Overcoming Obstacles
Perservering
Hang in there! To conclude the Goal Setting module, class members reflect on the importance of perseverance by engaging in an activity that asks them to revise a plan when faced with obstacles. They then review their stepping stone goals...
Curated OER
What Makes a Novel a Novel?
They always say to write what you know. This approach is used to get middle schoolers prepared to write novels of their own. Using a favorite book as a model, potential novelists respond to prompts that ask about characters, plot, main...
Curated OER
Retelling
Explore language arts by completing a story worksheet in class. Readers will identify the importance of plot, setting, and character while they write their own short story. They also retell their story to a classmate and participate in a...
Curated OER
Language Practice
The simple instructional techniques described in this plan will help young readers learn and practice basic reading skills and strategies. Before reading, introduce your readers to the meaning of main character, setting, and plot. Then...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King Jr.
After listening to a story about Martin Luther King Jr., first graders answer questions about the text. They discuss the importance of the illustrations, identify the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and complete a writing...
Curated OER
Getting to Know Characters
This set of worksheets constitutes enough work and materials to be considered a lesson. They guide readers through a process of exploring characters and their motivations, and writing a paragraph about them. Here are seven handouts that...
Curated OER
Create a Book with Student Treasures
You can't publish a story until after it has been revised and edited! Budding authors investigate the writing process while drafting an original story. They select a topic, complete a rough draft, edit it, revise it, and finally publish...
Curated OER
The Beginning, The Middle, & The End
Cut magazine pictures into three sections, having your youngsters piece the pictures back together. With this fun activity, they discover the importance of sequencing a story. Then they use a fun template (shaped like a burger) to write...
Northern Ireland Curriculum
Dealing with Feelings
Five activities encourage scholars to look inside, get in touch with their emotions, and express their feelings appropriately. Stories set the stage for feeling identification and in-depth discussions. Role play and the act of miming...
Curated OER
Experiencing "Romeo and Juliet"
Ninth graders read and analyze the William Shakespeare play "Romeo and Juliet" and compare it to the 1996 modern version of the play and the movie "West Side Story." They write an essay comparing and contrasting the three versions.
Curated OER
Developing Story Ideas
Students complete activities to learn how to develop story ideas in journalistic writing. In this story ideas lesson, students learn news value judging criteria, identify language to ask beat sources for story ideas, distinguish story...
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Elders' Stories
Very young learners study the ways that oral traditions play such a huge part in the culture of Native Americans. They see how Elders pass along stories to the younger generations. If possible, a tribal Elder comes into the class to...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 12: Story Event
Focus on plot and the impact-specific events in The Cay. Class members use their double-entry journals, created in a previous lesson in this series, to record their thinking about the guiding question as they read chapters 15 through 17....
Curated OER
How to Achieve Your Financial Goals
Learners explore economics by creating a budget. In this financial goal setting lesson, students investigate their use of time by completing a worksheet. Learners identify financial goals they would like to achieve in the next several...
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Setting the Tone with Figurative Language
Explore figurative language with your secondary class. Extending a language arts unit, the instructional activity prompts middle schoolers to examine how an author's word choice establishes a story's tone, possibly using metaphors,...
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Take a Second. Make a Difference
Students are taught an important lesson about how an adult can influence life in a positive or negative way. They are encouraged to accomplish their best at home and school. The students write a personal story about a special person that...
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The Importance of Setting to a Story - Pesky Critters
Young scholars watch a video segment about Florida's wetlands and complete an essay about setting. In this setting instructional activity, students watch a video about critters in the Florida wetlands. Young scholars complete a setting...
Curated OER
Teaching Story Elements: Jack and the Beanstalk
Middle schoolers define fictional story elements. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read Jack and the Beanstalk and view an included SMARTboard lesson. Middle schoolers use the SMARTboard to match the story element terms...
Curated OER
Story of Self-Choosing to Participate
Everyone has a story; help your writers develop their own with this prewriting packet. Designed for upstanders to share their story and encourage others to be upstanders, this set of questions helps writers craft and structure a story to...
Ideas From Suzi
Guided Reading: Beyond the Basics
Elevate children's reading comprehension skills with this collection of guided reading resources. From paper dice with basic comprehension questions printed on them to a system for using sticky notes to identify key parts of a story,...
Curriculum Corner
Fiction Graphic Organizers
Get an in-depth look into a narrative text with a three-page worksheet that examines a story's character—actions, sayings, thoughts, and appearance—setting, and challenges scholars to write a brief summary about what they've read.
Reed Novel Studies
No Talking: Novel Study
Many of the world's most inspirational sayings are attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. Using the No Talking novel study, pupils research and write about one of his sayings. Additionally, they practice alliteration and write a quintet that...
Curated OER
Goal Setting
Learners discuss the importance of setting goals, then set goals, and keep a record of their achievements. They read books about goal-setters and listen to a guest speaker.
Curated OER
Event/Story Pyramid
In this story mapping worksheet, students use the graphic organizer to fill out a pyramid with important words describing the main character, setting and events.