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Legends and Lore
Students begin the instructional activity by responding in their journals regarding questions about their favorite fairy tales. They listen to a folk tale and answer questions based on the folk tale genre and then brainstorm aphorisms...
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Life in Colonial Times
Fifth graders examine significant ideas, beliefs and themes in US history. They identify causes and effects of historical events in the American Revolution. Evaluate critical issues and events. Analyze the views and lives of people of...
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The Individual and His Role in Society
Tenth graders discover how various writers approach the themes of : alienation and solitude, living life "deliberately" and "phonies." Through reading, journaling, class discussion, and writing assignments they realize the power of the...
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Write a Myth
Learners explore myths in ancient times. In this mythology lesson, students read or view a video production of a myth to determine specific characteristics of myths. Learners work in groups to write a myth that explains an...
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Crane, London, and Literary Naturalism
Students identify the key characteristics that comprise American literary naturalism in Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat." In this naturalism analysis lesson, students identify characteristics of the...
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Amazing Autobiographies
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. They apply knowledge of language structure,...
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The Great Gatsby
Students read "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In groups, they research the events and spirit of the 1920s and relate events in the novel to actual historical events. They compare the characteristics of various genres and...
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Reviewing Literary Elements
Students identify the elements of fiction, and work on compare and contrast skills.. In this comprehension lesson, students read different versions of Cinderella. Students use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the literary elements...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Using Literary Elements to Compare Fiction Texts
Students explore language arts by reading and reflecting on literary examples. In this fiction writing instructional activity, students read several different cultural versions of the story "Cinderella" and discuss their interaction with...
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How Tragic!
Learners study and interpret a classical tragedy and role play a character from the play. In this tragedy lesson, students discuss a specific work to discover the form, structure, and characteristics of the genre and interpret the...
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Identifying Differences Between Fiction and Nonfiction Books
Students explore the differences between fiction and non-fiction book. In this genre study lesson, students read examples of fiction and non-fiction and identify the characteristics of each genre. Students list the characteristics on a...
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The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
Sixth graders demonstrate the ability to process and evaluate content from a variety of sources and apply comprehension skills to the material read. They organize information for practical use and design and develop an informational...
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The Malnourished Paragraph
Students revise writing to improve style, word choice, sentence variety and subtlety of meaning after rethinking how questions of purpose, audience and genre have been addressed. They recognize the importance of details in writing.
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Coyote and Anansi
Young scholars explore the structure of folktales. In this coyote and Anansi lesson, students discuss the attributes of folktales as they read versions of tales featuring coyote and Anansi. Young scholars collaborate to write and perform...
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Break the Pentomino Code!
Learners read and analyze the book, Chasing Vermeer. They discuss the main story elements, analyze how pentominoes are important to the story, use a pentomino code to decipher a message, and create a secret code of their own.
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Planting Clues in Short Stories
Students examine short stories to determine how clues are planted in story stories of the mystery genre. They look at how Edgar Allan Poe planted clues in "The Purloined Letter." They write an original short story in which they plant...
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"The Fog Horn" by Ray Bradbury
Students read Ray Bradbury's "The Fog Horn" and complete reading and vocabulary activities. In this reading and vocabulary lesson, students review the vocabulary for the story and take turns reading the story. Students discuss the story...
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Batter Up
Students explore personal achievement by reading a children's book. In this story analysis lesson, students read the book Batter Up, by Sue Muller Hacking and discuss the main character in the story and the actions that she takes to meet...
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Tattercoats
Students read the English folktale, "Tattercoats," identify basic literary terms, and respond to writing prompts. They compare and contrast with another Cinderella story version and create a graphic response to the story.
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A Book a Day Will Keep the Teacher Away
Students work in cooperative groups to read a book in a day. Each group is assigned a portion of the book to read and uses the jigsaw learning strategy to review the book as a whole class.
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Sum Stuff
Students are introduced to informational text. Students explore nonfiction as a genre. They identify the components and text structure of text nonfiction. Students read a nonfiction passage and write a summary of the passage.
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When Court Cases Get Appealed
Students read and analyze two functional documents. They predict outcomes using prior knowledge and documents. Students draw conclusions about how court cases are appealed. They list the parts of a court case.
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Mandy
Third graders read Barbara D. Booth's, "Mandy" while noting each time they read a sensory detail. They read about the young girl in the story who is hard of hearing and determine how her other senses are heightened. Also, they determine...
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Comparing or Contrasting Two Books
Students compare two pieces of literature. In this literary comparisons lesson, students read 2 books that they personally select and then compare and contrast the literary elements of each in a comparative essay.