Relate the structure of the essay to the structure of a building. The class compares an essay to a building, with the writer being the architect, the introduction being the foundation, and so on. They use the visual representation of a...

Mark Twain's frame story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" provides an opportunity for a study of this story-within-a-story pattern. Using an illustrated template, class members record a plot summary of the frame story...

What do Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch, and Frosty the Snowman have in common? They're all characters from beloved holiday movies that viewers revisit in the play Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!). Scholars conduct research...

Students explore language arts by completing a graphic organizer in class. In this story structure lesson, students read the classic tale "The Three Little Pigs" and discuss the main characters, conflict and setting. Students complete a...

What is the difference between a news story and a personal narrative? This plan has learners write a personal narrative using the topic of service projects in their community. Consider completing a cross-curricular extension by bringing...

Learners read a story with 220 basic sight words. They discuss why the words are important to identify and utilize them in their own writing assignments.

Compare two versions of "The Three Little Pigs" (traditional and Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, told from the wolf's point of view). As your 4th graders recount the familiar version of the story, emphasize the...

Explore the Ukraine through a reading of The Mitten. Readers will determine the sequence of events, cause and effect, make predictions, and find the main idea of the story. They also use math skills to make charts and graphs. Finally,...

Students read a short selection of a story individually or as a class. On their own, they create a story pyramid for the selection and write a one page summary. They use text from the story for their supporting details. To end the...

Students write a story.  In this writing style and illustration lesson, students review elements of Dr. Seuss' writing and illustration style and read a few more books written by him, examining the writing style.  Students work...

Students investigate the details of a chosen story of literature. They use a pyramid graphic organizer to record information. The information is used to write a summary of the story. Students use a rubric while writing the summary to...

Students consider the structure of folktales. In this writing skills lesson, students list the attributes of folktales that they read in class. Students then complete handouts based on the elements of the tales as well as types of tales...

Analyze point of view and how it affects a literary work with this lesson. Middle schoolers create a written piece that focuses on point of view. They review the literary term "point of view," and explore examples of the term in text....

Seventh graders write, revise, and edit a letter and a story. In this revising and editing lesson plan, 7th graders learn the differences between revising and editing by doing the two to a letter and eventually a story.

Learners examine how to write article summaries of abstracts. In this writing skills lesson, students edit the noted sections of an abstract that is already written on the Old Testament Abstracts.

Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...

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 plan, they read a...

Explore the life's work of one of the great children's authors using this ten-lesson author study unit. After first performing some whole-group research into the life of Cynthia Rylant, the class goes on to read six different...

Begin writing personal narratives in this writing lesson. Junior high writers start by writing a journal about their favorite holiday. They read a book at their skill level and use graphic organizers to record their ideas for writing....

Students learn characteristics of an effective personal narrative.  In this personal narrative instructional activity, students discover ways to show rather than tell, adding richness and detail to their writing.  Students...

Sit back, relax, and transport to 1787! This lesson plan on the Constitution begins with guided imagery of the Constitutional Convention. The class reads A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution in an...

After a review of the steps involved in writing a summary, class members read The Physics of Baseball by Sarah Ives and use a story web to identify the important details to include in their summary. Class members then choose an article...

Students explore pre-reading activities. Through looking at titles, and observing pictures, students predict what will happen in a story. They listen to a part of the story and then write their own conclusion. Students complete the story...

Students explore short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this literature instructional activity, students read one of his short stories listed and then summarize the story in a written piece.