How can understanding the genre of historical fiction help your language arts class with literary analysis? Use this lesson to help young readers learn about historical fiction. After reading a selection from the "Dear America" or "My...

Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...

Students explore fiction and nonfiction writing. They identify the elements of fiction in a short story and identify the criteria necessary in a nonfiction piece. Students distinguish the author's purpose in an expository text,...

Students view the videos from the Spellbinder series. They focus on analyzing and thinking critically. Students explore the distinguishing features and conventions of the science fiction and fantasy genres and narrative structure and...

Learners consider the different genres of literary and movie characters. In this character types lesson, students brainstorm character genres from books and movies. Learners read the article 'Which Wizard Beats 'Em All?' and develop...

Mark Twain, the famous American author, is often studied in the school system. Use "The Prince and the Pauper" to analyze the differences between the text and its video version.  This lesson includes several culminating project...

Students analyze American essayists Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass in an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing. In this essay history lesson, students identify methods for writing essays. Students read and analyze...

Examine the elements of nonfiction writings in this lesson. Learners list common features of nonfiction and compare nonfiction and fiction books on the same topic. Create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two genres.

Learners explore different types of student literature; they then write their own fiction pieces, in either fantasy/adventure or memoir/realism style.

Students discuss famous examples of historical fiction as a genre and why it is used so often. They create an original piece of historical fiction by developing a character who is an immigrant to the United States. They are assessed...

Learners use maps to locate the countries of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. In groups, they compare and contrast the three countries in regard to their culture, morals and values. They read various examples of folktales and write their...

Students explore the genre of biography in both its traditional and nontraditional forms. They examine Edmund Morris's unorthodox biography of Ronald Reagan. They conduct research on an historic American and write their own biographies.

Students explore the world's oceans. They research questions about the oceans and write a research report about an ocean animal. Students identify at least four different writing genres they experienced while reading about the ocean.

Fifth graders explore poems of African Americans. They research a famous African American, write a report, create a timeline of events in African American history, create a map of the New World, and research Molly Walsh. After...

Students develop a variety of reading skills that diagnosis has revealed as lacking. They use this activity to promote pleasure in reading, to emergent readers to travel further into the world of books and begin to comprehend what rich...

Students examine the writing techniques of professional authors and apply them to their own work. In pairs, they email authors to discover the tricks of the trade. Students create their own Website for their work.

Third graders match the body part words in Spanish to a picture. They receive a picture of a human with lines coming from its feet, hands, and arms. Students use a word bank, to write the Spanish word that corresponds to the picture. ...

Young scholars explore African-American students literature as an integral building block in empowering all young scholars to a better awareness when reading and writing. They use as a productive Social Studies tool for overall...

Third graders increase reading strategies while learning about Abigail Adams and her role in history. For this Abigail Adams lesson, 3rd graders read about the American Revolution and Abigail Adams using all the balanced literacy...

Students explore the penguin life cycle. In this penguin life cycle lesson, students read the book The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins. Students look at the pictures and make predictions. Students identify facts about penguins and do...

Eighth graders explore the life and works of Pablo Neruda. They complete an author map concerning his personal and professional life. Students identify the key components of an ode. They write an ode to a common object around their...

Students read and analyze the twelve short stories in the novel "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." They create their own detective that has to solve a new kind of crime, and write and edit a short story with their original detective as...

Eighth graders locate and interpret information about the culture of another country using multi-media tools. Students read and interpret literature about characters and cultures from a foreign country. Students create a travel guide...

Students research the life of Abraham Lincoln and write a first-person account from the viewpoint of someone who knew him. They develop a timeline of Lincoln's life, research a particular period of his life, and write a first-person...