Curated OER
Fairy Tales Retold
Students use writing processes effectively to adapt and retell stories. They reread a favorite fairy tale, then adapt and retell in a PowerPoint or other multimedia presentation. They present their rewritten and edited presentations to...
Curated OER
Retelling the Tiny Seed
Here is a very age appropriate idea that can be stretched, modified, or used as is. Learners review plant parts, discuss pollination, read the story The Tiny Seed, and write a retell sentence. Their sentences describe to way a seed...
Curated OER
Rock Cycle: The Story of a Rock
High schoolers examine the rock cycle by watching videos and then use creative storytelling techniques to tell the story of a rock as it undergoes geologic changes.
Teach Your Children Well
Spinning a Web
Lisa Trumbauer's big book, Spinning a Web, provides kids with an opportunity to practice word sequencing, to use correct punctuation, and to develop comprehension skills with a cloze reading evercise.
Curated OER
Creating a Consumer-Awareness Information Campaign
Students work across grade levels to research and design a community awareness campaign on the benefits of purchasing fair trade chocolate. They develop print advertisements, conduct research, write letters, make posters and prepare oral...
Curated OER
Let's Learn Library Language
This PowerPoint presentation provides a review of 'library language', vocabulary associated with books and the library such as cover, title, author, illustrator, call number and fiction/nonfiction. Each slide of this PowerPoint displays...
Curated OER
Picture-Perfect Story Settings
Using common picture books, teachers can help learners develop the setting for their next creative writing projects.
Curated OER
Map It Out
Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King Jr.
After listening to a story about Martin Luther King Jr., first graders answer questions about the text. They discuss the importance of the illustrations, identify the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and complete a writing...
August House
Anansi and the Tug o' War
Combine art, math, language arts, drama, and delicious Jell-o with a instructional activity based on the African folktale Anansi and the Tug o' War. Kids make predictions and discuss plot points of the story before joining in...
Curated OER
CAN WE SWITCH GENDERS OF STORY CHARACTERS?
Analyze characters and stories to identify stereotyping. Learners will examine the concept of character gender to evaluate bias in classroom story books. They are asked to read a story or play and change the gender of the character to...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The New Home
Matilda finally gets her happy ending with a new home with Miss Honey. But first, Mr. Wormwood goes on trial for his wrong doings and bad car sales. Class members take on the role of a character in the trial and participate in a role...
WITS Program
Whoever You Are
Deep down, everyone is the same. Discuss the similarities and differences between people across cultures with a series of reading activities based on the beautiful story and illustrations in Whoever You Are by Mem Fox.
Curated OER
Family Culture:
Young scholars tell about their family heritage by writing a story and illustrating it with a picture of a family item.
Center for Civic Education
Orb and Effy Learn About Authority
Simplify the teaching of the US Constitution with this primary grade social studies lesson. While reading a fun story about an imaginary place called Bubble Land, children learn about the concept of authority and the importance of...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Miss Trunchbull
How would you react to the Trunchbull if she was your teacher? This is the focus of an activity that has readers imagining and then acting out their reactions to various Trunchball scenarios in the story.
Curated OER
The American Cowboy
Middle Schoolers produce a class newspaper about the American cowboy and the times in which he lived with illustrations, feature stories and advertisements typical of the times. This is an ambitious, yet worthwhile project for youngsters...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - Dirty Beards
The problem with beards is that they collect a lot of food. The first activity in an 11-part unit related to The Twits by Roald Dahl explores the hairy jungle that is Mr. Twit's beard. A concluding project has learners create their own...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake
After reading the 11th chapter in Matilda, class members take on the role of Bruce Bogtrotter and re-enact the cake eating scene. Here's the catch: they must come-up with an impromptu re-enactment of the scene from the story, and...
Library of Congress
White Fang
When a person is stuck in the wilderness, it helps to have a friend. An eBook version of White Fang by Jack London tells the story of a man and a dog/wolf that becomes his companion. A table of contents outlines each of the five...
Teacher's Corner
Seuss Visualizing
Only one thing can compare to the whimsy of Dr. Seuss: a child's imagination. Pair the bouncing narrative of a Dr. Seuss book with your learner's illustrations in a fun reading activity. As you read a selected passage, your class draws...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - Mrs Twit
"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly." The second lesson plan in an 11-part unit that accompanies The Twits by Roald Dahl uses poetry to encourage positive character traits. Mrs. Twit has ugly thoughts, but those...
Sandra Effinger
Bulletin Board Project
Imagine a project that informs and entertains. Replace book reports with a bulletin board that highlights all the important elements of a novel. Readers research the author, create a timeline of events in the story, write a...
K20 LEARN
Motivations In "The Gift Of The Magi": Motivation In Characters
O. Henry's short story, "The Give of the Magi," launches a study of what motivates people to act as they do. Class members identify what they believe are the motivations of the characters in O. Henry's tale and then craft a one-page...