Curated OER
Poetry Project
Choosing a poet or a theme, eighth graders conduct research in the world of poetry. They conduct Internet research and select five poems that fit their poet or theme, and create a seven slide PowerPoint presentation on their selected...
Curated OER
Definition Poems
“Hope is a tissue, wiping away your problems and fears.” Use a Definition Poem Web worksheet to model for your class how to craft a free verse poem based on an emotion. After brainstorming topics, groups use the sheet to make comparisons...
Curated OER
Expressing Our Thoughts Through Poetry
Students create a poem on about spring. They read final version of their poem chorally. They write reflections of their experience in creating the poem.
Curated OER
Writing and Autobiography
Are you working on an autobiographical or narrative writing unit? Bring this lesson to your class, as it takes young writers through the process of drafting and sequencing an autobiography. After observing and demonstrating steps of the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Story of Epic Proportions: What Makes a Poem an Epic?
Learners analyze the epic poem form and its roots in oral tradition. For this epic poetry lesson, students research the epic hero cycle and recognize the pattern of events and elements. Learners analyze the patterns embedded in the stories.
Curated OER
Whoever You Are
Students examine cultures, traditions, and feeling throughout cultures. In this cultural lesson, students use literature, maps, and cultural information to examine how people have universal feelings despite their different cultures and...
Curated OER
Friendly Patter Poetry
Students create a free from poem on the topic of friendship. They read examples of free form poetry to gather ideas. Through the use of a graphic organizer, students generate a list of friendship characteristics which is used to create...
Curated OER
Be the Poet
Students work through a Haiku Organizer to determine the characteristics they use to write eight haiku poems on a theme that they choose. They design presentation folders of their completed work.
Reed Novel Studies
Winnie-The-Pooh: Novel Study
Winnie the Pooh lands in a gorse-bush plant in chapter one of A.A. Milne's beloved children's novel, Winnie-the-Pooh. With the novel study, scholars research three interesting facts about the plant. They also compose a four-line poem...
Curated OER
Literature Focus Unit: Civil War
Fourth graders complete a two-week unit on the U.S. Civil War and the Underground Railroad. They read the books "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and "Pink and Say," complete story maps, and dramatize a scene from "Follow the Drinking Gourd."...
Dr. Seuss Enterprises
Dr. Seuss in the Classroom
Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...
Curated OER
Friendly Poetry
Students brainstorm qualities that they look for in a good friend. They use those qualities to write a class poem. They are to illustrate their poems with crayons or markers.
Reed Novel Studies
Old Wolf: Novel Study
Do wolves ever attack humans? An informative novel study for Old Wolf helps pupils conduct research to answer the question. They also decode anagrams, learn about onomatopoeia, and write quatrain poems about themes from the novel.
Reed Novel Studies
Snow Treasure: Novel Study
What does it mean to be courageous? With the study guide for Marie McSwigan's novel, Snow Treasure, scholars answer questions about the text and practice new vocabulary. They also write quatrain poems about courage or another theme from...
Reed Novel Studies
To Kill a Mockingbird: Novel Study
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American fiction writer whose biggest claim to fame was the creation of Tarzan. Using the novel study for Harper Lee's beloved novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, pupils research and list facts about him or another...
Reed Novel Studies
Stella By Starlight: Novel Study
Who were the Ku Klux Klan, and what role did they play in the United States during the Great Depression? Using the Stella by Starlight novel study, scholars research the organization and answer questions relating to Sharon M. Draper's...
Curated OER
Longfellow and Dickens: The Story of a Trans-Atlantic Friendship
Students examine the relationship between Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Charles Dickens. They read and analyze a manuscript, answer discussion questions, conduct Internet research, and discuss societal and historical context of the...
Curated OER
Hearts and Partners
Tenth graders explore, examine and study poetry within a variety of different strategies within this lesson. They review and discuss a diagram of the big picture of why it's importance to study, analyze and deconstruct poetry, so that...
Curated OER
The Making of a Good Friend
Students examine the text of the Ethics of the Fathers. They decide which characteristics would make a better friend. They evaluate the actions of others around them and write a poem with a partner about sharing.
Curated OER
Naming Trust
Students write a poem. In this character lesson, students read a quote about trust and friendship and discuss what they mean. Students write an acrostic poem using the letters in their name and come up with a phrase or word that...
Curated OER
Greetings from Maya Angelou
Pupils investigate the life and works of Maya Angelou. They complete a Webquest, read poems, listen to a reading by Maya Angelou, answer discussion questions, and write a poem, short story, or essay based on a newspaper article.
Curated OER
House on Mango Street: Self Definition and Identity
Students analyze House on Mango Street. In this House on Mango Street lesson, students complete a pre-reading activity for vignettes from the story. Students follow with lessons about self definition and identity, friendships,...
Curated OER
A Trip to Wonderland: The Nursery "Alice"
Primary learners explore elements of wonder in The Nursery "Alice" by Lewis Carroll. They analyze the plot point after listening to the text. Next, they describe the imagery in various works of children's literature using the given links...
Curated OER
Chivalry and Courtly Love
Eleventh graders examine chivalry and courtly love. In this Arthurian legend lesson, 11th graders explore the legend and how chivalry, honor, and courtly love have been internalized into today's culture. Students author and perform plays...