Syracuse City School District
Reading Comprehension Unit Plan
A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...
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Creating Transitions
Fourth graders analyze the use of transitions in text. In this transitions lesson, 4th graders determine how and why a transition is used at a specific time in a piece of writing. They show transitions by using movements before...
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Literary Response and Analysis
Young scholars analyze the archetype of 'the fall' in Shakespeare's Macbeth. In this literary analysis lesson, students work in tiered learning groups to analyze the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Young scholars use the book of...
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Goldilocks Revisited
Second graders investigate the story of "The Three Bears" while focusing on the character of Goldilocks. They answer key questions that are focused upon the development of positive feelings and reactions. Students discuss the possible...
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Lucha Music
Middle schoolers listen to four styles of Mexican music, and create percussion instruments which they use to play each style. Additionally, learners create Lucha Libre masks which are also a part of the colorful culture of Mexico. These...
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Red Hot Resume!!
Sixth graders identify personal strengths and the importance of highlighting their talents when writing a resume. They write a reflection narrative on "Cool Stuff I Can Do." They generate the information for the narrative from class...
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Civil War Diaries
Fifth graders examine excerpts from a diary of a Confederate soldier and his experiences in a Union prison camp. After receiving character cards, they write diary entries from the perspectives of their Civil War identity. As an...
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What Do Maps Show?: Lesson 1 Introduction to Maps
Students brainstorm a list of the different types of maps they have seen or used. Using the activity sheet, they look through a social studies book to find all the maps and to determine what they are used for. Using a poster, they review...
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Shizuko’s Daughter: Graphic Organizer
Help young readers align character relationships in an activity for Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter. After kids discuss the characters and how they relate to each other, they use index cards and a graphic organizer to outline the...
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Building Believable Characters
Students use descriptive strategies such as physical descriptions, background, and comparison of characters when writing narratives. They develop the topic with supporting details and precise diction to paint a visual image in the...
US Institute of Peace
Negotiation Role-Play
War-torn Kosovo is experiencing another crisis—thousands of broken-down cars clogging the damaged highways, making travel impossible. Which local auto shop owner will get the contract to clear the road for progress? After some research,...
US Institute of Peace
Responding to Conflict: Negotiation Role-Play
After a lesson like this one, your class won't hesitate to negotiate! Pupils pair up and negotiate opposing sides of a conflict during the ninth installment in a 15-part series. Once they determine their wants and needs, individuals...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Dramatic and Theatrical Aspects in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”: A Common Core Exemplar
“So I’m going to have a copy of this play put in the cornerstone and the people a thousand years from now’ll know a few simple facts about us.” Our Town is used as the text in a Common Core exemplar that examines the dramatic and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
American Literary Humor: Mark Twain, George Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne as a humorist? Really? The three lessons in this series focus on the the storytelling style, conventions, and literary techniques employed by Hawthorne, George Washington Harris, and Mark Twain.
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Performing a Play
Students discover logical deduction by participating in a play. In this reasoning instructional activity, students act as characters from a play who's words must be analyzed to see if they are true or not. Students perform...
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Twain: Tom Sawyer—Mythic Adventurer
Students take a closer look at archetypes. In this characterization lesson, students examine the setting and the characters of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as they read and analyze the novel. Students consider how Twain mythically...
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Life of a Stage Man
Students analyze Arthur Miller's views about his works, characterizations as played out on the stage, and the role of theater in today's society. They act as casting directors for a
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Tall Tales
Students examine the characteristics of tall tales and how exaggerations are used. They create a character that is larger than life, they brainstorm attributes for their character, before writing a Tall Tale. They plan out their story,...
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William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream': Conflict Resolution and Happy Endings
Students analyze the characters and conflicts in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream. In this conflict resolution lesson, students read the play and track the character actions with the specific plots. Students then predict endings...
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Hope In The Hard Times - A Unit on the Great Depression
Students examine the Great Depression through the analysis of the novel, 'Bud, Not Buddy.' They analyze photos from the National Archives website, complete a character analysis, and conduct research and summarize a topic from the Great...
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Lord of the Rings: Borrowed Mythology
Young scholars complete a research project. In this mythology lesson plan, students identify the similarities between world mythology and The Lord of The Rings trilogy. Young scholars complete character plot diagrams for each episode of...
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"Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters"
Fifth graders read and analyze the books "Snow White in New York" and "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter." They analyze the characteristics of the characters in each story, write thoughts of characters in speech bubbles, and write a letter to...
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Swinging with the Times
Young scholars examine the many changes in the Tarzan character from Edgar Rice Burroughs' first novel to Disney's newest movie version to explain how student movies are often used to mirror and promote cultural attitudes and beliefs.