How is Louisiana connected to the Holocaust? After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders complete a research report about a survivor of the Holocaust who currently resides in Louisiana. Though the idea is a good way to...

Sixth graders read Katherine Paterson's novel, Bridge to Terabithia, and watch a video of Maurice Sendak's book, Where the Wild Things Are. They examine the characters in both stories that share similar characteristics. Students use the...

Explore the elements of science fiction. Students investigate the literary elements present in science fiction and write their own science fiction stories.

"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...

English language learners or native elementary schoolers will enjoy practicing their parts of speech with this interactive grammar game. Set deep in the backwoods of Tennessee,  the class splits in two to join either the Hartfields...

What was your most (exciting, maddening, nervous, thrilling, etc.) experience in school? A part of a unit on narrative writing, in this lesson class members review the elements of the form and then choose an event when they learned a...

Sophomores record the definitions and examples of a series of literary terms and then create their own example of the word. Designed as an assessment, the presentation could also be used as an introduction or as a review. 

Students watch the movie Jane Eyre and complete a viewing log. They take a test on their findings.

Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the literature study of Dragonwings. They write about the story from the perspective of a reader that is well informed towards the last chapters. Students also find target vocabulary and...

Ninth graders examine a character from the short story, John Steinbeck's, "Flight." students respond to questions about the story and illustrate the character's journey.

Ninth graders listen to a read aloud of two short stories focusing on literary devices. The write about the settings and realism of the stories, and decide each main character handles the conflict he faces with nature.

In this language arts worksheet, young scholars place events from the book "Holes" into sequential order and answer 7 multiple choice questions about the book. This well-designed worksheet would be an excellent homework assignment or...

Ninth graders analyze Chekhov's "The Bet". They repsond to a journal quesiton and use examples from the novel. In groups, they take on different roles analyzing the novel and then write one of my prompts to complete the instructional...

Third graders analyze comics found in the newspaper for samples of logical, emotional, and ethical appeal. They write a paragraph for each selected comic strip explaining how the comic strip represents the use of logic, emotions, or ethics.

Students create a literature pyramid. They review and discuss their assessment task and rubric and select the literature for their pyramid. They read the literary selection and complete a pyramid sheet for one of the four literary...

Young scholars create a dictionary of vocabulary after reading a story. Individually, they create a story web making sure to include all of the basic story elements. They also create a timeline and write a book report of all important...

Students develop a sense of historical empathy as they discuss The Holocaust and roll play activities designed to highlight prejudice in today's society.  In this Holocaust history and The Diary of Anne Frank lesson, students...

Students analyze Jack London's use of anthropomorphism to identify the importance of adaptability in life. In this literature lesson, students use the novel The Call of the Wild to identify key elements in survival. Students...

Third graders read Jacob Have I Loved and explore conflict/ resolution.

Students study the following terms and concepts: word choice, dialect, invented words, concrete terms, abstract terms, figurative and sensory language. In cooperative groups, they select three of the terms, research them, and pick poems...

Third graders select a small item in a newspaper and then dramatize it in a well-constructed poem. They share their poems with the class.

Third graders read the book Jacob Have I Loved, then ask themselves whether they can truly hate their siblings.

Third graders study Jacob Have I Loved.

This lesson focuses on the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. It discusses the use of literary techniques such as stream of consciousness, forshadowing, flashback and flash-forward, and offers a PDF of...