Immerse yourself in the beautiful, twisted world of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. A detailed lesson plan provides important details about the writing, stagecraft, music, and literary elements of the famous musical,...

Learn more about the Civil War. Young scholars will choose a novel based on the Civil War to learn more about the viewpoints of that time period. They will then discuss the roles of the members of a Literature Circle and then participate...

Love, jealousy, hatred! Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera has it all. Whether or not you have used Gaston Leroux's novel with your classes, you will find much value in this resource. The guide includes background information, an...

Sherlock Holmes may have been the greatest detective in literary history. A study guide for The Hound of the Baskervilles introduces a story featuring the famous detective before sharing activities related to the text. Readers...

Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...

It's the end of the sixteenth century in the middle of the Spanish Inquisition when a group of prisoners decides to dramatize the story of Don Quixote. A study guide provides a summary and other important information about the play Man...

After examining and discussing Guy Ben-Ner's Treehouse Kit, a contemporary art installation with a sculptural and video element, small groups work together to create short silent films. The films should be built around a particular topic...

What makes your pupils happy? Find out with a lesson plan centered around this theme. Class members come up with things that make them happy and write about them in preparation for quick group project. Learners watch and discuss a short...

The Bard? Folly? Tragedy? How familiar are your pupils with terms associated with Romeo and Juliet? Class members rate their knowledge of a list of words and then share what they know with the class. The worksheet, discussion questions,...

Tenth graders participate in literature circles to discuss the novel, Bless Me, Ultima. They formulate questions based on their reading and answer them in small discussion groups.

Bully, bullied, or bystander? Paul Langan's The Bully is the anchor text in a unit that examines bullying and violence. After a close reading of the text, readers imagine themselves as the characters and consider how they would react in...

Students practice their writing techniques by creating a novelette.  In this creating writing lesson, students brainstorm and decide on a topic they would like to expand upon in order to create their own novelette.  Students...

If you could build your own treehouse, what would it look like? Using a piece of contemporary art as inspiration, learners draw their own treehouses and add geometric and organic shapes. The lesson touches on Visual Thinking Strategies...

Learners read Witch of Blackbird Pond and role-play events in the story.  In this Character development lesson, students interview the characters.  Learners design a timeline with pictures to show the events of the character's...

Students, in groups, study a Tony Award winner from the past through researching its history, watching the production, and reading the written origin of the production. They create programs for these productions and assess

Students identify themes in Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet by analyzing the film or text. In this tolerance instructional activity, students create their own Elizabethan era terms related to interacting with different social groups. In...

Fourth graders work in cooperative groups to create a ditty to teach the characteristics that distinguish literary forms to younger students. The ditty is performed before the class.

Students examine art by artist by Tom Rollins. They discuss the painting and what it means to them. They create their own models of apartment complexes based on ideas from literature.

High schoolers examine the New York Times review of the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and explore the elements of scriptwriting. They read the article about the film adaptation screenplay and examine a...

Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...

Students listen to popular music of the 50's and 60's to make literature connections to The Outsiders. In this popular culture lesson, students evaluate and analyze various songs and connect them with the themes in the literature related...

Fifth graders complete a project for a Newberry Award winning book. This ambitious lesson outlines the expectations for students regarding their project. Included is a list of possible books and a variety of writing, art, music and...

Students identify the ideas and themes that are most significant in a work of literature, then propose ways to visually represent these themes through art.

Eleventh graders analyze the lyrics of protest music. In this Vietnam War lesson, 11th graders examine conflict as they consider the controversial nature of the war as evidenced in song lyrics. Students also consider the Iraq War and its...