Curated OER
Historical Fiction: A Wealth of Interpretations
How can understanding the genre of historical fiction help your language arts class with literary analysis? Use this instructional activity to help young readers learn about historical fiction. After reading a selection from the "Dear...
Curated OER
Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury: April Eighth, 1928: Narrating from an 'Ordered Place'?
High schoolers analyze a character of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury to catch a glimpse of a family and the changes they, and the Old South, undergo. The use of time as it relates to the structure of the plot is covered in this...
Curated OER
Poetic Justice: Understanding the Life of a Tethered Dog
The Humane Society provides a lesson in which class members explore the issue of tethering dogs. Through the resources used -- a comic, a poem, and narrative and expository writings -- class members realize that messages can be conveyed...
University of California
Plankton
Plankton: so much more than just a SpongeBob character. Three different activities have kids looking at both phytoplankton and zooplankton in pictures, as well as collecting their own samples (depending on your access to a saltwater...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Creating Narrative
Plot, setting, characters, and conflict are common to both drama and narrative stories. Kids create narrated tableaus that show their understanding of the plot, setting, and conflict of a story they've recently read. The lesson...
Bowland
Pointzero: Confined
Groups plan their escape carefully. Three three-tiered puzzles help a story character escape their situation, each involving integer sequences, transformations, and geometric constructions. The teacher resource includes...
Curated OER
Evaluating the Strength of Scientific Evidence: The Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
A happy discovery occurred in Arkansas in 2004: a woodpecker, believed to be extinct since the 1940s, reappeared! Or did it? Middle to high school ecologists examine scientific evidence and use critical-thinking skills to determine...
Curated OER
Identifying Conflicts in Stories
Fifth graders practice analyzing story points by discussing Cinderella. For this reading comprehension lesson, 5th graders identify the four main types of conflicts in stories and how they are presented in modern day...
Curated OER
Who Will I Be Tomorrow?
Students examine various careers and character traits. They create an Affinity Chart using career survey results, compare/contrast personality traits and character traits, and discuss why character traits are important for jobs.
Curated OER
Art and Power
Students study the complex relationships between art, artists, and the political establishment in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this art and history lesson, students study various photos, paintings, and sculptures and learn about the...
Curated OER
Focus Story: The Mitten
Students explore language arts by analyzing a story with their classmates. In this poetry identification lesson, students read the book The Mittens and identify the characters, plot and settings in the story. Students recite poems about...
Curated OER
Writing Own Tale
Third graders read The First Strawberries and complete a character chart. In this writing a tale lesson, 3rd graders discuss viewpoints and identify character traits. Students complete character charts and write their own tale about...
Curated OER
Thank you Ma'm Langston Hughes-Devoloping the concept of Theme
Middle schoolers complete various activities linked to several stories and movies, to reinforce the concept of theme in a story.
Curated OER
Innovation in a Bag
Students create a business plan to start up their own business. In this algebra instructional activity, students think of a product they can produce and sell. They create on paper what they should do and then put into practice creating a...
Curated OER
In Search of Self: Adolescent Themes in the Twentieth Century Short Story
Students read short stories that are related to adolescent issues and behaviors. In groups, they review the elements of a short story and vocabulary they might need while reading. To end the lesson, they read "Sir Tatton Sykes"...
Curated OER
Stephen Crane: The Open Boat
High schoolers explore the genre of American literary naturalism by reading,"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane. They examine the relationship of man and nature through analysis of the characters, narration and descriptive vocabulary.
Curated OER
Genetic Analysis
Students formulate a hypothesis regarding the validity of the current status of the Arizona Hedgehog cactus as a distinct variety of cactus. They design a procedure to isolate DNA from the tissue of plants, given a list of chemicals and...
Curated OER
Making Cranberry Bread
While the preparation for this instructional activity is extensive, the results are well worth the effort. Prior to the instructional activity, Xerox the pictures from Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin, collect the...
Curated OER
Story Elements
Students create a "character T-shirt" that exemplifies their ability to analyze a character. The students also compare and contrast characters in a given story. Finally, the students write a presentation about the story's characters,...
Curated OER
The American West: Images of Its People
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary resources. In this American West lesson plan, students examine photographs that reveal the cultural components of the West and then write narratives regarding the...
Curated OER
Interview! Magazine
Middle schoolers interview a subject and write a biographical sketch for a fictional magazine. In this interview lesson, students choose a person to interview and create two sets of questions. Middle schoolers conduct the interview....
Curated OER
Who Is That Ghostly Character?
Eighth graders listen to a taped version of the radio play, "The Hitchhiker". They write a conclusion to the play and work with a partner to evaluate it before a final revision.
Curated OER
Pirate Wanted Poster
Young scholars investigate the character traits of a 17th and 18th century pirate by internet research and the creation of a Pirate "Wanted" Poster using iPhoto and a program called Comic Life.
Curated OER
Arthur Miller and The Crucible
Learners investigate the dramatic elements of The Crucible. In this drama lesson, students explore the elements and themes of the Arthur Miller play as they read the play and watch performances of some of the acts. Learners then...