Fourth graders read passages of Koya's Cousin Del before answering questions in a discussion setting. They listen to a variety of musical pieces before detailing how the music makes them feel in a short piece of writing. They share their...

Primary students will use the five "W" questions for reading comprehension as they read silently to themselves so that they can understand and remember what they have read. They then read The Velveteen Rabbit aloud, discussing the five...

One of the most important skills in orienteering is being able to read a topographical map. Understanding the contour lines and symbols and the scale of the map will make planning your route so much better. In this instructional...

Does your class love reading cartoons? Use their talents and interests to examine the process of writing a story they wish to tell through a cartoon. They develop the beginning, middle, and end of a story based on their original...

Origami is an excellent way to combine Japanese culture, art, and geometric shapes into one engaging instructional activity! Scholars begin by listening to the story Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and learn the origin of...

Eighth graders retell stories to peers and the entire class. In this storytelling lesson, 8th graders research short stories and select a short story to retell. Students rewrite the stories in their own words and tell it aloud.

Help young readers learn to read and interpret complex text independently. Teach young children to ask interpretive questions and use the text itself to answer them. Use art, word play and drama to provide a deeper understanding of...

Action! Get your Spanish speakers acting with this plan. First read a short story together, then have small groups write various endings. After they write their ending, have them bring props and film their alternate ending.

After reading "The King of Mazy May" by Jack London, learners reinforce their literary analysis skills in this SMART board instructional activity. The provided SMART board file allows themto define elements of a short story, and then add...

Whether it's St. Patrick's Day or not, this lesson can be a great way to study James Joyce and how his heritage has influenced his writing. The lesson is meant to be used with the Gale database, specifically the Student Resource Center...

What happened to a murder case when the police eat the murder weapon? After reading Roald Dahl's dark and ironic short story "Lamb to the Slaughter," young scholars write a persuasive essay to convince a jury that the wife who killed her...

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...

Ambition is the keyword of a lesson that focuses on the contributions made by famous female artists. Specifically looking at European artists, Luisa Roldan and Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun, scholars examine a piece of their work then...

Guide class members through Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis with a series of questions designed for before, during, and after reading. Readers consider Gregor's situation and his options. In addition, they...

Many regard John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath as the great American novel. The lesson plan combines a variety of strategies, including partner work, independent practice, creative writing, grammar instruction, and small group...

Students explore a variety of colors and shapes after reading the story, "Planting A Rainbow," by Lois Ehlert. The tracking and reading of labels attached to diagrams form an experience in vocabulary development in this lesson plan.

After watching West of the West's documentary The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, class members imagine how Juana Maria/Karana may have felt about living alone on the island for 18 years and craft a blackout poem or a narrative in...

Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...

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...

If a field trip to the summit of Mount Everest isn't in your school budget, make the trek virtually! An interactive lesson plan allows class members to follow Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's trail up the mountain, and provides...

Bingo! Combine the thrill of bingo with Lois Lowry's The Giver in a fun vocabulary activity. Kids write selected vocabulary words from the novel onto a bingo chart, and then listen for the correct definitions in order to mark off...

In a hands-on learning activity, pupils read about and recreate the experience of Harriet Jacobs, author of one of the most famous slave narratives of all time in which she describes her years of hiding from her master in a confined...

Students read literature by Nathaniel Hawthorne and write an essay comparing the main characters in the two stories. For this character analysis lesson, students read the stories Young Goodman Brown and The Minister's Black Veil....

Students use analogies to compare synonyms and antonyms. In this writing skills lesson, students use the provided synonyms and antonyms to create short stories that they present as plays to their classmates.