The New York Times
Writing Fiction Based on Real Science - NYTimes.com
Refuse to alienate your scientific-minded young scholars during your creative writing unit. Learners explore how literary writing can reflect observable fact, and be based in actual science. The links include examples of fiction and...
Curated OER
Analyzing Literature via Literature Circles
Introduce literature circles with Roland Smith's novels. Your seventh graders will see the activity modeled as you read The Three Little Pigs together and apply the format to a Roland Smith novel of their choice. The lesson includes...
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Breaking Down Books
Learners practice their reading comprehension by analyzing and discussing books with their classmates. They record their responses to comprehension, evaluation, and interpretation questions provided on a worksheet that is referenced but...
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LETTER FROM ONE CHARACTER TO ANOTHER
Fourth graders read stories and pick one with characters they find interesting. Then students create a dialogue of writing a letter from one character to another. The letter must relate to the original story in some way that can easily...
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Literary Element: Point of View
In this literacy worksheet, students focus upon the element of literature know as the point of view. They use the story and discuss the first and third person context.
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Greeting Card to A Character
Young scholars create a greeting card from one character to another after finishing a novel. Individually, they use their imagination to write the paragraph using the text to support their ideas. They share their greeting card with the...
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Language Arts: Character Analysis
Fourth graders identify the character traits of Peter in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They find quotations in the story that illlustrate the traits. Students use Kidspiration to write their reports on a template.
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Language Arts: Character Comparison
Fourth graders, using Kidspiration, compare and contrast the two main characters from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They use a teacher-created template to describe their characters. Students then create their own character analysis.
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Hop Into A Story
Pupils listen to the story "Tuesday," and discuss all of the elements that made this story. In this language activity, students tell the story of "Tuesday," (which is all pictures, no words), as the teacher turns the pages of the book....
Prestwick House
Star Wars and the Hero's Journey
Is Luke Skywalker the archetype of a literary hero? Follow the path of the Hero's Journey with an engaging lesson that details the plot structure, applies it to Star Wars: A New Hope, and invites class members to choose their own...
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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.
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Story Blender
Fifth graders write a story with many paragraphs that include a plot, setting, and ending. In this writing lesson plan, 5th graders create stories as a class.
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Revising Your Mystery Story
Learners 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.
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Storytelling in the Oral Tradition
Seventh graders research Greek mythological characters. They write about problems faced by middle school-aged children and how the character would handle them. Students also create story boards to accompany their oral narratives.
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Creating Characters
Students examine the methods of effective characterization. In this writing skills lesson, students discuss how emotions, dialogue, actions, and physical descriptions build believable characters. Students then use the methods of...
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Comprehension-Characters/characterization
Fifth graders discuss characterization as well as to define antagonist and protagonist. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders write questions for an interview of a character in the book "The Three Little Pigs" and then answer them....
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Plot/Story Problem/Resolution
Learners analyze the plot, problem, and resolution of a story. In this story analysis lesson, students read stories and fill out graphic organizers about the plot, story problems, and resolution.
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Identifying Themes in Children's Literature
Identifying themes in literature is the focus of the language arts lesson plan presented here. Learners read short pieces of fiction and practice the skill of identifying the themes present in each one. The bulk of the lesson consists of...
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Bunnicula
Students create a dictionary of vocabulary after reading a story. Individually, they create a story web making sure to include all of the basic story elements. They also create a timeline and write a book report of all important events.
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Investigating Fables
Time for a story! Learners of all ages enjoy listening to stories, so read them some common fables and have them work cooperatively to create a fable. Differentiate for varying ability levels by providing sentence frames, graphic...
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Pandora Puppy's Caring Circle
Students are introduced to the concept of compassion. As a class, they read a story together about Pandora Puppy's caring circles and identify the main points. They complete a worksheet and take a test to review how compassion is...
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Pansy Pig's Patience Pit
Students are introduced to the concepts of patience and anger. As a class, they are read a story about a patience pit and discover how anger can be controlled. They complete a worksheet and take a test to review how to control their...
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Parts of a Story
Students read a short fiction book and demostrate comprehension by identifying the main characters, setting, conflict, theme, and summarizing the main points. They organize the information in Inspiration and create a powerpoint to show...
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"Blackbeard's Ghost" Differentiated Lesson Plan
Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated lesson. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use this...