Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Biography/Autobiography
Practice distinguishing biography from autobiography through point of view. Tell a brief story of your morning. Have a class member retell the story to you (using second person). And have another retell the story to the class (using...
Pennsylvania Bar Association
The Pied Piper vs. The City of Hamelin
How would the Pied Piper recover his damages from the deceptive citizens of Hamelin if the story took place today? Explore one of the Pied Piper's options with a short play that depicts a court case in which he sues the city of Hamelin...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion
Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms...
Federal Reserve Bank
Little Nino's Pizzeria
Engage your youngsters in basic economics by connecting the terms to dessert and pizza! After a discussion about intermediate goods and natural resources, learners read and connect a pizzeria to economic terms.
Curated OER
Making Magical Creatures Talk
Invite your young writers to take the reins with writing dialogue. Using two characters of their own creation, kids work with partners and then individually to write short conversations.
Code.org
Encoding Numbers in the Real World
Ah, the numerous number of numbers. Individuals research different ways of encoding numbers. After conducting their initial research, they find classmates who have researched a different article and the pair share information. The...
Scholastic
Lesson 1: What Are Barriers?
Scholars discuss the concept of a barrier with a short passage on Jackie Robinson. The writing process begins with a paragraph and several other sentences about Robinson's unique traits that made breaking a barrier...
Crafting Freedom
The Self-Empowerment of Harriet Jacobs
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...
Curated OER
Comparison and Contrast - Two Short Stories
Students choose two short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. They then write a paper comparing and contrasting the two short stories that Edgar Allan Poe wrote using appropriate conventions.
Curated OER
Adding Sound to a Story
Middle schoolers read a short story about the rain forest. They listen to a recording of rain forest sounds and break into several smaller groups to create a soundtrack to the rainforest story.
Curated OER
Halloween Literature Unit: The Magic Pumpkin
Students are read The Magic Pumpkin. In this reading comprehension lesson plan, students practice their sequencing skills and listening skills. They participate in various activities after the story to promote their ability to recognize...
Curated OER
Rain
First graders practice oral and silent reading using beginning comprehension and decoding strategies. For this guided reading lesson, 1st graders take a picture walk and make plot predictions prior to reading the book Rain by...
Curated OER
Children's Book Creations
Students create a children's book version of the Japanese folk story "Momotaro Boy of the Peach" and present the story to elementary students. In this children's book instructional activity, students design their book to explain Japanese...
Curated OER
Elements of Fiction
Students identify key story elements in a fiction text. For this literacy lesson, students are introduced to the various elements of fiction such as the setting, plot, and theme. Students read a short story of their choice and identify...
Curated OER
Using Science Fiction To Understand Biological Concepts
High schoolers read and discuss," The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton and complete a short writing exercise as a warm-up for a longer piece of science fiction writing. They choose a topic and create a science fiction short story...
Curated OER
Analogies, Synonyms, Antonyms, Stories and Writing!
Learners use analogies to compare synonyms and antonyms. For this writing skills lesson, students use the provided synonyms and antonyms to create short stories that they present as plays to their classmates.
Curated OER
Pigging Out on Reading Comprehension
Students summarize a piece of fiction text. After reviewing the correct way to read in order to summarize, students independently read the story "Pig in a Bag." They write a summary paragraph using the process outlined by the instructor...
Curated OER
The Interactive Read-Aloud
Learners discover the joy of reading a book through the teaching method of a read-aloud while interacting with the teacher by answering different questions. The lesson includes a sample of a read-aloud and the dialogue used with students...
Curated OER
Story Elements
Eighth graders identify six story elements (setting, characters, character traits, plot, resolution, and point of view) and create short stories utilizing all six elements. They are introduced to story elements as the things that make up...
Curated OER
Introducing Phonemic Awareness Using Oral and Written Instruction
First graders demonstrate their ability to read with fluency, accuracy, and comprehension through phonemic awareness. They use a color-coding system to master the long and short vowel sounds and develop their skills in listening and...
Curated OER
Blending Bumper Cars
First graders practice blending words with the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern. Given a card with a decodable word part, 1st graders add an initial consonant sound and blend the sounds to read the new word. They practice reading a...
Curated OER
Being in the Noh: An Introduction to Japanese Noh Plays
Students read a Japanese Noh play and discuss its structure and traditional characters. They choose a short myth and write a Noh play based on it.
Curated OER
Good vs. Evil
Make a study of good and evil by examining a short legend. After reading, learners compose their own stories and participate in a class discussion about the text, the characters, and the message of the reading.
Curated OER
Feelings From A to Z
Third graders create a class A to Z Feelings book to explore emotions, discover new words, pose for a "feeling" icture, and write about the feeling.