Curated OER
Preparing the Soil
Students explore philanthropy through literature. In this service learning lesson, students consider character traits as they read Seedfolks. Students record their notes regarding the characters in the story of a community garden in...
Curated OER
Creating a Character
In this creating a character worksheet, middle schoolers identify an interesting person from their written sources. Students will create details to describe their character's physical characteristics, clothing, speech, and personality...
Curated OER
Charting the Course
High schoolers explore the concept of philanthropy. In this citizenship lesson, students collaborate to compile a list of the top ten traits of good citizens. High schoolers then discuss random acts of kindness and create a plan to share...
Curated OER
Charting the Course
Ninth graders explore the meaning of the term philanthropy. In this Social Studies instructional activity, 9th graders research examples of people that represent good citizens. Students create a skit that demonstrates a specific...
Curated OER
The Search for Character!
Fifth graders define character words, look for real-life examples of the traits "in action," and write an acrostic poem based on one of these qualities.
Novelinks
The House on Mango Street: List-Group-Label
Encourage close reading of the text and a focus on how Sandra Cisneros' develops her characters with an activity that asks teams to sort, group, and label character descriptions from The House on Mango Street.
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Biopoem
Describe yourself or a character from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with a biopoem activity. Using the provided format, kids write their own characteristics or the character traits from the novel to create a poetic portrait.
Curated OER
Defining Success
The class defines what it means to be successful by examining the achievements of Rich Wilson. They create headlines for a mock paper, discuss achieving personal goals, and create a scrapbook of his journey. Tip: Use this resource when...
Novelinks
The Cay: Biopoem
Theodore Taylor's The Cay provides the text for an assignment that asks each reader to craft a biopoem for one of the characters.
Curated OER
Wordle It
Students discuss, define, and give themselves character traits. In this character traits lesson, students create a list of ten character traits that describe themselves. Students create a data table and poll their classmates about the...
Curated OER
"Exploring Shakespeare" An Introduction of Character and "Hamlet"
Students examine the literary terms "round character" and "characterization" through the play "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare. They view and discuss examples of clip art, video, and comic strips, and describe the character traits. ...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Thank You, Mr. Falker: Identifying the Superpowers of Reading
Third graders read excepts from the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker in order to gain practice in understanding an unfamiliar story by focusing on the details. They use a worksheet, embedded in the plan, which directs them to certain...
EngageNY
Introducing Close Reading: Finding the Main Message and Taking Notes About Rain School
This second lesson in a larger unit is perfect for the beginning of the year because it explicitly teaches 3rd graders how to use close reading skills by identifying unfamiliar words, figuring out the gist, and defining important...
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl Matilda Lesson Plans
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...
Curriculum Corner
Native American Literature
Celebrate and honor Native American culture with this set of graphic organizers that showcases literature like The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses and A Boy Called Slow as well as three other Native American literature books. Learners compare...
Curated OER
Julius Caesar Act I Pre-Reading Characterization Worksheet
In this Julius Caesar worksheet, students determine character traits of Julius Caesar and Brutus from quotations given. Students are given 13 quotations about or by Julius Caesar and 8 quotations about or by Brutus.
Curated OER
Creating Dramatic Monologues from The Grapes of Wrath
The characters in The Grapes of Wrath come to life through an activity that asks groups to craft a dramatic monologue for a character in John Steinbeck's National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Writers are challenged to...
Curated OER
Being a Good Citizen
First graders discuss citizenship. In this being a good citizen lesson, 1st graders complete a worksheet identifying characteristics of a good citizen. Students draw a picture then use a flip camera to capture good classroom citizens.
Curated OER
Creating a Heroic Character
Middle schoolers answer a series of defining questions that lead them to develop a fully realized heroic character. They create a variety of multimedia representations of their hero, including video interviews, HyperStudio stacks, web...
Curated OER
Chinese Dynasties
Students explore several Chinese dynasties and research various topics including papermaking, calligraphy, and Lu Hou. They also demonstrate how to use an abacus and create several math problems to solve with it. Choosing a dynasty,...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Making of a Monster
Over the course of a week, the class will study how monsters are portrayed throughout literature. But why? Monsters in science fiction or horror often depict the darker side of human nature; they are described for their horrific physical...
Curated OER
James and the Giant Peach Character Study
Every book has a few great characters, but James and the Giant Peach is the only one whose characters travel in a piece of fruit. The class creates T-charts for the main characters of the novel, while reading the book. They write actions...
Curated OER
Creating a Character Chart for the Secret Garden
The Secret Garden, is a wonderful book to read with your class. After reading, why not employ the lesson plan presented here as a follow up activity? In it, pupils create character charts that portray the tremendous changes that take...
Curated OER
Story Pyramids
Young writers generate descriptive words. They use pictures of various landscapes (from books, magazines, or the Internet) and complete a story pyramid. The pyramid (included here) asks to describe the main character, the setting, and...