What type of writing is this? Learners read a brief introduction to various types of text: instructions, explanations, poems, folk tales, novels, informative, and arguments. The introduction doesn't explain these, so...

Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...

Write and work with authors on the Scholastic Website to promote the recognition of various genres.  Young writers will participate in activities based on the type of writing such as biography, descriptive, folktales, mystery, news,...

Barbie has been an iconic figure in the lives of girls since the 1950s, but her existence has been full of controversy. A lesson plan on style, format, and genre explores that controversy by looking at three texts with different...

A free press is entitled to its opinions. While the news pages report the facts of events, editorial pages feature writers' and cartoonists' opinions about events to either directly or indirectly persuade. Introduce viewers to the art of...

What do your fifth graders know about types of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry? Find out as they fill out this questionnaire that requires them to list authors and texts that exemplify each genre. Not only will you be able to assess what...

Students analyze the types of writing and answer questions about the writing genres. In this writing types lesson, students define and discuss the types of writing including expository, descriptive, persuasive, technical, and narrative...

Differentiate between the various genres in the visual arts world, particularly in Western painting. Your class can view and discuss, in small groups, paintings published on the National Galleries website. Then each student individually...

Young readers assume the role of Genre Sleuths to investigate the characteristics of folktales, fantasies, and mysteries. For this session you will need to collect a variety of books on a topic you have been studying. Groups then examine...

Contrary to popular belief, the monster's name in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is not Frankenstein. A teacher's guide for the novel helps readers make sense of key details in the text, define vocabulary words, and discuss prominent...

 In this genre study PowerPoint presentation, students read the definitions and characteristics of each literary genre. There are 17 genres that the PowerPoint presentation addresses, such as science fiction, tall tales and poetry.

As the culminating project for a unit study of The House of the Scorpion, class members craft a multi-genre research paper to demonstrate not only their depth of knowledge of a topic of interest to them, but also their...

Looking for a lesson about differing sentence types? Use this lesson on compound and complex sentences in your grammar unit. After composing simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences individually and as part of a group,...

Students define genre in the visual arts, particularly in Western painting and explain the differences between subject and genre. The genre of a variety of works of art is identified.

A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...

Looking to improve your classes literacy program? Then look no further. This comprehensive collection of resources includes worksheets and activities covering everything from r-controlled vowels and consonant digraphs, to the...

Teaching about fiction genres can  be challenging. The instructional activity here, designed for library media specialists, offers a fun way to do it. In the instructional activity, learners visit the library and learn about...

Even though readers investigate matters of the heart, this activity promotes the inner workings of learners' brains. The fifth lesson of six has the teacher first model the strategy to the class before having small groups practice. To...

Diversify your young readers' at-home reading habits with this activity. This handout consists of a list of 24 different types of reading materials from newspapers and how-to books to science fiction and poetry. The goal is for students...

Sharpen those pencils; it's time to write! Scholars begin writing the first body paragraph of their literary analysis essays. Additionally, pupils use graphic organizers to analyze a character's point of view from Laurence Yep's...

Third graders learn to identify different types of literature genres. In this genre instructional activity, 3rd graders complete pre and post- assessment, conduct a genre research activity, and complete the associated worksheets.

Before beginning F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, create a historical context of the Roaring 20s with this lesson. Set up a gallery walk with the provided PowerPoint, which features 10 topics related to the 1920s. Then begin...

If your class doesn't know what a haiku is, show them two examples from the Japanese poet Issa (both included here), and have them make some observations. How long are they? What is the structure? A video and a list of questions help...

Sixth graders complete a worksheet.  In this poetry lesson, 6th graders learn about the differences between narrative poetry and lyric poetry.  Students read poems and determine which form of poetry they are as well as identify...