Curated OER
The Learning Network: Re-envisioning Classic Stories
Readers reflect on enjoyable stories they know, brainstorm criteria that make a story "good," analyze a New York Times article about innovative children's performances, re-envision classics on their own, and peer edit drafts. Use this as...
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"The Three Billy Goats Gruff:" Retelling the Story
Youngsters retell the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. They write a sentence for speech bubbles for a character in the story, identify the phrases that can be used for retelling a story, and in small groups write a sentence for the...
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Let's Retell This Story
Fourth graders identify story grammar elements of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." The elements are recorded on a chart and students use the story grammar elements from the chart to retell the story.
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
The Backpack Travel Journals
Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record interesting...
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Where Do We Begin?
Primary learners grasp sequence of events by discussing morning routines and reviewing the story of Little Red Riding Hood. They explore the necessity of correct order of events. As a class, create a story with a beginning, middle, and...
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The Cow That Went Oink
Learners complete a variety of activities related to the book The Cow That Went Oink. They role-play the various animals from the story, write a letter to a farm animal in the book, identify syllables of story words, and create an...
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Snowy Day
Students investigate the concept of reading comprehension while focusing upon the sequencing of a story. They read the story and use the cutouts included in the lesson to put the story in order. Students also engage in a class discussion.
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Exploring Film Genres for Telling Hero Stories: Narrative Shorts
Students research that a narrative film tells a story using camera movement, sound, lighting, editing and other film making techniques. The audience must be taken into consideration when making a film. They explore what makes their hero...
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Re-telling The Tale
Students retell a fairy tale by writing on the computer. In this writing lesson plan, students draft, revise, edit, and publish their retelling of the story.
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Winter Wonderland: Internet Literature Project
Young scholars, using the Internet, communicate with peers around the world about winter-themed books. They study authors, write book reviews, re-write endings, interview book characters, create scene dioramas, paint murals, and write...
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Lesson Plan for Cricket's Supper
Interested in a special folktale to read with your class? Then this lesson plan might be for you. Readers will build an understanding of the food chain while creating a storyboard that includes the characters, setting, and plot of the...
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The Magical World of Russian Fairy Tales
Students read several fairy tales of Russian origin. They brainstorm common elements of a fairy tale and identify those elements in several examples. They retell a favorite fairy tale through a skit, oral storytelling, a sketch, or a...
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Students complete various activities related to the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." They participate in a shared reading activity, read and write a sentence for each day of the week, draw a picture of the caterpillar eating one of...
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"The Clever Monkey"
Second graders complete a variety of activities related to the book "The Clever Monkey" by Rob Cleveland. They answer story comprehension questions, and rewrite the story. Students also complete a comprehension and fact or opinion...
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Wycinanki and Polish Folktales
Learners, with the use of the Internet among various other resources, research/locate Polish folktales and re-tell the Polish folktales in their own words. In addition, they examine the art of Wycinanki, Polish paper cutting.
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Conejito
Third graders read the story "Conejito" and write a descriptive story about the rainforest in Panama. They answer story comprehension questions, complete worksheet questions about a map of Panama, and rewrite a paragraph changing the...
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Through the Eyes of the Big Bad Wolf
Imagine how the wolf would tell the tale of Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs. Young writers re-imagine classic tales by adopting the point of view of another character in the story. After reading models like The True Story...
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Summarizing Details in Sequence
Seventh graders write a few sentences explaining the most important events of their lives during the past year. As a class, they discuss why they chose the elements they did for their sentences. To end the lesson, they read a variety of...
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Japan: Traditions and Culture
A series of four activities explores Japanese culture and traditions. Learners participate in a re-enacted tea ceremony; examine sketches of Asian figures by Canadian artist Robert Harris, discuss symbols, investigate Japanese mon, and...
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We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Second graders participate in guided reading and writing experience in this set of five lessons. They complete a picture walk of Michael Rosen's, We're Going on a Bear Hunt before listening to the story and retelling it. Working with a...
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What Do Writers Do?
Pupils learn about honing their writing through editing. They write the beginning of a story, paying attention to vocabulary and detail. Then they split into groups of two to peer edit. After discussing ways they can improve their...
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'Song of the South' a racist tune?
Pupils read the information about the movie "Song of the South" and watch some of the clips. They write their reaction to the proposal to re-release the movie. Students consider whether it would matter if the studio adds an introduction...
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Kazan, Miller, and the McCarthy Era
Students read The Crucible in order to investigate the McCarthy era and the Hollywood Blacklist. Students watch video clips of the McCarthy witch hunts and investigate the time period through online research. Students recreate sections...
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Reading, Writing, and Rhyming
Students listen to four different nursery rhymes and list characteristics that are common among nursery rhymes. They access the Internet to find ten nursery rhymes and record the web address. They choose a nursery rhyme and re-tell it...