Curated OER
Combining Geography and Literature by Mapping a Story
Students listen to or read a story on their own. Using the text, they describe the relative locations of the main events. In groups, they develop two and three dimensional maps of the story. They create a key and a title for their map.
Reed Novel Studies
The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader: Novel Study
A painting is worth a thousand words—in a different world! Lucy and Edmund sail away into Narnia using a picture of a ship at sea. The story tells of their adventures and the islands they visit. Scholars work through activities about the...
Scholastic
Identifying Types of Irony Using "The Gift of the Magi"
O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" is the classic example of irony in literature. Teach young writers about the ways irony can engage their readers with an activity in which they write scripts using dramatic irony, situational irony, and...
Novelinks
Walk Two Moons: Unsent Letter
Take a journey with your class as they explore the different settings from Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Middle schoolers write postcards in first person as if they were the characters of the story.
Reed Novel Studies
Woodsong: Novel Study
What is better than a book full of adventures and thrills? A book that's full of true adventures and thrills the author actually experienced! Gary Paulsen recounts his life stories that inspired many of his books. Readers remain hooked...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
I Need a Superhero
Once the class learns about the hero's journey, they'll find it in every story and movie they see! Take characters from their humble beginnings to their atonement and apotheosis with a set of lessons about the hero's journey focusing...
Curated OER
Stories of Nepal
Students explore folktales and fairy tales from Nepal to help them understand the Nepalese culture, and to compare the stories to the ones the students may know. After reading the stories, students consider what rural life is like in...
Curated OER
Rituals, Scapegoats, and Mobs...Oh My!
One way to teach "The Lottery," a suspenseful and rich short story by Shirley Jackson.
Curated OER
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Use the contemporary story of the youngest-ever nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize to teach the power of autobiographies.
Curated OER
All in a Day's Work
Who is Herman Melville? Read and discuss "Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street." Then, discuss the film adaptations of Melville's work and translate a passage of the text into modern-day English. Discussion questions are...
Curated OER
The Tell-Tale Hearts of Writers
Knock, knock, knock...Creep out your class with a critical thinking lesson focused on word relationships in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." They investigate the relationship between word choice, mood, and interpretation of a...
Curated OER
Mississippi Trial, 1955: Pre-reading Strategy
Pink and Say, a picture book by Patricia Polacco, and an anticipation guide, set the stage for a reading of Mississippi Trial, 1955, Chris Crowe's novel based on the true story of the murder of Emmett Till. Instructional routines, the...
Curated OER
Teaching Mythology Lessons in a Creative Way
The key to understanding mythology can lie in finding lesson plans that hook students on this fascinating part of history.
Reed Novel Studies
Hello Universe: Novel Study
Every neighborhood has its own unique cast of characters, and the crew in the novel Hello Universe is no exception. The characters in Erin Entrada Kelly's novel take center stage in a study guide based on the text. Readers answer...
Power Show
Out of the Dust
Is your class reading Out of the Dust? If they are, or if this is your first time teaching Karen Hesse's Newbery Medal winning novel, check out the ideas in a presentation that outlines what you and your class can do while reading about...
Oxford University Press
The Jungle Book
Most every teacher dreams of a ready-to-teach and print book study. Well, here it is! The Jungle Book novel resource includes 12 complete lessons studying poetry, author's craft, themes, characters, and more. Scholars role play, research...
Penguin Books
Folklore and Fairytales: A Guide to Using Traditional Tales and Reimagined Classics
Every culture has its own stories to tell. An interesting educator's guide shares a large collection of fairytales and folktales, some from different cultures and some re-creations of classics. A summary and brief teaching ideas...
Novelinks
Wuthering Heights: Concept/Vocabulary Analysis
New to using Bronte's Wuthering Heights in the classroom; check out this overview of themes, characters, settings, and project suggestions.
Curated OER
Test Review Sheet: Irony, Comma Rules, and Sentence Variety,
Covering vocabulary, literary analysis, and grammar, this worksheet would be a great study guide or homework assignment for an eighth-grade Language Arts class. Though the five stories by Edgar Allan Poe, O. Henry, and Oscar Wilde are...
Curated OER
Surveying Salinger with Dialogue and Disillusionment
Find creative ways to teach Salinger's stories by focusing on dialogue, cultural context, and characterization.
Curated OER
1984 by George Orwell
Readers of Nineteen Eighty-Four engage in a close reading exercise that directs their focus to the key details Orwell provides in the opening paragraphs to introduce his dystopian society. The included worksheeet is divided into three...
Pearson
Practice Test English Language Arts: Grade 8
As teachers, it is our job to encourage learners to stand up for what they believe in and help them learn lessons from life's events. A set of practice questions designed for the ELA MCAS assessment features passages that teach positive...
Curated OER
Understanding Character
Students are introduced to literary elements and definitions in the worksheet Understanding Character but reading through each of the elements and definitions aloud. They read the story, "La Bamba" and identify examples of the literary...
Curated OER
Laurence Yep's, Dragonwings
Students discuss vocabulary words and compare definitions. They read chapters 6-9 of the novel, Dragonwings, and discuss point of view, and complete a plot diagram. Then they review the four types of conflict and identify the conflicts...