Curated OER
Revising Your Mystery Story
Students edit and improve their short stories by examining character description, dialogue, and plot elements. In peer editing groups they correct gramatical and spelling errors. they read aloud their new story drafts.
Curated OER
Writing the Mystery with a Purpose
Students present the outline of the mystery story they are writing while working in reciprocal teaching groups. They respond to group members writing before they continue to finish revisions.
Curated OER
Personal Narratives
Students discover journalism by writing about themselves.  For this non-fiction writing lesson, students discuss the outline of a personal narrative and write a paper about an experience they've had.  Students reflect on the...
Curated OER
To Kill a Mockingbird Test
In this novel test, students complete a variety of questions including true/false, short answer, fill in the blank, essay,matching and bonus questions. The cover page of the test contains a area to record the student's score.
Learning Station
Writing Playscripts
In this writing activity, students read a short description of a play script. Then, students read a fable and write a play script of the fable.
Kids Yoga Stories
Valentine's Day - LOVE
Open your heart with a refreshing yoga session designed for Valentine's Day. With visual cues of hearts and other festive decorations, participants begin a series of yoga poses designed to open their heart chakras and to reflect on...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Franklin’s Philadelphia: Another Point of View
The impressive story of Benjamin Franklin, including his rise from a printer’s apprentice to a statesman, color upper-level scholars’ understanding of the possibilities of life in colonial Philadelphia. But not everyone had the...
Curated OER
Edgar Allen Poe And The Art Of Composition
High schoolers evaluate several works by Edgar Allen Poe based on the criteria in his essay, "The Philosophy of Composotion" Their analysis is documented using a graphic organizer. Learners begin the pre-writing process for their own...
Curated OER
Comparison and Contrast - D. H. Lawrence
Read The Horse Dealer's Daughter and The Rocking Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence, then write an essay comparing and contrasting the two stories. Learners choose some aspect to write about, such as themes, characters, setting, or plot.
Japan Society
National Identity and Literature from Okinawa
A lesson plan originally designed around the short story "Mr. Saito of Heaven Building" by Yamanokuchi Baku, this resource provides historical background, discussion questions, and brief writing assignments that help your class explore...
Curated OER
The Tudor's True Story
Students take effective notes from a video documentary, create an oral report about an assigned aspect of the video, and express an understanding of the King's six wives' lives.
Curated OER
Bible Readings: Supernatural, Cosmic, Angelic, Meteorological
Students create and present a short science fiction story. In this Bible studies lesson students work in small groups and are assigned characters and a scenario to develop a play about.
Curated OER
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Students, after reading the book, "Esperanza Rising," create a virtual display by combining different story elements into a visual representation. They choose the setting and characters of a scene that will act as a springboard of ideas...
Curated OER
The United States and the Soviet Union were Engaged in a Cold War
Students work together at figuring out the definition for what cold war means. For this social science lesson, students listen to "The Butter Battle Book" by Dr. Seuss and recognize how this story relates to the cold war between the...
Curated OER
Gender Roles in the Mid-Nineteenth CenturyWhat Fiction Tells Us
Learners examine 19th century gender roles. In this gender roles lesson, students read "The Daughter-in-Law" and discuss their impressions of etiquette and gender roles in the 19th century. Learners write etiquette guides that address...
Curated OER
Sound Devices in Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
Students examine the impact of sound devices in poetry. In this poetry lesson plan, students read the listed poems and identify uses of alliteration, repetition, consonance, rhythm, rhyme, and slang. Students discuss how sound devices...
Curated OER
America in Film and Fiction
Students begin the lesson by reading a book on film study.  After watching the movie "Citizen Kane", they work together to identify the issues concerning the United States before World War II.  As a class, they discuss how the ideas and...
Indiana University
World Literature: "One Evening in the Rainy Season" Shi Zhecun
Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...
Curated OER
Summarizing with Somebody Wanted But So
Teach your young readers how to summarize a text using a strategy called Somebody Wanted But So. Kids identify the character (Somebody), the motivation (Wanted), the conflict (But), and the resolution (So). The resource comes with...
K5 Learning
Playground
Bella and Molly at spending time at the playground, but encounter a problem. Read about their problem and how each of them works together to solve it. Then, readers answer five questions about what they read in the passage.
Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment
Concept Muraling
Concept muraling helps learners improve their comprehension of a text by giving them a way to organize their understanding of the key concepts in that text. Introduce readers to this process with a carefully scaffolded lesson that models...
Curated OER
Comprehension: Setting
Students discuss what setting represents. In this language arts lesson plan, students review the three elements of setting: where the story takes place, when does the story take place, and is it past, present, or future? Students create...
Curated OER
Diary of Anne Frank: Act 1 Scene 1 & 2
Eighth graders read act 1 scenes 1 & 2 of the play Diary of Anne Frank. In this Diary of Anne Frank lesson plan, 8th graders discuss how the setting of the play affects the mood of the story and answer short answer questions.
Curated OER
Animals in Ancient Rome (Grades 7-8)
Students explore the role of animals in ancient Rome through the interpretation of a fictional account.