Rhyme, rhythm, free verse, imagery: Do these words describe poetry, or jazz music? The answer is both! A resource explores these similarities as scholars watch a video, engage in discussion, read author biographies, write poetry and...

The death of a parent can turn a child's world upside down. A curriculum guide for The Secret Hum of a Daisy explores defining moments in the main character's life, including the loss of her mother. Chapter-by-chapter discussion...

Students explore the field of animation to describe characters and express opinions. They view pictures of cartoon characters, clips of British animation, and read about the making of Valiant. They design their own cartoon character...

Fifty eye-catching pages contain six lessons about Roald Dahl's novel, Matilda. Each lesson has a theme and covers a different subject—literacy, social-emotional learning, science, and geography. Scholars analyze characters, examine...

A 55-page unit examines the novel, The BFG, by Roald Dahl. Six lessons pay close attention to friendship, dreams, and believing themes while analyzing interesting characters, writing creative vocabulary, smilies, metaphors, an exciting...

Each page of a comprehension packet that accompanies James and The Giant Peach requires learners to think, comprehend, focus on characters, make text-to-self and text-to-world connections, and build vocabulary through context....

Learners read and analyze William Faulkner's novel, 'As I Lay Dying.' They define Faulkner's place in American literary history, describe Faulkner's "South" in the context of the historical South and examine the Bundren family through...

Students complete multiple lessons to study various literature including poetry, fiction, tall tales, and phrases. In this literature lesson, students complete six lessons about poetry, fiction, and idioms.

Once upon a time are four words most children are familiar with when reading a fairy tale. But do they know that fairy tales are a great way to learn the literary elements of reading and writing? Use a thorough fairy tale unit...

Support your instruction of The Cay by Theodore Taylor with this extensive unit of materials. Provided here are prereading activities, worksheets and discussion questions for the entire book, and reading quizzes that you can use to check...

Students look at picture books and describe the story elements. In this picture book lesson, students retell a story and begin to understand the story elements of plot, setting, and characters. Students complete graphic organizers to...

Students interact with the main concepts of a narrative text in the six lessons of this unit. The setting, prediction, retelling, sequencing, and the identification of the beggining, middle and end of a story are investigated.

Students read and compare excerpts from The Odyssey and The Adventures of Telemachus to create their own story based on a secondary character. In this literary analysis   lesson, students read and compare the excerpts from the...

Class groups examine fairy tales from a feminist and a Marxist perspective, identifying how these tales present gender roles and class/power systems. The groups then script and perform their own tale that uses one of these lenses.

Students explore the characters and plot of the story, "Charlotte's Web" through the twenty-two lessons of this unit. Characters, facts, and details of the story are recalled and discussed and form the basis of several activities in this...

Students explore their individual style in clothing and describing people. They describe misfit style characters, discuss their choices in clothing, and readan article related to student style. They design a t-shirt and present style...

Students practice biographical and autobiographical forms of writing: autobiography, biopoem, character traits, classmate biography.

Young voyagers face the challenge of the wide dark sea, travel with Yunmi and Halmoni, and even get trapped by the ice as they explore the reading selections offered in these enrichment activities designed for the Houghton...

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. 

Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...

Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...

Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.

C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the anchor text for a three week unit that focuses on responsibilities, ethics, and virtues. While specific lesson plans are not included in this overview, a focus and discussion...

Jan Brett, the author of many beloved children's books, is well worth a study. Try out this winter-themed unit, which covers areas of language arts as well as art, math, science, and social studies.