Idaho State Department of Education
Lessons for Social Studies Educators
Point of view, purpose, and tone: three concepts readers of primary and secondary source materials must take into account when examining documents. Class members view a PowerPoint presentation and use the SOAPS strategy to identify an...
Curated OER
Author's Purpose
Middle schoolers identify the key components to determining the author's purpose in literature. They read a short selection and answer four key questions. Student chart the responses. They discuss the responses and identify the author's...
K12 Reader
Identifying Adverbs III
Put young grammarians to the test with an activity about adverbs. A five-paragraph passage prompts kids to find the adverbs and circle them, noting their purpose in context.
Curated OER
Card Catalog Cards
Prepare students on how to use the library's card catalog system as well as the online version. Author, card catalog, the Dewey system, and so much more is addressed. This would be a great tool to use in the classroom or library.
Curated OER
Fiction vs. Nonfiction
Students explore fiction and nonfiction writing. They identify the elements of fiction in a short story and identify the criteria necessary in a nonfiction piece. Students distinguish the author's purpose in an expository text,...
Curated OER
Reader's Theater, Get Ready
Students recognize what features make a play. In this reader's theater lesson, students read the play Master Man: A Tall Tale of Nigeria told by Aaron Shepard and determine what features make this a play and what the author's purpose was.
Curated OER
Pointed Comments
Fifth graders analyze pieces of writing to identify the author's purpose of writing. In this writing lesson, 5th graders consider a variety of pieces of writing such as, poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction. Each student completes an...
Curated OER
Changing the Point of View
Fourth graders identify the point of view. In this point of view lesson students compare and contrast the point of view from third person omniscient and first person. Students rewrite a paragraph in an alternative point of view.
Curated OER
Author's Purpose
In this worksheet on determining the purpose of writing, students read 3 short paragraphs and choose whether they were written to persuade, inform or entertain.
Edmond Public Schools
SOAPSTone
Break an article down with a SOAPSTone chart. Class members determine the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone. The chart includes a question for each of these elements, provides some clarifying text for each, and...
Student Handouts
Why Does an Author Write?
To get to the heart of a writer's purpose, just remember to have some PIE (Persuade, Inform, or Entertain)! And appropriately, here is a PIE chart that leaves room for pupils to identify each letter of the acronym and any other ideas or...
K20 LEARN
It's All About Balance! Parallel Structure
I came, I saw, I conquered! Parallel structure, employed by writers even before Julius Caesar, is the focus of a lesson that teaches young writers the power of this rhetorical device. Class members analyze speeches by Dr. Martin Luther...
Deer Valley Unified School District
Close Reading: Analyzing Mood and Tone
The AP Literature and Composition exam is all about close reading. Test takers are presented with a passage and asked to analyze how an author uses literary devices to create a desired effect. Prepare your students for the exam with a...
Curated OER
Gary Paulsen's Canyons: Question the Author (QtA) Strategy
Gary Paulsen’s Canyons is the focus of an exercise that models how to read closely using a Questioning the Author (QtA) strategy. Complete directions for the strategy, which can be used with any text, are included in the richly-detailed...
Curated OER
Awesome authors (Elementary, Reading/Writing)
Fifth graders use technology to research and collect data. They develop awareness and appreciation of authors and genres. They organize information for presentation.
Curated OER
Identifying the Theme in a Story
Students recognize Theme through the use of simple, short stories. Using Pro Quest, students begin by researching the literary element, theme, and how it can be identified. They then identify the themes in Aesop's Fables and other short...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to Short Story Writers Say
There are so many authors of short stories, and your class can have the chance to study quite a few. This seventh lesson in a series of fourteen continues the decision-making process for the final assessment: a short story author study....
EngageNY
Analyzing Point of View and Figurative Language: Noah’s Point of View of the Coral Queen and Dusty Muleman
Literally, what's the meaning? Scholars read pages seven through nine of Flush and discuss literal and nonliteral meaning with figurative language. Learners work in triads to identify and define unfamiliar words. They then complete a...
University of North Carolina
Audience
Challenging pupils' perspectives by having them walk in the shoes of the reader. An informative resource discusses how to identify an audience and anticipate their needs before writing an upcoming argumentative essay.
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Diction and Tone (English II Reading)
Words carry baggage. In addition to their literal, denotative meaning, words also carry the weight of the associations and connotations attached to the word—the connotations of words writers use to create the tone of a piece. An...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Simile and Metaphor (English III Reading)
The key idea in this interactive exercise designed for high schoolers is that figurative language, especially similes, and metaphors, add layers of meaning to a text. Users examine examples from speeches, ads, movie dialogue, and poems,...
Curated OER
Reading And Responding: Lesson 15 Nonfiction
Eighth graders examine a nonfiction selection in a teacher led lesson. They examine the author's purpose for writing the selection and identify the difference between fact and opinion. The compare and contrast expository and narrative...
National Math + Science Initative
Reading an Informational Text: "It All Started with Sputnik"
Sputnik was one of the greatest scientific advancements of the 1950s, and this reading lesson does it justice. Pupils start off with pre-reading questions and a video. They then read an excerpt from an article, which is accompanied by...
Curated OER
Oral Presentation
Practice your speaking skills! Using a chosen visual aid, pupils present a previously written essay to the class. During the oral presentation, the listeners identify and write down the author's purpose and a question for the author. At...