ReadWriteThink
Literature Circles: Getting Started
Make reading more enjoyable and interactive with literature circles! Here you'll find detailed lessons to begin the literature circle process. Ten lessons introduce each role learners take on. Literature circle roles include...
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Using Plot Elements to Retell a Story
Sixth graders chart a story. In this plot elements activity students chart and then retell a story from the rising action until the resolution. Students use stories from the book America Street.
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Compare and Contrast Two Settings in One Text
Look for the signal words! Scholars get both instruction and practice comparing and contrasting. Although it is completely scripted, it can also serve as a detailed outline. Demonstrate this as you read a passage (included) and search...
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The Outsiders Study Guide
Provide this packet for your pupils as they pour over The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The study guide includes graphic organziers and comprehension as well as higher-level questions. Class members briefly summarize each chapter, compare...
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Cops and Robbers
Second graders observe the teacher model writing a letter to the author of the book, COPS AND ROBBERS. They then compare the story structure of the book to those of FUNNYBONES and identify the setting, characters and theme.
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Break Down
Fourth graders apply their understanding of the elements of plot structure and conflict to cooperatively create storyboards and speak effectively as they present their products. They create storyboards for some of the classic Disney...
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Cinderella Cinderella
Students compare and contrast various versions of the story Cinderella and create their own version. They read versions of Cinderella and identify their components including setting, characters, events/plot, magic and biographical...
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Writing Drama-Trying Your Hand at being a Playwright
Fifth graders chart the elements of drama. In this performing arts lesson, 5th graders discuss the role of a playwrite, practice doing some Reader's Theatre scripts, write a paragraph about a problem between two people, and perform their...
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Climax of a Story
Demonstrate how to track the elements of plot in a story. After watching you mark down the rising action, problem, climax, falling action, and resolution for Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth, pupils complete a graphic organizer for Sweet Clara...
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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,...
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What's the Problem? Exploring Conflict in "On the Sidewalk Bleeding"
Students use the story 'On the Sidewalk Bleeding' to analyze the various conflict types found in literature. In this conflict lesson, students view a PowerPoint about the story and identify the four types of conflict. Students identify...
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Comprehension: Setting
Students discuss what setting represents. In this language arts lesson, 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 a...
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"Tree of Peace": Critical Thinking About Revolution to Global Conflict
Tenth graders explore the importance of peace in society. In this Global History lesson, 10th graders create a common vocabulary for the different elements that exist in a peaceful society. Students discover the connections between...
Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District
4th Grade Personal Narrative
Throughout 10 lessons, fourth graders learn how to plan, organize, write, and edit their own personal narratives. In the beginning, young writers come up with ideas of personal experiences and the emotions linked with those experiences....
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Cause and Effect with "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs"
Fourth graders explore reasoning by reading a book with their classmates. In this cause and effect lesson plan, 4th graders read the children's story Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and discuss the story elements, characters and plot....
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Lesson Plan 1: Introducing NaNo and Novels
Did you know that November is Novel Writing Month? In the first of a series of lessons, class members are introduced to the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project.
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Do You Have Character?
Sixth graders read Katherine Paterson's novel, Bridge to Terabithia, and watch a video of Maurice Sendak's book, Where the Wild Things Are. They examine the characters in both stories that share similar characteristics. Students use the...
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Narrative Literature Response Letters: Original Lesson Plan
Readers write a formal letter to an author offering an alternative ending to a story the author has written. First, the class reads a story or novel. Upon finishing the reading, they are introduced to the format of a formal letter. They...
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Harmony and Expression in Writing Form
How do you write an interesting beginning, middle, and end of a story? With this lesson plan, young writers look to other stories as examples. Then, they use some of the attached graphic organizers to help them create their own story....
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Summarizing Key Information
Imagine the surprise when small groups present their Evidence Charts to the class and discover that each group has studied a different version of the Cinderella story. Irish, Ojibwa, Egyptian, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Mexican, and...
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A Picture Says a Thousand Words
Students create a writing selection with a well-developed plot. They use a personal photograph in which they are visible to base their autobiographical writing. They write a description of the events surrounding the photograph in the...
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Ingredients of a Mystery
Students explore the concept of mysteries. In this mystery genre lesson, students identify the common characteristics of mystery books and use a story map to identify these characteristics in a given book. Students also discover the...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 4
Class members have an opportunity to compare how a film and a play handle the same source material by viewing the opening chapters of George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope and acts I and II of Ian Doescher's play, William Shakespeare's...
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Science Fiction Literature
Students identify the elements of science fiction literature. They write and illustrate a science fiction story using real and exaggerated science. In addition, they read their stories aloud in small groups.