Curated OER
Story vs. Plot
Students, after reading and discussing the two texts by Flannery O'Connor, "Good Country People" and "Greenleaf," analyze the plot, tone, characters, themes and setting in each story. They write their own short stories dealing with a...
Curated OER
Battling Bullies
Students identify aspects of a conflict situation through a story. They engage in problem solving or identification of an aspect of bullying. Applying their knowledge of bullying, they create scenarios that reflect their methods of...
Curated OER
Conflict and Debate
Students take a medical issue and explore it, debate it, and convince others of their point of view. They improve research skills and writing skills. Students are able to define a problem, debate it, and identify which is the best...
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then discusses how...
Curated OER
Leading into Good Writing
Discuss the importance of a lead in writing with your upper graders. They examine several examples of leads from literature and practice writing leads for pieces of artwork. They then select a topic from a list and write an introductory...
Curated OER
Introducing Setting and Accents
Fourth graders discuss the concept of setting and how it affects the events and tone of a story. They observe the cover of the book they are reading and make predictions about the setting. They read the first chapter and then refine...
Curated OER
Cherokeee Myth: Origin of Strawberries
Fourth graders read a Cherokee myth about the origin of strawberries. After reading the story, they add another chapter to it and read their additions to the class. Or, as a group activity, they each write a few sentences and then pass...
Curated OER
Adventure Writing: Oregon's Landscape as a Setting
Learners identify geographical features of different regions encountered by migrants on the Oregon trail. Students research how the Oregon landscape may have affected life and 19th century westward migration. Learners write a narrative...
Curated OER
Helping the Adolescent Cope with Family Life
Students are introduced to the proper ways to deal with conflict at home. In groups, they define family based on what it means to them and identify factors that lead to a breakdown in communications. They participate in role-playing...
Curated OER
Stories of Hope: Dragonfly and Mosquito
Students identify and interpret the value of the dragonfly as a predator of the mosquito. They create their own folktales using the dragonfly or a creature of their choice to solve the malaria problem or another issue. Students also...
Curated OER
LRO and the Apollo-11 Landing Site
In this Apollo-11 landing site worksheet, students read about the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that will collect images at a higher resolution than ever before. Students study a grid showing the lunar landing site from Apollo...
IPDAE
Themes in Short Stories
"What is the theme of this story?" The very question can spark fear in the minds of readers and incinerate confidence. Here you will discover an exercise that shows how writers use the tools of setting, plot, conflict, and...
Curated OER
Instill a Passion for Writing Short Stories
Quick writing tips and tricks to guide and polish learners' narrative writing.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 3
The manipulation of time is one of the most essential elements in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. As your language arts class participates in a jigsaw discussion activity, they work together to analyze the play's plot structure and...
PBS
Supernatural Shakespeare and Macbeth
"A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come." The withered and wild witches of Shakespeare’s Scottish play launch an examination of the fantastical elements in Act I, scene iii, paying particular attention to the action, imagery,...
Curated OER
Animal Farm: Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
"Four legs good, two legs bad..." Focusing on the themes from George Orwell's Animal Farm, this reading comprehension worksheet prompts middle schoolers to respond to several short answer and essay questions. They may also complete...
Ideas From Suzi
Guided Reading: Beyond the Basics
Elevate children's reading comprehension skills with this collection of guided reading resources. From paper dice with basic comprehension questions printed on them to a system for using sticky notes to identify key...
Curated OER
Macbeth - Analyzing Characterization in Drama
The writing activity in this lesson could be used to assess student understanding of previously taught concepts of how language reveals character.
Curated OER
The Human Organism
Students identify their feelings and learn ways to handle conflict. In this human emotions and conflict lesson, students discuss feelings and ways to handle conflict. Students listen to a story about conflict and determine possible ways...
Curated OER
Journey to the Center of the Earth I
Students identify the elements of science fiction and write their own example. In this Journey to the Center of the Earth lesson students complete several activities about science fiction, authors and novels.
Curated OER
Mass Spectrometer
For this mass spectrometer worksheet, students read about how a mass spectrometer determines the elements in gases around Earth. Students answer 3 questions and identify the elements in a graph found by a mass spectrometer.
Curated OER
The Jungle and Readers Response
Students identify the conditions that many workers faced during the Industrial Revolution. They work collaboratively to explain and identify key elements from Chapter 14 of The Jungle.
Curated OER
Building a Literature Pyramid
Learners 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...
Curated OER
Teaching "Theme" with Children's Literature
In this exercise, learners examine the difference between a theme, topic, and moral. After a class discussion on the definition of literary themes, the instructor reads The Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler. Next, individuals analyze the...