Literacy Design Collaborative
The Lottery
Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to hone their close reading and literary analysis skills. After annotating their copy of the story, writer's craft an essay in which they analyze...
![Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: Night of the Blizzard One Teacher's Story [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: Night of the Blizzard One Teacher's Story [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
Chase Young, PhD
Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: Night of the Blizzard One Teacher's Story [Pdf]
A reader's theater script of blizzard story co-written by Mary Evans Andrews, a free-lance writer, and a former early 1900's teacher, "Miss Lydia", is provided on these pages. Ten character roles are needed in this activity. Reading...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Reading and Writing About Miss Moo
Lesson for early elementary and special education students utlizing the book Miss Moo Goes to the Zoo by Kelly Graves and graphic organizers to identify elements in a story (title, author, setting, characters, etc.). Students participate...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Using a Fairy Tale to Teach the Elements of a Story
Students will hear and read different versions of a familiar fairy tale and identify what elements a story must have (character, plot, setting) for the story to be interesting and make sense. Using a Venn diagram, students will then...
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: "A Bivouac of the Dead" by Ambrose Bierce
This is the text of the short story "A Bivouac of the Dead" by Ambrose Bierce, a story with an ironic twist set in the Allegheny mountains, in Pocahontas county, West Virginia.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Full Steam Ahead: The Steam Engine and Transportation in the Nineteenth Century
This primary source set uses illustrations, documents, and photographs to tell the story of how the steam engine transformed the railroad industry and played crucial roles in the Industrial Revolution and westward expansion.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Speaking, Listening and Writing Compound Contrasting Sentences
Students will be answering text-dependent questions in which they will have to describe the differences between the different characters, settings, and major events in our stories using complex contrasting sentences. The students will...
Character Lab
Character Lab: Two Stories: Grit
In this writing activity, you reflect on a time when you succeeded and the steps you took to succeed, and also a time when you failed and what you learned from that. Printables and examples are included.
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: "The Water Baby" by Jack London
This short story by Jack London departs from his usual setting in the Yukon and takes place in tropical Hawaii. A young man and older man are fishing and telling tales in "The Water Baby". Read the full text on this site.
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: Titee
Read the full text of "Titee" by Alice Dunbar which is set in New Orleans at the turn of the century.
PBS
Pbs: Frontline World Story: Kenya Run, Lornah, Run
This PBS Frontline world story is about a Kenyan world class runner. The runners name is, Lornah Kiplagat, and she uses her prize money to fund a high altitudes training center in Kenya. Her facility provides women with an opportunity to...
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: "Boule De Suif" by Guy De Maupassant
This is the text of the short story "Boule de Suif" by Guy de Maupassant. The story is set in the Franco-Prussian War and follows a group of French residents of Rouen, recently occupied by the Prussian army. The 10 travelers sharing the...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Jason and the Golden Fleece
Explore characterization, plot and setting and compare these elements in mythology and modern works of literature, film and television. Retell myths in modern settings or modern-day stories using a mythological Greek setting. While this...
Other
Golden Dreams: Silver Linings: History of Mining in Idaho
Read the exciting story of mining in Idaho, the state's first industry. Find out about the first discovery of gold and the migration that it set off soon after.
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: "King Bemba's Point" by J. Landers
Text of a short story set in West Africa called "King Bemba's Point" and written by J. Landers. (Free site registration offers some additional features, e.g., the ability to insert annotations.)
Other
History of African Americans of Delaware and Maryland's Eastern Shore
A site covering the story of African Americans living in Delaware and on the Eastern shore of Maryland. Just click on one of the stories to learn about their triumphs and struggles. Includes a set of lesson plans.
Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
Yad Vashem: A Time to Heal
After the war, many children who survived had no home or family to return to. Children's homes were set up to meet the needs of these children. View one of these homes in Otwock, Poland. Read stories and examine artifacts, pictures, and...
Read Works
Read Works: Bridge to Terabithia 5th Grade Unit
A Grade 5 literature study unit for the novel "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson. The concepts covered include cause and effect, character, genre, plot, predicting, and theme.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Scheming Against an Adversary
Enemy Pie by Derek Munson makes readers think seriously about this question: "What if I had to spend an entire day with someone with whom I had a conflict?" This question presents young writers with a great launching pad for developing...
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Great Expectations
Discovery Channel School offers a lesson plan regarding the study of Charles Dickens novel, "Great Expectations." Students are asked to note that a writer considers theme, plot, characters, setting, and point of view when writing a...
Other
David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page: "A Christmas Carol"
Part of a larger site dedicated to helping readers understand and appreciate Charles Dickens and his writing, this section is on "A Christmas Carol." Here you'll find not only the plot of the story, but also explanatory notes about some...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Community and the Folk, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
A story that examines African American community in a rural setting. Zora Neale Hurston's (1891-1960) brief tale "Spunk" is provided within this resources and documents the expressions of southern black "folk."
Other
Gunston Hall Plantation: Mason Objects
In this set of activities, students learn what George Mason's objections were to the U.S. Constitution. They then evaluate them through a class discussion and divide into groups to hold a debate about the disagreement between the...
Council for Economic Education
Econ Ed Link: Money Comes and Goes
Students read two online stories that introduce them to the elements of a budget and show that a successful budget balances money coming in (income) with money going out (expenses and savings). Follow-up activities point out the value of...