Weekly Story Book
Folk Tales and Fables
Pages and pages of engaging activities, worksheets, and writing projects on teaching folktales and fables await you! You don't want to miss this incredible resource that not only includes a wide range of topics and graphic...
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Author's Day
Have your learners choose an author to study. One resource link gives a list of approved authors. Scholars read at least three works produced by that author and produce three separate book reports as well as a two-page author report....
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Making Magical Creatures Talk
Invite your young writers to take the reins with writing dialogue. Using two characters of their own creation, kids work with partners and then individually to write short conversations.
University of Arizona
Yoruba Legends: Southern Nigeria
Explore legends and storytelling with your learners. After listening to some legends, pupils work collaboratively and then individually to come up with original legends about animals.
Bulgarian Creative Writing Competition
Creative Writing Workshop
Looking for suggestions on how to organize a creating writing workshop? For topic suggestions appropriate for various grade levels? Check out a resource packet, designed for English language arts instructors, that is packed with ideas...
Keys to Literacy
Story Map
Recording the key elements of a story (title, setting, characters, problem, ending) on a story map graphic organizer provides primary readers a chance to practice identifying these elements and promotes reading comprehension. The...
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15 Seconds of Fame
Students write an autobiographical essay. In this writing lesson students read a narrative, Panic in Paris, and review the elements of a narrative as a class discussion. Well-known stories are used as examples for writing their own...
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Once Upon a Genre
Learners examine fractured fairy tales before responding by writing in many different genres including a persuasive essay, a personal narrative, a letter, an advertisement, and a resume'. They create a pop-up book with their written...
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Teaching Selected Poems from Jim Wayne Miller's the Brier Poems
Students explore the basic elements of poetry through Appalachian life poetry. For this poetry lesson, students read seven poems from Jim Wayne Miller's the Brier Poems and complete poetry analysis activities for each poem.
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"Theseus and the Minotaur"
Students analyze the features of myths and legends. They read the myths "Theseus and the Minotaur" and "Orpheus and Eurydice," identify the myth story elements, evaluate each story for the overall theme, describe the characters, and...
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The Desert is Theirs: Adapting to Our Environment
Students determine how animals and people adapt to the desert environment. In this desert lesson, students review vocabulary about the desert and how humans have to make changes to accommodate their environments. They listen to and...
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Holes
Students read and analyze the story elements of the novel "Holes" by Louis Sachar. They play a "Holes" matching game, complete a timeline of story events, complete a Cause-and-Effect graphic organizer, conduct research on Louis Sachar's...
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Tall Tales Today
Young scholars explore the attributes of American tall tales. In this folklore lesson, students read several tall tales, describe the elements of tall tales, and then use hyperbole to write their own tall tales.
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Travels With Charley
Fifth graders engage in a literature study that uses a variety of texts in order to maximize their exposure to different reading situations. They examine each book in order to practice skills of reading comprehension. They recognize the...
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Rivers that Flow from the Continental Divide: The Journey of Two Rivers
Students explore river routes. In this social studies lesson, students trace the route of a river from its source and discuss the Continental Divide. Students draw the route the river takes and name the states it flows through. Students...
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Word Pairs
Fifth graders practice the trait of word choice and create a narrative writing with appropriate word choices. They work in pairs to write a story using as many word pairs from their imaginations as they can.
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Art as Storyteller
Students examine how paintings tell stories. They read biographies about artists, analyze paintings, research and write the art history of a painting, write a creative story based on the painting, and create a painting in the artist's...
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Stain My Days Blue
Students read several poems related to the life and culture of the Appalachia region. They are introduced to the poetic forms of simile, alliteration and onomatopoeia and respond to the poems through journal entries and poetry of their own.
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The Name Jar
Students participate in a lesson that focuses on the literature of Korea. "The Name Jar" is read by students to practice some essential reading skills. This would include the recognition of sequence in a story, characterization, and...
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Contrasting Cinderellas
Students compare and contrast the traditional Cinderella to the modern-day fairy tale, Cinder Edna. In this fairy tales lesson, students read both stories and construct a Venn diagram to compare the two fairy tales. Students identify how...
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American Revolutionary War: Two Sides...Two Perspectives
Young scholars investigate the American Revolutionary War era from the perspective of Britain and the American colonists by researching causes, effects, events and people. They compare the views of the Colonists, and the British and...
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Fables and Trickster Tales Around the World
Students analyze fables and trickster tales from various cultural traditions. In this fable analysis lesson, students identify the elements of fables and trickster stories. Students read Aesop's fables and Ananse spider stories....
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Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
Learners explore a content area by reading both fiction and nonfiction texts on the topic. They do more research online about the topic. After comparing the texts, they create their own written original work, using both narrative and...
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Bark, Meow, Purr, Snort - Oh, What a Voice!
Students brainstorm differences between dogs and cats. They discuss the elements that make a story effective and write a story with a beginning, middle and end in the voice of a cat or dog.