Curated OER
Lesson Plan 4: Creating Main Characters
Creating a good main character is a must when writing a creative narrative or novel. Elementary aged writers create main characters for the novel they are writing. They first use themselves as a models, then create a character as a...
Curated OER
How to Write About Feelings
This worksheet presents a clever way to help students practice writing about feelings. In it, six photographs are shown. Below the photos are a line for a feeling word, then some bullet points to write phrases which match what the person...
Curated OER
The Wind Blew
Students look at a picture book and observe what the facial expressions show. In this character's feelings lesson, students write what they think the character might be saying on each page and the punctuation they use. Students draw an...
Curated OER
Characterization
A 46-slide presentation focuses on ways to describe characters in stories, how to create story characters, and how to show a character's personality in a student-created story. The colorful and engaging slides provide lots of great ideas...
Curated OER
Write Some Dialogue
Students write dialogue. For this character development lesson students use direct or indirect speech to include a confrontation between two characters in their story. Students portray the emotions of the characters in addition to what...
National Association of Writers in Education
Character and Situation
Delve into narrative writing that puts choice in the hands of the writers. Kids pick their own characters, emotions, items, and places from a list and tie them together in the exposition. Several questions help guide the writers toward...
Curated OER
Fortune Cookies Motivate Writing
Fortune cookies are used as motivation for a story. In this creative writing lesson, young writers review the six traits process. They discuss interesting characters, setting, problem and solution in a story. Original stories based on...
Curated OER
Character Map #1
Here’s a great graphic organizer that can be used with any narrative. Readers select a character and record feelings, descriptions, behaviors, and personality traits. The template could be used for group work or as a prewriting activity...
Curated OER
Presenting Your Case
Students write letter from historical figure's point of view using proper letter writing conventions, write about two props/artifacts that are representative of their subject's life, and use Internet resources to gather images to use in...
Curated OER
Quotation Marks, Commas, And More
Correctly punctuating a character's dialogue can become a fun activity as students learn to use quotation marks, commas, and more.
Curated OER
A Rat's Life
Here is a two-page worksheet on rats and mice. Learners answer nine true/false questions about rats and mice, then compose answers to seven short-answer questions about these two rodents. Finally, they must compose a fictional story...
Curated OER
The Big Bad Wolf and the Friendly Letter
A terrific presentation on the teaching of friendly letter writing. Learners engage in a PowerPoint that is part story, part writing exercise. There are lots of great tips on how to construct a letter, and young writers are encouraged to...
Curated OER
Larger-Than-Life Lara
Students explore child psychology by reading a children's book in class. In this bullying instructional activity, students read the book Larger Than Life Lara and discuss the characters and how they treat each other. Students answer...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing
Are you the oldest in your family? The youngest? The middlest? How do you feel about your place in your family? After reading such stories as My Rotten, Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by...
Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character
Charlotte's Web: A Story About Friendship
Strengthen the bonds of friendship within your class with a reading of E.B. White's award-winning novel, Charlotte's Web. Focusing on the unique characters in the story and the relationships they develop, young readers draw from their...
Curated OER
Dear Character
Students think about a character and how this character feels about life. This lesson can be used with virtually any grade level. They better explain a character, and identify character traits.
Curated OER
All in Good Time- Reading Comprehension and Open Response
In this reading comprehension and open response worksheet, students read a short passage in which the a younger sibling longs to be just like his/her older brother. They write short answers to a question about the main character's...
Curated OER
BioPoem Multicultural Activity For A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Students write a biopoem. In this literature and poetry writing lesson, students write a biopoem about the characters in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry following a specific given format. Examples and format are included.
Curated OER
Writing a Character Sketch
Combining descriptive and expository writing skills, middle schoolers create a character sketch about someone they know well. They use a graphic organizer to help them discuss a model character sketch and organize/write one of their own....
Curated OER
Reading Fiction - Character
The goal of this lesson is to have learners understand how character is created through a combination of what they say and do, and what others say about them. In pairs, learners construct a short dialogue between a parent and child after...
Curated OER
When Randolph Turned Rotten
Young scholars explore friendship by reading a book with their classmates. In this human relationship lesson, students read the story When Randolph Turned Rotten, and discuss the main character's relationships as well as the overall arc...
Curated OER
The Main Man
Students explore visualizing stories by completing a graphic organizer. In this reading strategy lesson, students read the story Pecos Bill by Steven Kellog and identify the setting, main characters and their interpretations. Students...
Curated OER
Cause and Effect with "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs"
Fourth graders explore reasoning by reading a book with their classmates. In this cause and effect lesson, 4th graders read the children's story Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and discuss the story elements, characters and plot....
PB Works
George Washington’s Socks: Short-Answer Questions Chapters 1-9
Build a literature unit around the book George Washington's Socks with this series of short answer questions. Broken up in two- and three-chapter increments, these reading comprehension questions allow young readers to demonstrate their...