Students read several fairy tales of Russian origin. They brainstorm common elements of a fairy tale and identify those elements in several examples. They retell a favorite fairy tale through a skit, oral storytelling, a sketch, or a...

James Hurst's short story "The Scarlet Ibis" provides eighth graders with an opportunity to sharpen their literary analysis skills. After a close reading of the text, class members highlight and annotate parts of the dialogue and...

Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...

Fairy tales seem like quick, fun children's stories, but asking compelling questions about characters, plot elements, and literary themes can transform them into rich and complex tales. Use a series of eight lessons on Hans Christian...

Looking to set up literature circles in your class? Use these materials to support pupils when they meet in groups. Pupils take on various roles over the course of reading and meet with their groups to share the work they have done on...

Use comic strips to teach sequencing in narrative poetry. As homework, each class member selects a comic strip with 4-8 frames, cuts the frames apart, places the pieces in an envelope, and brings the envelope to class. Class members swap...

Middle schoolers in particular will benefit from this simple presentation. Forty slides cover story elements like the protagonist, antagonist, and setting, and literary devices are also included. Some examples are given, but for the most...

Sixth graders conduct a plot diagram for a short story. They identify the problem, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. Students are able to sequence events in a story, and identify the parts of the plot...

Strong comprehension questions and a list of initiating events that drive the plot make this resource worth a try in your classroom. Intended for use with tools specific to the mindwing concepts reading strategy system, the outline...

This graphic organizer allows readers to visualize the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement of a story by filling in five corresponding boxes with details from a story.

How does setting help shape a story? As your readers progress through Of Mice and Men, stop to have them focus on the setting. This sheet provides six quotations from the text and asks learners to decide if they contribute to the...

For this comprehension check worksheet, students define 13 vocabulary words, define 5 literary terms, and respond to 23 short answer questions pertaining to chapter 1 of The Lord of the Flies in order to help them better understand the...

Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell's classic tale of Karana, a young girl stranded on an island off the California coast, is the focus of a 16-slide presentation that includes a list of vocabulary words, guided reading questions,...

In this Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest activity and progress test learning exercise, students respond to a total of 17 short answer, multiple choice, matching, and fill in the blank questions pertaining to Pirates of the...

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...

Sixth graders identify components of the setting in science fiction text. In this compare and contrast settings lesson, 6th graders read Only You Can Save Mankind and identify similarities and differences between science fiction...

Students write an autobiographical essay. In this writing lesson students read a narrative, Panic in Paris, and review the elements of a narrative as a class discussion. Well-known stories are used as examples for writing their own...

Invite your pupils to express their understanding of a novel through a collaborative video project. Groups choose a novel from those you have studied in class, select four scenes, storyboard the scenes, film the scenes, edit the film,...

Setting and description are important parts of John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. Ask your class to examine how he sets the scene with this graphic organizer. Individuals or groups look at several different aspects of the setting in...

How do the Three Witches' interactions with Macbeth advance the plot of Shakespeare's Macbeth? Learners complete a Quick Write to answer the question. They also participate in a whole-class dramatic reading of Act 4.1.

Here is a fun resource that your kids will love. While reading the book Because of Winn-Dixie, they analyze the story's main characters by creating an online scrapbook. The purpose is to have them identify character traits and use...

The stories in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street form the basis for a lesson on plot elements. The class examines introduction, sequence, problem, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution and identifies these...

Provide your class with this reading guide for chapter two of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. They grapple with new vocabulary words like swamper, cesspool, and mollified before checking out literary terms and answering a list of questions...

Guide your class through a text with resources for before and after reading. Learners ask questions, discuss characters and plot points, point out elements of the reading that stood out, and compose brief summaries.