TV for homework? Your pupils' dreams have come true! After reading Sandra Cisneros's "Eleven," they analyze the elements of the story, particularly the plot and and climax. The instructional activity could work with any short story that...

If your ESL pupils love talking about movies, here is an activity ideal for providing practice with both informational reading and elements of a story. Given fictional movie posters, they decipher the information and put it into a...

Somebody. Wanted. But. Then. Introduce your classes to the structure that supports stories with a activity that teaches readers how to identify the four basic components writers use to craft their tales. After identifying these elements...

“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...

Help your class identify story elements. They will discuss character, setting, problem, and solution after reading a story. A graphic organizer will help them to identify various elements with guided practice and independent practice...

Continue working through Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, by looking into language choices and discussing text-dependent questions. Pupils converse in small groups and as a class about plot, setting, and figurative language. Using...

"Plot the plot" of "The Adventures of the Speckled Band" with your young readers. Take a few days to read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story as a class or in pairs, having learners write down what they consider to be the most important...

It's time to pull all those volleyball skills together in lesson 20! The focus of this lesson is running plays. The setter communicates with her team to set the ball to a certain player and in a specific way. That player will then spike...

Enjoy the thrill of the movies with this ESL activity! Not only can learners talk about their favorite films, but in creating riddles about their chosen movies, they can practice the skills of context clues and deductive reasoning. This...

Explore language arts by reading two similar stories in order to compare and contrast them in class. Young readers read two Aunt Isabel books, by Kate Duke, and discuss the main characters, plot, and setting. They complete a graphic...

Story elements such as conflict, character analysis, resolution, and moral are discussed and charted as elementary children read folktales involving animals. An element of science is also introduced as learners discover what a keystone...

How do writers use the interaction between elements like characterization and setting to create meaning? Readers of "A Worn Path" create a series of comic book-style graphics of Eudora Welty's short story and reflect on how Welty...

Great for a reading intervention or remedial Language Arts class, this lesson plan uses two stories from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III ("Terri Jackson" and "Mary Lou" to reinforce note-taking skills, story elements, and comparing...

Fourth graders use a four-square graphic organizer to plan a paragraph writing about a wheelwright. Using gathered research from the previous unit, young writers discover how to organize a plot in preparation for writing a historical...

Fill-out a story map to help your scholars with pre-writing. They will use a story map template to pre-write. They also organize their ideas into steps which become the foundation for their first draft. Concrete objects are brought in to...

Through reading and writing, learners explore common elements found in fairy tales. After discussing traditional fairy tales, class members listen to The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by John Scieszka, a hilarious retelling of the...

Narrative essay writing is the focus of a series of exercises that model for learners how to not only read a narrative, but how to also examine the techniques fiction writers use to create a setting, develop their characters, represent...

What a wonderful way to follow up on the reading of, Roll of Thunder Hear Me Cry! The lesson has pupils split up into small groups of two to four middle schoolers. Each group must work collaboratively to create a multimedia project that...

Demonstrate how to track the elements of plot in a story. After watching you mark down the rising action, problem, climax, falling action, and resolution for Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth, pupils complete a graphic organizer for Sweet...

This resource provides the beginning ideas for a lesson on writing a narrative. Learners watch a video, identify story elements, including plot and setting, and then write their own stories. If augmented, this lesson could provide a...

What positions should the volleyball players be in for a free ball? What position should they be in for a hard hit? Then where do they each move, transitioning to offense? Lesson 11 goes over these questions regarding positioning and...

The focus of Lesson three in this 20 lesson volleyball unit is setting the ball. Proper technique for hand position, contact position, stance, and facing direction are reviewed. These skills are practiced individually and in small...

Lesson seven out of this 20 lesson unit focuses on setting up to attack. There is a lot to consider and know with regard to attacking to score a point. This piece focuses on passing the ball to the setter, who then focuses on setting the...

The simple instructional techniques described in this plan will help young readers learn and practice basic reading skills and strategies. Before reading, introduce your readers to the meaning of main character, setting, and plot. Then...