Young scholars read about the oral histories of West Africa and complete related activities. For this oral histories lesson, students read about the importance of oral customs in African cultures. Young scholars interview a family member...

Students examine the lives of children in other places. They listen to a read aloud of Eve Bunting's, Dandelions, and retell the story of the family living in the West. They talk about the sod houses and compare them to the types of...

Young scholars analyze the conventions used in Noh plays and write an introduction to a Noh play of their own. In this Noh play instructional activity, students identify the conventions of the Noh form and analyze the realizations the...

Middle schoolers participate in a differentiated lesson about Tuck Everlasting. In this Tuck Everlasting lesson, students work on comprehension strategies that are leveled for their reading ability. They focus on the ability to tell the...

Students read the story Smack Dab in the Middle and complete activities such as charting, writing, illustrating, graphing, and more. In this Smack Dab in the Middle lesson plan, students also discuss the book and retell the story.

Second graders read The True Story of Balto, research Alaskan Iditarod, select factual information, and prepare presentation on the computer to present to their classmates.

Students complete a full retelling of a play they have read in class. After reading each act of the play, students retell and summarize the major plot points of the play in small groups. Groups complete their review until they have...

Middle schoolers identify elements of myths, fables, and legends as they read an example of each.  After reading an example of each type of story, they list elements from each.  They compare and contrast these features by...

Helen Lester's wonderfully wacky, Tacky and the Winter Games, is the core text featured in a resource packet that includes a prediction exercise, an activity menu, vocabulary flash cards, and book review worksheet. A great way to cheer...

Not only is this instructional activity about story retell, main events, and making predictions, it's also about plants. Youngsters will read the tale, The Tiny Seed as they explore the plant life cycle and early literacy skills. The...

Writers use varied sentence patterns. They listen to the story of Cinderella rewritten so that each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. They create their own version of The Three Little Pigs using the same concept.

Students experience and study cause and effect as they assess the consequences man faces when time travel is attempted. They determine, in their imaginations, what time period they would like to visit. Each student then listens to,...

Develop a world-wide, email chain on which class members can showcase their acts of kindness. After defining the meaning of random acts of kindness through discussion and through a reading of Random Acts of Kindness,...

Students complete various activities related to the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." They participate in a shared reading activity, read and write a sentence for each day of the week, draw a picture of the caterpillar eating one of...

Scholars are introduced to the characteristics of a legend. They read and discuss Old Father Story Teller by Pablita Velarde. Then, in groups, they write and illustrate a poem based on one of the legends from the book. This lesson plan...

Challenge your advanced learners with this set of activities based around a common theme. Learners draw, research, share, retell stories, compare and contrast, and more over the course of these activities, which focus mostly on animals...

Students explore the story I Like Bugs! In this language arts lesson, students sort bugs from the story into the correct category. Students draw pictures of bugs and create a retelling booklet.

Third graders examine the Journey of Lewis and Clark and how it relates to Thomas Jefferson and Monticello. They read about, discuss and complete worksheet pertaining to the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Students practice summarizing passages which they read silently in order to remember what they read. They follow steps for summarizing by highlighting the important details, removing the less important ones, and retelling they highlights...

First graders write sentences and illustrate ways seeds travel.

Students use primary sources to compare the early development of corn with current techniques of biotechnology and genetically engineered seeds, and identify plants natural to the Americas and those natural to Europe that were part of...

After each of three viewings of a 45-second video, aspiring writers employ vivid adjectives and precise, strong verbs to "show, don't tell." First they compose a single sentence, then three, and finally a five-sentence paragraph. Repeat...

Students read Native American legends and practice storytelling skills. They complete a worksheet about the elements of storytelling and create an iMovie.