Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Jenny's Move

For Teachers 2nd
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about a girl named Sarah who was very upset that her friend Jenny was moving away. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Jenna and the Black Cat

For Teachers 6th
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about a girl named Jenna who was very superstitious. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Father Frost in Jerusalem

For Teachers 5th - 7th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage is an excerpt from Pictures of Jewish Home-LifeFifty Years Ago and describes how the winter weather in Jerusalem impacts the Sabbath. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that...
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Summer Vacation

For Teachers 3rd Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about a boy named Jose who learned the importance of a weather forecast. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Watch for Steady Rocks

For Teachers 5th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about two boys who have find themselves in danger while hiking on a trail. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Unexpected Fortune

For Teachers 5th
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about a girl named Claire who visits her father in the hospital and learns that shared struggles can have an effect on family relationships. A question sheet is available to help...
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Spying the Signs

For Teachers K
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about a brother and sister playing I-Spy with street signs. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: A Smelly Skunk

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] This fictional passages shares the story of a man and his dog who come across a skunk. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that reinforces essential reading skills and strategies and...
Website
Books in the Classroom

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site: Children's Literature Newsletter

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Free monthly email newsletters featuring classic children's literature, new books, ideas and activities to use with students, and links to other Internet resources.
PPT
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Suspense

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This slideshow focuses on the use of suspense in fiction by stating the purpose of suspense, discussing four ways authors create suspense, showing that all forms of literature contain suspense, and presenting an example with John...
Graphic
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Utopia

For Students 9th - 10th
This lesson introduces utopia in fiction writing. This tutorial lesson shares a short slideshow with the lesson's content.
Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: 1st Grade Lesson: Classifying Texts

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which students use the books Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London and Life Cycle of a Frog by Angela Royston to learn to classify texts as fiction or nonfiction. Lesson includes direct...
Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: 2nd Grade Lesson: Compare/contrast Genres

For Teachers 2nd Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which students use fiction and nonfiction books from a classroom library to identify the similarities and differences between fiction and nonfiction and to create a Venn diagram...
Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: 1st Grade Lesson: Purposes for Reading

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which students use the books Nature's Food Chains: What Polar Animals Eat by Joanne Mattern, Life Cycle of a Frog by Angela Royston, and Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London to learn to...
Lesson Plan
Read Works

Urban Education: Exchange: Read Works: 3rd Grade Lesson: Fantasy

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] A instructional activity in which young scholars use the book Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg and fantasy texts from the classroom library to learn about the characteristics that define fantasy. Lesson...
Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: 3rd Grade Lesson: Science Fiction

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which young scholars use the book Commander Toad and the Intergalactic Spy by Jane Yolen to learn about the characteristics that define science fiction. Lesson includes direct teaching,...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Interactives: Literature: What Makes a Good Short Story?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This interactive exhibit takes learners on a literary journey through the classic short story.
Website
Other

The Missouri Review: Homepage

For Students 9th - 10th
The Missouri Review includes fiction and nonfiction and is provided for by the University of Missouri.
Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Grade 2: Three Lesson Unit: Genre

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] A series of three lesson plans designed to teach students to compare and contrast fiction and non-fiction, identify the characteristics of non-fiction, and use guide words to locate topics in an...
Handout
Other

Fiction Writing Tips: Creating a Vivid Setting

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Some excellent guidelines to consider when evaluating your setting in a short story or novel. Discusses the importance of setting, some examples, as well as practical advice in setting your story. W.11-12.3d Sensory/precise lang narratives
Activity
Caro Clarke

Caro Clarke: Description: What's It For?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is the twelfth article in a series that is designed to help the new novel writer. This article focuses on how to effectively use descriptions in any writing.
Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Snowflake Bentley

For Students 1st - 3rd Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this ReadWorks read aloud lesson, students will describe Bentley's environment and his interactions with it. Students will evaluate the impact a person's environment can have on life. Then students...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Reading/writing About Whales Using Fiction and Nonfiction Texts

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Students will have a whale of a good time in this lesson in which they use fiction and nonfiction texts to write a letter to an online scientist.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Literary Visions

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A series of 24 instructional videos, each about 30 minutes in length, designed to teach literary analysis. Topics include Responding to Literature, The Elements of Short Fiction, Tone and Style in Short fiction, The Elements of Poetry,...