Novelinks
The Little Prince: Picture Book Strategy
Picture books aren't just for children; they carry strong, valuable messages for adult as well. Explore the audience for Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince with a lesson that compares picture books to literature intended for...
K20 LEARN
Locating Archetypes in Pop Culture, Literature, and Life
Archetypes help readers connect literature to the world around them. A lesson plan uses elements of pop culture to teach about archetypal traits of common characters and discuss issues of perception and other literary devices. At the...
Penguin Books
A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of Mary Shelley ’s Frankenstein
Contrary to popular belief, the monster's name in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is not Frankenstein. A teacher's guide for the novel helps readers make sense of key details in the text, define vocabulary words, and discuss prominent...
Reed Novel Studies
Peter Pan: Novel Study
J.M. Barrie's classic book Peter Pan is about an adventurous boy who never gets old. Scholars read the first two chapters about Peter and three young friends. They then complete worksheets by filling in sentences with vocabulary words,...
Prestwick House
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie captured the hearts of readers around the world in the late 20th century. Revisit Morrie and his captivating stories with a crossword puzzle review activity.
Curated OER
Responding to Literature
Fifth graders examine how to respond to literature. For this literature response lesson, 5th graders discuss how to respond to literature. They write a response in a literature log each night based on their reading and the connections...
Curated OER
Somewhere Under the Rainbow--The Romantic Period in British Literature
Students create 2-3 poems, a children's story, or a two or three dimensional piece of art. For this Romantic Period lesson, students discuss the historical background of the Romantic Period and relevant literary terms. Students analyze...
Curated OER
Summer Reading to Get Teens Thinking
While summer reading usually involves entertaining fluff, here is a list of books that are thought-provoking, unique, and entertaining.
Curated OER
A Literature of Democracy
Eleventh graders analyze how American literature shows a lot of different genres. In groups, 11th graders create a short report about the passage they have chosen.
Curated OER
Haiku and Beyond: Exploring Genres of Japanese Literature
Fourth graders compare and contrast the literature of Japan as they study the culture, history and geography of the island nation. They read various genres of literature, describe geographic and landform features of Japan, and find...
Curated OER
Collaborative Tall Tale Lesson Plan
Using Keynote, pupils will collaborate with their peers to create a tall tale. Each person in the group will participate by creating slides, adding text, and recording their voice. Tip: Have each group present their tall tales to the...
K20 LEARN
Here's How I Heard It: Using Folklore To Improve Close Reading Skills
"X" is for exaggeration, and "F" is for fact. To encourage close reading and to improve literary analysis skills, class members annotate fables and tall tales, like Paul Bunyan, with symbols that identify key features of this genre.
Curated OER
Drama Genre Focus Lesson
Students examine the elements of drama to develop an appreciation and understanding of the genre. In this lesson students read, analyze, discuss, and review a dramatic selection.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Tales of the Supernatural
Scary stuff! Whether approached as the first horror story or a "serious imaginative exploration of the human condition," Frankenstein continues to engage readers. Here's a packet of activities that uses Mary Shelley's gothic novel to...
Curated OER
Crane, London, and Literary Naturalism
Students analyze "To Build a Fire" by Jack London and "The Open boat" by Stephen Crane. They write an essay in which they compare and contrast the narrators and plots in each story.
Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...
Curated OER
Crafty Literature Projects to Lure Language Arts Learners
Recognize National Arts and Crafts Month with language arts project ideas to inspire creative learning.
Curated OER
Text Features of Fiction, Poetry, Drama: Story Matrix
How do novels differ from plays? Explore with your class the text features of fiction and drama by reading The Hidden One: Native American Legend and then performing a reader’s theater script based on the story. Class members create a...
Great Schools
Different Types of Writing
What type of writing is this? Learners read a brief introduction to various types of text: instructions, explanations, poems, folk tales, novels, informative, and arguments. The introduction doesn't explain these, so consider going over...
Curated OER
A Year in Review: The Memoir
If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...
Curated OER
Movie Genres
In this grammar worksheet, students match twelve movie genres with their appropriate definitions and examples from two answer banks and then translate the titles into Chinese. Students answer six questions regarding personal movie...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
I Need a Superhero
Once the class learns about the hero's journey, they'll find it in every story and movie they see! Take characters from their humble beginnings to their atonement and apotheosis with a set of lessons about the hero's journey focusing...
Syracuse City School District
Literary Elements
Address the literary elements in a piece of writing using these materials. The packet includes plenty of resources, and focuses mainly on theme, character, and point of view, with some materials for setting, symbolism, and author's...
Curated OER
Nonfiction Genre Mini-Unit: Persuasive Writing
Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.