EngageNY
Reviewing Visual Elements of a Graphic Novel: Max Axiom
Pass the tea! Using the resource, scholars participate in a Tea Party protocol to analyze text and images about inventions that helped meet societal demands. After sharing their observations with each other, they discuss visual elements...
Curated OER
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle: Graphic Organizer
After completing the first five chapters of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle By Avi, use direct quotes to make inferences about how Charlotte feels about certain characters. Later, when the novel has concluded, revisit the text to...
Curated OER
Study Guide for Missing May
Use this comprehensive packet to accompany a study of Missing May by Cynthia Rylant. Starting out with a brief author biography and background information about the novel, this guide includes materials to use throughout the entire novel....
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Analyzing Visual Elements in a Graphic Novel
Can I get a visual? Scholars work on their mid-unit assessments by analyzing vocabulary and discussing visual elements in Investigating the Scientific Method with Max
Axiom Super Scientist. They then reflect on their learning by...
Curated OER
The Lightning Thief: Vocabulary Strategy
Take an in-depth look into the vocabulary from the novel, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. With a list of words to choose from, scholars discover the definition, origin, stories associated with the...
Curated OER
Hatchet: Vocabulary Strategy
Want your class to use critical thinking when discussing vocabulary? Go beyond the dictionary with a vocabulary activity based on Gary Paulsen's Hatchet. Kids write the word in the center of a graphic organizer that also provides places...
Novelinks
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: Study Strategy
Readers of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry expand their understanding of discrimination by using the provided graphic organizer to record the definition of the word, characteristics of and different types of discrimination, as well as...
Penguin Books
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt - Teacher's Guide
Children in foster care face a lot of uncertainty in their lives. A guide for the novel One for the Murphys introduces a main character, Carley, who is thrust into the foster care system. Chapter-by-chapter questions cover key details in...
Novelinks
The Devil’s Arithmetic: Personal Narrative Assignment
How can an unfamiliar place help you learn something about yourself? Use a narrative writing prompt as you culminate your unit on Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic. Kids consider the ways that, like the main character from the novel,...
Curated OER
Novel Jeopardy
Play a classroom version of the classic game show Jeopardy, to review and discuss the novel your class has been reading. Questions about plot and other story elements are written on cards and given point values. Divide the class into...
Curated OER
The Giver: K-W-H-L Strategy
Explore the theme of release and death in Lois Lowry's The Giver with a K-W-H-L chart. After noting what they already know, kids come up with a list of questions about topics that they would like to know about, as well as how they will...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Investigating the Scientific Method with Max Axiom Super Scientist
Let's have a look at something different. Scholars take a look at the text Investigating the Scientific Method with Max Axiom Super Scientist and discuss how the structure, graphics, and images appear different than previous works they...
Novelinks
Where the Red Fern Grows: Graphic Organizer, Story Map
How do you grow a goal from a dream to reality? You make a plan! After reading chapters two and three of Where the Red Fern Grows, learners map how Billy earns his dogs by completing an organizer in pairs and then discussing answers in...
Novelinks
The Devil’s Arithmetic: Semantic Feature Analysis
Organize the characters in Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic according to their shared character traits. After listing character traits as a class, kids note which characters exhibit particular characteristics with a discussion and...
Curated OER
Mysterious Plot Problems
Your readers explore plot patterns in mysteries by identifying problems first in Two-Minute Mysteries by Donald J. Sobol and then in The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. To gain access to the worksheets, graphic organizers and riddles...
Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Realistic Fiction
As scholars begin identifying stories as realistic fiction, its important they see many examples to solidify their concepts of this genre. Readers begin with a personal connection, thinking of television shows they like and determining...
EngageNY
Paragraph Writing, Part 1: How Esperanza Responds on the Train (Revisiting Chapter 5: "Las Guayabas/Guavas")
When your class members have completed the novel Esperanza Rising, they will be ready to write an expository essay on how Esperanza responds to events and what this says about her character. Set your pupils up for success by starting out...
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...
EngageNY
Gathering Evidence and Drafting a Two-Voice Poem (Chapter 13: "Los Duraznos/Peaches")
Begin class with a short comprehension quiz and review and then move into a new genre: two-voice poems. The activity provides information about this type of poetry as well as a video example made by eighth graders that you can show your...
All for KIDZ
Building Relationships: The Orphan of Ellis Island
Family and friendship are two very important themes of the historical fiction novel The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff. From video clips and writing prompts to reader's theater and family interviews, this resource provides...
Weebly
Symbolism in The Giver
Take two days to examine the symbolism inherent in color, and how this relates to Lois Lowry's The Giver. Small groups first discuss the meaning of colors and then come together as a class to explore the impact of color. The activities...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The Twits Get the Shrinks
Turn readers into investigative journalists. The 11th and final lesson that accompanies The Twits by Roald Dahl asks the question "What happened to Mr. and Mrs. Twit?" The lesson uses mind maps and group discussion to help answer the...
Curated OER
Literature Study Contracts
Young scholars complete activities with a leveled chapter book. In this literature lesson, students read a novel and complete several graphic organizers and activities as they read. They focus on characters, settings, vocabulary, and plot.
Literacy Design Collaborative
Exploring Character Development in The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
How did the Civil Rights Movement affect young people in the United States? Scholars read Christopher Paul Curtis' novel, The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963. Next, they write compare and contrast essays showing how the main characters...