Curated OER
Investigating Fables
Time for a story! Learners of all ages enjoy listening to stories, so read them some common fables and have them work cooperatively to create a fable. Differentiate for varying ability levels by providing sentence frames, graphic...
Curated OER
Special Sunflowers
Students view a picture of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. In this caring and kindness instructional activity students read Camille and the Sunflower and explore the feelings of the characters. Students complete worksheets related to Camille's...
Curated OER
Literature Review Paragraph
Tenth graders review the structural elements of a literary paragraph and organizational paragraph formats. They author a paragraph examining and reviewing a piece of literature currently being read in class. Students peer-review the...
Curated OER
Understanding Fantasy Fiction
Students investigate storytelling elements by writing their own fiction stories. In this creative writing lesson, students listen as the teacher reads a fictional story. Students analyze the lack of rules in the story and...
Curated OER
Rivers that Flow from the Continental Divide: The Journey of Two Rivers
Students explore river routes. In this social studies lesson, students trace the route of a river from its source and discuss the Continental Divide. Students draw the route the river takes and name the states it flows through. Students...
Curated OER
Images of Children in Dorthea Lange's Photographs
Learners research the photographs of Dorthea Lange. In this visual art lesson, students look at photographs of children taken by Lange and answer several questions. They write or tell stories to explain what they think is occurring in...
Curated OER
Writing a Mystery Story
Students examine the elements of mystery stories and read Rage in Harlem. In reciprocal teaching groups, they discuss the author's development of the story, and complete dialectical journals.
Curated OER
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Students study paintings and use their knowledge of story elements to analyze the art. In this art analysis activity, students review a novel for its elements. Students study the image At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance and discuss the story...
Shoop English
Literature Terms Activity
Designed to be used with an independent reading book, this activity provides practice with identifying and explaining literary terms. While they read, individuals find instances of literary devices and elements in use in their books....
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Creating Interesting Characters
What makes a story interesting? Complex characters! As part of a series of worksheets that prepares middle schoolers to write their own novel, the exercises included explain the role of the protagonist, the antagonist, and the supporting...
K12 Reader
Storytelling and Folklore
Stories are passed down orally in many cultures. Learn about the ways that storytelling can shape a society with a reading passage about Native American folklore and myths. After they finish reading, kids complete five reading...
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Problematic Situation
What would you do if your sister ran off with a man whom you didn't trust? Explore a scenario based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Once kids work though the problem, they read the appropriate chapters from the book and write...
Curated OER
An Introduction to The Catcher in the Rye
Who is J.D. Salinger? Give your class some information on the famous recluse before reading his only novel, The Catcher in the Rye. His life and works are detailed, and there are even a few slides dedicated to controversies and criticism...
Annenberg Foundation
Gothic Undercurrents
Terror, mystery, excitement. American writers of the 19th century, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson, used these elements to create morally ambiguous tales that challenged the prevailing belief in...
Curated OER
Newspaper Poetry
Students cut out nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs from newspapers and create poems using words they have found.
Curated OER
Poetry Writing
Students compose a piece of poetry modeled after the poetry of Carl Sandburg and share their poem(s) with their colleagues. They use a cluster diagram to organize their thoughts and brainstorm their ideas.
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Creating a Pot: Repetition as a Unifying Design Element
Students use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.
Curated OER
Photography Narratives
Students write a narrative corresponding to a photo. They create a background story based on the person in their picture and share it with the class.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 1: Introducing NaNo and Novels
Did you know that November is Novel Writing Month? In the first of a series of lessons, class members are introduced to the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project.
Curated OER
The Powhatan Indians' English Boy
Sixth graders write a historical fiction narrative. In this interdisciplinary lesson, 6th graders read the historical fiction Henry Spelman: The Powhatan Indians' English Boy. Students write a piece from the point of view of the main...
Scholastic
Final Project: The Earth, Inside Earth
Follow in Jules Verne's footsteps and take a journey to the center of the earth! Middle schoolers work together to design a trip inside the earth using their knowledge from the previous lessons in the unit.
Penguin Books
Core Curriculum Lesson Plans for Jefferson's Sons
Thomas Jefferson lived a controversial life. A series of lesson plans shares information about Jefferson's Sons, a novel about the infamous founding father. Discussion questions and other tasks explore different points of view and cover...