Curated OER
Beginning Short Stories w/ Questions - An Adventure
This activity, which could be used in the lower grades for reading comprehension practice or with older students as part of an ESL lesson, has learners read a short story and answer six comprehension and vocabulary questions. As part of...
Curated OER
Beginning Short Stories - "What Do We Have to Eat?"
After reading two short stories, learners identify vocabulary associated with food and eating. This activity with 5 questions could be used as a reading comprehension and vocabulary practice for younger students or an ESL worksheet for...
Curated OER
Write a Short Story
Students compare two paintings, depicting urban life in America in the 1940's, answering a series of questions, then create a short story about the paintings' characters. They compare 'Nighthawks' and 'Nightlife.'
Curated OER
Scrambled Stories II
Review story elements with your class. They will use examples from a story to develop critical-thinking questions. Then they use a graphic organizer to describe the setting, character, and plot of the story, focusing on how they...
Curated OER
Who Am I?
Your budding journalists need to understand the five W's for writing a news story. They read a story, complete several graphic organizers to help them organize and write their article, and then use a self-assessment worksheet to edit and...
Curated OER
"Sunday in the Park" Reader's Response
After reading Bel Kaufman's "Sunday in the Park," give your class the opportunity to react to the short story through writing. First they write a brief summary paragraph, and then they react to any events or characters' actions in a...
Curated OER
Writing a Personal Letter Using the Short Story "Eleven"
Challenge your class to connect to the text of "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros with this activity, which prompts them to write a personal letter from the main character's point of view. The story, prompt, and letter template are all included...
Curated OER
Scrambled Stories
Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...
Tell City Schools
The Cay
Support your instruction of The Cay by Theodore Taylor with this extensive unit of materials. Provided here are prereading activities, worksheets and discussion questions for the entire book, and reading quizzes that you can use to check...
Washoe County School District
Three Skeleton Key
Conduct a close reading of George G. Toudouze's well-known horror story "Three Skeleton Key." This plan breaks up the reading into several steps and provides text-dependent questions to ask along the way. Learners will have the chance to...
Curated OER
Maniac Magee Comprehension Questions
Supplement your Maniac Magee lesson plans with a packet of student materials. Included here is a variety of questions about the text. Pupils complete multiple choice and short-answer questions and choose from a variety of extension...
Curated OER
Beginning Short Stories --
After reading a short story, learners answer 4 questions about a birthday party. This activity could be used for younger students, or with older learners as part of an ESL lesson.
Wordpress
The Inn of Lost Time
Test understanding of "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namoika with an assessment that includes true/false, multiple choice, vocabulary, short answer, and essay questions. The test is not entirely traditional since, for the first 10...
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
Understanding Narrative Poetry
In this poetry worksheet, students learn about narrative poetry. They then answer 7 questions about one of the poems they read, practice writing their own narrative poem, and complete a research project using the internet. The answers...
Curated OER
It's Your Opinion
Everyone has a different opinion about the characters they read about in books. Have your class explore forming an opinion and finding evidence to support it as they read and discuss what they think about a particular character. They...
Curated OER
Summer Shorts
Want to use sequence maps in your narrative writing unit? Young writers work to create personal narratives about their summer vacation. They write a narrative of their vacation and create a display using summer clothing shapes made from...
Scholastic
Lesson 1: What Are Barriers?
Scholars discuss the concept of a barrier with a short passage on Jackie Robinson. The writing process begins with a paragraph and several other sentences about Robinson's unique traits that made breaking a barrier possible.
K12 Reader
Inference in Literature: The Wizard of Oz
We're off to see the wizard! Practice making inferences in literature with two sample paragraphs from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Each passage provides questions about the pleasantness of the place it describes, and kids...
Curated OER
Check It Out: Verifying Information and Sources in News Coverage
If it’s in the news it must be true, right? Prompted by a New York Times article, class members consider the importance of accuracy in reporting and validating sources. The detailed plan includes warm-up exercises, discussion questions,...
Curated OER
Farewell to Manzanar
Examine human resilience across two texts with a detailed unit. Over the course of a week, learners will conduct a close reading of excerpts from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar. The resource includes clear procedures for reading and...
Curated OER
The Screwtape Letter by C.S. Lewis
In this The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis instructional activity, students define six vocabulary words using only one or two words and answer eight comprehension questions after reading the short story.
Curated OER
Writing A Summary - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Learners explore short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this literature lesson, students read one of his short stories listed and then summarize the story in a written piece.
Curated OER
Planning an Escape
Students plan their escape as though they were an 18th century slave. For this slavery history lesson, students use the Internet to research runaway slaves, then create a plan for escape in the form of a short story or journal entry.