Fully aligned and adaptable for students’ needs. Forever grateful for your contribution!
Alix
/ July 11, 2012Thank you for this website. I’ve just discovered it and am glad to have some excellent materials for my students!
Mrs. M
/ March 17, 2012Thank you so much for all your hard work! You have saved me hours of creating meaningful assignments for my EL’s!
K. Rolfe
/ March 2, 2012I can’t believe I’ve never found your site until now. From the looks of it, we teach very similar populations. Today, I needed something a little different… and voila – ereadingworksheets! I’m incredibly impressed at the amount of materials you have generously made available for your colleagues. MUCH appreciation, Mr. Morton.
Mr. Morton
/ March 3, 2012Thank you so much.
Alexandra Glasser
/ February 28, 2012Thanks so much for providing all this wonderful material!!
Supriya
/ February 21, 2012Hello Mr. Morton! These worksheets r really helping me cuz they give really tough questions here in India. I really appreciate you uploading stuff for us! 😀
Mr. Morton
/ February 23, 2012Wow, India? That’s really cool. Thanks for visiting.
A.A.
/ February 14, 2012Love it! I think all Utah teachers will too!
Mr. Morton
/ February 23, 2012Go Utah!
Mai
/ February 7, 2012Love the work you put in so much. A thank you from Perth
Mr. Morton
/ February 13, 2012Wow, showing up in Perth? That’s awesome. Thanks for visiting!
Honeny Destiny
/ January 31, 2012i love your cat mr.morton
i adore cats
Thiernosow
/ January 12, 2012you help me with my home work thank you lol 🙂
Mr. Morton
/ January 14, 2012I’m happy to hear it.
Miss S
/ December 7, 2011Thank you so very much for your contribution to the world of language arts education! These worksheets are incredibly useful, and everything is applicable to the standards we teach in California. Hurrah. 🙂
Mr. Morton
/ December 14, 2011So it’s decided then, I’m moving to California 😀
Ms Wilson
/ December 5, 2011Thank you. I’m a first year teacher and your site has been a wonderful resource for me and my fellow language art teachers.
Mr. Morton
/ January 14, 2012I’m so happy to help.
Mr. Serena
/ December 2, 2011I love the simplicity of the lessons. I struggle with finding enough practice material for my EL classes. This is an amazing resource. I find that the big publishers overcomplicate simple ideas. Less is more. You’re doing great work, sir.
No need to reply. You’re a busy man!
Mr. Morton
/ January 14, 2012Simplicity is the guiding principal of all good design. Thank you for visiting, Mr. Serena.
Miss Missy
/ November 29, 2011Mr. Morton – when will you be adding MORE? What about plot diagram stuff (the actual diagramming)?
Can you recommend some great “best strategies” for Reading books to read?
Mr. Morton
/ December 1, 2011Ha. I’m trying to add new stuff all of the time. I’m just really busy, as I’m sure you are. I’m not familiar with “plot diagramming.” Perhaps it’s what I call ” story structure“? I like using Daniel’s approach to literature circles. Thanks for visiting.
subah khawaja
/ November 29, 2011Excellent student resources that are easy to understand, get directly to the point, and teach students to retain information.
Thanks for sharing!
Mr. Morton
/ December 1, 2011Thanks for visiting!
Ben H
/ November 21, 2011What a breath of fresh (free) air. I’m amazed at the quality of your lessons. I’ve used them quite a bit in my High School ELL classroom. My students are really benefiting from them. Thank you so much, and keep up the stellar work 🙂
Mr. Morton
/ December 1, 2011Thanks so much for visiting.
I appreciate the positive feedback.
My your students excel.
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/ November 9, 2011Annie I must disagree that theme can be stated in one word. That is defined as the topic. Theme is the overall message or lesson intended by the author. It can never be stated in one word. I agree with Mr. Morton wholeheartedly!
Annie Robinson
/ October 29, 2011I just recently discovered your website and have already told other teachers. Thank you for sharing your work with us! I think the activities you have created are useful and thoughtful, especially those for irony (which was how I found your website) and figurative language. I also liked your definitions for the structure of plot. Your description of climax/turning point is right on the mark! The only issue I have found is concerning theme. I disagree with your examples, which I think are morals or lessons. I think themes are stated in one word, otherwise they become morals or main ideas. But, please continue what you are doing and sharing.
Mr. Morton
/ October 30, 2011Cool. I understand theme differently, but we don’t have to agree on everything. Thank you for visiting.
Amy
/ October 26, 2011Thank you so much for posting free quality activities and worksheets! These are great!
Rebecca
/ October 11, 2011Bless your heart. Thank you for all your hard work!
Heather
/ October 11, 2011Thank you for this website~ I love the power points and the practice activities that go with them! You’ve made my job a lot easier!
Motsinger
/ September 28, 2011Love this website! I finally found worksheets/lessons/ideas, etc., that are not busy work type of work…students actually apply reading and writing skills. Thank you for sharing!
Mr. Morton
/ October 4, 2011Thanks for the kind words. Come back soon!