Have Fun Teaching
Silly Stories
Young writers get a jump start on story telling by selecting a plot, a setting, and multiple character cards and then use these basic elements to create a tale.
Teaching Tolerance
In Our Own Words: A Story Book with a Purpose
Academics turn into storytellers in an engaging activity on activism. The activity focuses on promoting social change in local communities with stories. Young historians plan a storybook to target a specific audience and social issue and...
Curated OER
Treaties
Students talk about making promises. In this family life lesson, students listen to the story A Promise is a Promise by Robert Munsch and talk about what a promise is. This is part of a unit on how families take care of each other.
Curated OER
According to Tradition
Students analyze a historical document. They review oral histories as a tradition of storytelling in Native cultures and listen to an excerpt from The Life and Traditions of the Red Man. They write an episode or story that has been...
Curated OER
Heirlooms
Students design a quilt square to reflect their special memory. In this family heirlooms lesson, students read The Patchwork Quilt and discuss the importance of family involvement in creating a family heirloom. Students write and publish...
Overcoming Obstacles
Kindness
Encourage kindness with a lesson that defines kindness, asks scholars how to show kindness, and share how others have shown them kindness. Multiple activities prove that kindness is easy to give through coloring, storytelling, a game of...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
American Stories: Challenge Activities (Theme 2)
For those class members who have mastered the basic concepts and need extra challenges, here's a packet of activities sure to engage them in stories about American immigration and exploration. Kids may design a dramatic presentation...
Incredible Art Department
Story Tellers - "Passing on the Traditions"
It's important for young people to learn about their ancestry and the role of storytelling as a means of passing along traditions, information, and lessons. Based on what they already learned about Native American oral tradition,...
Curated OER
Stories of the American Experience
Young scholars identify a veteran to interview. This could be a family member of one of students or someone contacted through an organization in the community. They use a storyboard to plan their movie about their subject.
Curated OER
Las Christmas: Favorite Latino Authors Share Their Holiday Memories
Eighth graders read Las Christmas and discuss their own cultural traditions. In this holiday traditions lesson, 8th graders write their personal story about a tradition or holiday memory. Students complete all stages of writing in...
Curated OER
Quilting the Past and Present
Students construct a quilt using symbols of the past and present. In this communities lesson, students interview an older adult and discuss the history of their community. Students create a quilt.
Curated OER
Harvesting the River Lesson Plan: Taking an Oral History
Students practice researching history through oral traditions. In this U.S. History lesson, students examine an online exhibit titled Harvesting the River, in which students interview someone from the story. Students utilize Internet...
Curated OER
NEPANTLA BETWEEN WORLDS : A Story and Lesson Plan Addressing the Mexican-American Experience
Young scholars read excerpts of "Neplanta" and discuss themes in the literature. In this bi-cultural education lesson, students analyze topics of race and Mexican American culture in the U.S. Young scholars write a pledge to honor...
Curated OER
Digital Storytelling PowerPoint Lesson
Students investigate traditions by creating a PowerPoint Presentation. In this holiday tradition lesson plan, students research their favorite holiday tradition using a computer. Students utilize their data to create a multimedia...
Curated OER
Friday and Friends: A Prospectus of the Mexican Family through Children's Literature
Students use literature to examine how the structure of families in Mexico has changed over time. In groups, they examine how their life now relates to their ancestors and the Spanish conquest of the area. As a class, they are read...
Curated OER
Activating Students Through Storytelling
Fourth graders produce a podcast of a elements of a Chinese folk tale. In this Chinese folk tale and podcasting lesson, 4th graders watch as the teacher performs Peach Blossom Spring: A Chinese folk tale. They decide on who will stay in...
Lerner Publishing
Teaching Folklore
Wonderful worksheets and activities complementing six sequential lessons are what you'll find in this unit on folklore. Pupils create folktales using literary devices and included story starters, compare and contrast different folklores,...
August House
Anansi and the Pot of Beans
Anansi is a tricky character, but can he realize he's wrong and write an apology letter? Learners use Anansi and the Pot of Beans to practice writing, art, and figurative language. A series of activities are engaging for both advanced...
Mobile Education Store
StoryBuilder for iPad
Invite your kids to tell all sorts of stories with this interactive app. Learners view images and record their own voices as as they create short narratives to go along with the images. The app provides plenty of customizable scaffolding...
Curated OER
Recalling History by Pulling Strings
Learners investigate the role and nature of story-telling as it preserves history and culture and discuss how puppetry serves as an effective method of presentation. They create basic outlines for puppet shows that relay important...
Curated OER
Expanding Journal Writing Entries For Beginning Writers
First graders through a variety of strategies assess how to write in journals openly and effectively. Those strategies include integration of technology, story telling, group and team work, performance-based assessment/rubrics, visual...
Art Institute of Chicago
African Myths and Stories
Young historians discover African stories associated with a royal altar tusk from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, read myths illustrated on the tusk, and write a story about the life of an oba using figures depicted on the tusk.
Curated OER
Storytelling: The Lantern Night Excursion Of Zhong Kui
Third graders create Chinese hand scrolls to tell the story: The Lantern Night Excursion Of Zhong Kui in this cross-curricular lesson for the third grade. The lesson is adaptable to many different grade/ability levels.
Curated OER
My Story, Our Stories (Rights and Freedoms)
Students research the Canadian rights and freedoms and express one of their freedoms by sharing a story about their family