Curated OER
Pastimes
Students define and discuss personal pastimes, listen to the story Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, discuss owling as rural pastime, demonstrate comprehension by writing responses to story, and discuss how climate and geography often determine...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Environment
A fiction and nonfiction text, The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry and I See a Kookaburra! Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page begins a learning experience in...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The House, the Tree and the Monkey Cage
A house with no windows and a garden full of stinging nettles make the perfect home for Mr. and Mrs. Twit. The seventh instructional activity in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl takes a closer look at...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - Muggle-Wump Has an Idea
If a bar of chocolate was on the floor, would you try to pick it up? What if it was covered with glue? The eighth lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl has scholars imagine crazy scenarios. The...
Penguin Books
The Jungle
It's a jungle out there! Teachers gain information to guide learners through reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Instructors give an overview of the characters in the story and a summary of each chapter. The resource includes questions...
Curated OER
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Students read and discuss the story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and design a structure that will withstand a clay bear's force sitting on it. They develop a list of activities that the three bears do that real bears can't do, and in...
Curated OER
Pink and Say
Read Pink and Say and discuss the Civil War with your upper elementary learners. They create a KWL about the Civil War and record words relating to the Civil War as they read the book. Then they work in groups to create an ABC...
August House
The Magic Pot
The Magic Pot by Patricia Coombs is the theme of this multidisciplinary lesson plan. Early readers first take part in a read aloud and grand conversation about the story's details. Then, they get to work practicing their skills in...
Scholastic
Owl Moon Teaching Plan
Capture the engagement of young readers with this collection of activities based on Jane Yolen's book, Owl Moon. Following a shared reading of this children's story, the class explores the geography of the American Northeast,...
Curated OER
Amos and Boris: Text Study
Twenty insightful questions follow a read aloud of the story, Amos and Boris by William Steig. Scholars then show what they know through completion of a cause and effect chart, reading fluency assessment, and a written...
Scholastic
Dr. Seuss Extension Activities
Extend the exhilarating learning experience of Dr. Seuss with five activities designed to reinforce literacy skills—site word reading, dialogue writing, story mapping, and more! Featured stories include The Lorax,...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The Twits Get the Shrinks
Turn readers into investigative journalists. The 11th and final lesson that accompanies The Twits by Roald Dahl asks the question "What happened to Mr. and Mrs. Twit?" The lesson uses mind maps and group discussion to help answer...
Peter Bunzl
Cogheart and Moonlocket
Peter Bunzi takes readers to the Victorian era with two stories, Coghaert and Moonlocket. Accompany the literary time warp with a companion packet that offers a plethora of exercises. Learning...
Penguin Books
Folklore and Fairytales: A Guide to Using Traditional Tales and Reimagined Classics
Every culture has its own stories to tell. An interesting educator's guide shares a large collection of fairytales and folktales, some from different cultures and some re-creations of classics. A summary and brief teaching ideas...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Bees
A Reading Adventure pack explores the busy life of bees. After reading a fiction and nonfiction text, scholars complete three hands-on activities. Participants invent a robot that can do the work of bees, cheers to hardworking bees with...
Curated OER
Archetypal Images and Polarities
Here is a rather esoteric resource that presents the archetypes found in “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” and would be appropriate for a college-level psychology or literature class, or as a teacher resource. Considered the “world’s oldest...
Curated OER
Little Engine That Could
Students dramatize traditional literature. In this retelling lesson, students practice retelling The Little Engine That Could and take on roles of the trains in the story. Students create and display train props to use during...
Curated OER
Through the Looking Glass: Eudora Welty's Photography and The Ponder Heart
Students study the context of The Ponder Heart through Welty's photographs.
They analyze how illustrations and photographs interact with written text and
create their own images to illustrate a well-known Welty short story....
Curated OER
Different! Diverse! Dynamic! What Do Stories Share?
Students compare and contrast the stories, "Leo, the Late Bloomer," and "Thank You, Mr. Falker." They develop a Venn diagram, and write and illustrate the central theme of the stories.
Curated OER
Mythical Beasts
Students explore literature and art forms containing creatures that are part human and part animal, such as the Greek Sphinx, Neptune, or the Green Centaur. Individually, students write a poem or short story to create a character with...
Curated OER
Paper Bag Book Report
Students read books and write a unique kind of book report. In this literature lesson, students use paper bags to construct projects about the books they read. Students present their projects to the class.
Curated OER
Gatsby and the American Twenties Newspaper
Young scholars research 1920's US History. In this historical literature lesson, students use the novel The Great Gatsby as a tool to examine the era. They work in individually to create newspaper articles based on different...
Curated OER
Diversity: Origin Myths
Fifth graders analyze origin myths and the diversity of First Nations groups. In this history lesson, 5th graders review the geography of Canada and read various origin myths. Students illustrate one of the myths and research...
Curated OER
Family Origins and American Cultural Pluralism
Students explore, analyze and discuss family origins, special legacies, and racial/cultural groups in literature and art that exposes them to positive examples in African-American history and culture. They encounter examples from dance,...