Curated OER
Where the Red Ferns
Where the Red Fern Grows provides the text for a study of the literary elements of plot, character, and setting. Discussion questions and vocabulary lists are referenced but not included.
Curated OER
Prince Ibrahima
Sixth graders read and utilize the facts from the story "Abd al-Rahmen Ibrahima" by Walter Dean Myers to analyze the main character's life which is ruined by conflict, jealousy, and greed. Journal entries are created in response to the...
Curated OER
Storytelling: Writers' Workshop Learning Center
Evaluating a variety of narrative texts can help build strong writers. Pupils identify plot elements and their relation to personal experience, then apply what they gleaned from the class discussion to create their own narratives.
PB Works
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
Record the plot elements of The Cay on this worksheet. Pupils note basic information about the book and answer questions about the introduction, point of view, character, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of...
Curated OER
Literary Analysis of Theme
Remember reading "The Lottery" and "The Possibility of Evil" by Shirley Jackson? Learners can experience and analyze the tension, themes, and human experience found in these pieces through reading and class discussion. They use...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 9: Climax
Conduct a close reading of chapter 9 of The Cay. Read the chapter again and ask pupils to respond to a list of included text-dependent questions. Finish the class with the provided writing assignment, which asks learners to use textual...
Syracuse City School District
Reading Comprehension Unit Plan
A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...
Curated OER
The Tell-Tale Heart
Bring Edgar Allan Poe's spooky story to life! After reading the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," middle and high schoolers identify the theme, character traits, irony, and other story concepts. During pre-reading, they take notes,...
Curated OER
Teaching "Theme" with Children's Literature
In this exercise, learners examine the difference between a theme, topic, and moral. After a class discussion on the definition of literary themes, the instructor reads The Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler. Next, individuals analyze the...
Teaching English
Fairy Tales; Not Just for Kids
"Once upon a time . . ." Language learners examine the key elements of well-known fairy tales and then craft their own.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Let’s Count!: Challenge Activities (Theme 5)
Challenge young scholars with a counting-themed series of activities. Your counters will write invitations to a feast, create books about dinner parties and animals, design posters, draw pictures of their favorite peaceful places,...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing Planning Sheet
"Tell me a story!" Young storytellers use this planning sheet to block out their narrative, identifying the main idea, characters, setting, events, and ending they will incorporate into their tale.
Curated OER
"Three Cool Kids"
First graders discuss literary elements: characters, setting, problem and solution, after reading Three Cool Kids by Rebecca Emberley. The teacher records what students say using Inspiration, making a web that shows the different...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing Outline
Students explore the elements of a narrative for its purpose, type of audience, mood, main character, minor characters, setting, and conflicts in the story. A story outline is developed and a five paragraph essay composed in this...
Curated OER
Text Under the Microscope
Students explore plot, setting, point of view, and theme. In this literary elements lesson plan, students read "The Cask of Amontillado," by Poe and the War of the World script by H.G. Wells. Students identify and define...
Curated OER
Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" in Graphical Representation
Students analyze graphical forms of Eudora Welty and interpret the shorts stories in the representations. For this graphical representations lesson, students analyze the short story genre in comic strips. Students then create their own...
Curated OER
Identifying Science Fiction
Students discuss works of science fiction that they read, highlight aspects that made each a part of science fiction genre, identify formal literary elements, and discuss ways each can be developed through science fiction.
Curated OER
Can You Predict It?
Students apply reading strategies to improve comprehension and fluency. They establish a purpose for reading. Students read the The Shoemaker and the Elves by Esop. They go over the setting, characters, problem, solution and ending of a...
Nazareth College
Creative Writing
Students discuss creative writing—what makes something creative writing? Each learner starts writing a story and after 15 minutes, they pass their story to another who adds to it. After another 15 minutes of writing, the story is passed...
Curated OER
Reader's Theater with a Twist
Second graders create a Reader's Theater script. In this reader's theater lesson, 2nd graders create their own script of a story in groups. They make props and act them out on FlipVideo and voice thread.
Curated OER
Reviewing Main Events in Fiction
Students analyze elements of fiction while reading. In this reading analysis lesson, students read specific texts and retell the information they remember. Students discover how sequential storytelling works.
Curated OER
Introducing Mythology
Students look closely at a poster of a Rembrandt painting and/or a transparency of a Greek vase, both of which represent the mythological story of the abduction of Europa. Studnets consider how two artists interpreted the same subject in...
Curated OER
Movie Analysis
Fourth graders discuss main concept, supporting details, plot, setting, major events, problems, conflicts, and resolution in two short stories. They apply these terms to a movie of their choice. They compare analysis of movies to...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Predicting and Clarifying Techniques
First graders discover predicting and clarifying skills while reading "The Old Woman and Her Pig." During the reading, they check their predictions while evaluating the characters, setting, problems, and solution. On the second day,...