Curated OER
Creating Supporting Characters
Supporting characters need detail and characteristics just like a main character. Keep your budding authors entrenched in detail as they write their novels. This lesson focuses on developing supporting characters using personal...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 7: The Elements of Story
Budding novelists work on character development by relating to the characters in their stories. They imagine their own hopes and dreams and recall those of characters from books they've read. Learners also consider struggles the...
EdHelper
George Washington's Socks by Elvira Woodruff
A solid, straightforward book report form is an excellent addition to your literature unit. Class members note the main characters, point of view, plot elements, and other important details from a story, adding their favorite part from...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing Using the Book Rumpelstiltskin
Use the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin to teach your third grade class about descriptive writing. Following a teacher read-aloud of the story, the class brainstorms a list of adjectives describing the main character. Students use this list...
Curated OER
Dear Diary
Work on narrative writing with this lesson, in which middle schoolers analyze the characters from a selected piece of literature and write narrative diary pieces as the character. They work to understand the point of view of the...
Curated OER
Dramatic Outlines
Students write about main characters. In this dramatic writing lesson, students brainstorm character ideas. Students create actions and give the character a voice. Students act out the scene in groups and create a final draft.
Curated OER
Because of Winn-Dixie Scrapbook
Here is a fun resource that your kids will love. While reading the book Because of Winn-Dixie, they analyze the story's main characters by creating an online scrapbook. The purpose is to have them identify character traits and use...
Curated OER
Write a Story
Here is a great way to explore narrative writing! Learners review a previously constructed story map and identify the characters, setting, and main events in the book Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock retold by Eric A. Kimmel. They...
Curated OER
Story Pyramids
Young writers generate descriptive words. They use pictures of various landscapes (from books, magazines, or the Internet) and complete a story pyramid. The pyramid (included here) asks to describe the main character, the setting, and...
DePaul University
The Football Team
Playing team sports is about more than just scoring the most goals or winning the most games. Read this passage with your class and learn how athletes build character as members of a team. When finished, individuals identify the main...
Curated OER
Story Summaries; The Three Little Pigs
Learners explore language arts by completing a graphic organizer in class. In this story structure instructional activity, students read the classic tale "The Three Little Pigs" and discuss the main characters, conflict and setting....
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
Journal Writing Idea - Pets
Carve out some time for your youngsters to write in their journal. Today, they write a story about pets. They learn the value of a journal and how to keep up with it, and they enhance story development by planning their story before...
Curated OER
Writing and Presenting a Fable Using Research
Elementary and middle schoolers research animal facts and use them in a fable. First, they pair-share to find animal traits to use in writing a fable. They then complete a prewriting worksheet. After going through the writing process,...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Gulliver's Travels
Students read and analyze the book, Gulliver's Travels. They develop a reading folder, identify the main story elements, compare/contrast Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput and Brobdingnag, and write a paragraph about the main characters.
Curated OER
Counteracting Media Stereotyping
Discuss media stereotypes with your emerging consumers. They view a television program to identify gender bias. After discussing the clip as a class, each learner writes a story showing more equitable roles. Or consider having them...
Curated OER
Pay it Forward
Students explore the basic concept of micro-financing. In this economics/literacy lesson, students listen to One Hen by Katie Smith, in which a small loan changes the life of the main character. Students employ comprehension strategies...
McGraw Hill
Study Guide for Island of the Blue Dolphins
Dive your class into a reading of Island of the Blue Dolphins with this in-depth study guide. Breaking the novel into three parts, the resource begins each section with a focus activity that identifies a specific theme or question to be...
Curated OER
Guided Writing: Writing a Story on the OHP
Students practice fluency as well as story-writing skills. They work together to prepare and write their stories. Students are told that they are going to write a story entitled 'A Wonderful Day' and that they are going to be the...
Curated OER
King Arthur
Students explore literary classics by reading The Legend of King Arthur. In this legendary story lesson, students read the story The Legend of King Arthur and identify the main characters and how they will reenact the story. Students...
Curated OER
Sami and the Time of Troubles
Students read Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland's, Sami and the Time of Troubles before discussing it as a class. They brainstorm ideas for a letter to the main character, Sami. Next, they write a rough draft of a letter to...
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...
Curated OER
Because of Winn-Dixie
Take an in-depth look at a passage from Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie. Included here is the reading passage as well as a step-by-step procedure for reading the text, a set of text-dependent questions, and a final writing...
Curated OER
Plain Polly: Adding Relevant Details
Students use a stick figure to help them learn to write with details. In this details lesson, students brainstorm details to add to the stick figure 'Plain Polly.' Students then draw stick figures for their own writing and give them a...