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Building Relationships in a High School Classroom
Students explore building new friendships during the first week of school. They participate in a variety of getting to know each other activities. Students work cooperatively and develop collegial relationships with their classmates.
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Art and Influence of Theatre
Students examine an 18th century drawing and produce a skit based on the drawing. In this art analysis lesson, students analyze the story depicted in a drawing and create a skit inspired the scene. Students research the 18th century...
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Dingo!Dingo!
An engaging literary game called "Dingo," is here for your young mathematicians. Dingo is a game which is played with dice. The first team of students to remove all of the numbers on the game board are declared the winners. To remove a...
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Number the Stars Chapter 15
Students analyze the theme of bravery in the book Number the Stars. They create a list of possible themes in Number the Stars. They review elements of a story, focusing on climax. They debate over the climax of the story.
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Building Original Narratives
Fourth graders act out and write original narratives. In this theater meets writing lesson, 4th graders work in groups to create original narratives; after students act out their story, they write it down as a narrative.
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Great Expectations: Group Writing
Examine the differences between totalitarianism and democracy in this writing lesson. Using the same format and theme from Great Expectations, young writers work in pairs to compose their own short stories. They follow guidelines for the...
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Discovering Language Arts-Intermediate Fiction
Explore the elements of science fiction. Learners investigate the literary elements present in science fiction and write their own science fiction stories.
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I Am Special and You Are Special Too
Pre-schoolers identify things that make them a special individual. In this diversity lesson, they read the book Little Gorilla and discuss ways they are special and unique. Children create a birthday party for "Little Gorilla" and...
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Art as Storyteller
Students examine how paintings tell stories. They read biographies about artists, analyze paintings, research and write the art history of a painting, write a creative story based on the painting, and create a painting in the artist's...
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Comprehension
Fifth graders take part in a panel discussion. In this character lesson students show their understanding of the connection between events in a story and the development of characters. Students provide evidence from the story to support...
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Reaching Students through Literacy Centers
Continue the celebration of literacy this month by integrating reading centers into the classroom.
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Walk Two Moons: The Lunatic Mystery Case Book
Here’s the meatball in the bowl of spaghetti. Readers build a Lunatic Mystery Case Book, collecting evidence to support their prediction about the identity of the lunatic in Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech’s Newbery Medal winning novel....
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Plot Summaries
In this plot summaries learning exercise, students read the plot summaries and write what the expositions, inciting moments, rising actions, climaxes, falling actions, and denouements are in them. Students do this for 2 plot summaries.
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Plot and Conflict in W.W. Jacob's "The Monkey's Paw"
Tenth graders analyze the use of literary elements in W.W. Jacob's "The Monkey's Paw." Literary analysis is accomplished by a review of the plot and order of events in the story. Learners work in pairs to match the events from the story...
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Storytelling
Pupils compose a story and tell it to the class. In this storytelling lesson, students work in small groups to create an illustrated story. Pupils are given a checklist of elements to include in the assignment. Students...
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Our Forest is Changing
Students read a story and solve a problem about an unhealthy population of trees. In this forest lesson students study tree disease and then research it online and present what they found.
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Post Assessment: Plot Elements and Characterization
Learners use the provided worksheet to identify plot elements and then fill in these elements on a plot diagram. Also included is a template for a character map that asks readers to choose a character, identify two traits, and supply...
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Plot Structure
Ninth graders review the parts of a plot sequence for a short story. They think of a famous Disney movie and plot the events of the movie in the correct plot sequence. They do the same for a comic strip, labeling the exposition, rising...
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Crafty Literature Projects to Lure Language Arts Learners
Recognize National Arts and Crafts Month with language arts project ideas to inspire creative learning.
Scholastic
Holes Match 'Em Up Challenge
Upper graders read the book Holes as a class or by themselves. In groups, they identify symbols and discuss how they are connected among the many plots in the story. They create a timeline in which they sequence the main...
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Have You Heard About the Clinton, New Jersey Story?
Learners role play one of the three given situations. They discover how to deal with a conflict in a positive way. They discuss the role of radon in their community and complete another role-play scenerio.
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Storytelling Model
Students examine how to model story telling for their classes. They investigate how to learn, rehearse and share stories.
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Irony
What are the three types of irony? High schoolers engage in a lesson about the use of irony while reading O.Henry's short story "Gift of the Magi." They'll discuss rising action, climax, and resolution in the text before highlighting the...
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Comparing Two Poe Classics
Students read and discuss The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart. For this poetry lesson, students construct a Venn diagram to compare and contrast two pieces of literature.