The New York Times
650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing
An extensive list of narrative prompts is just what you need to inspire young writers to tell their stories. Arranged by topic, the questions are sure give them something to talk about.
Curated OER
Playing Pinata at a Party
What is a Pinata and why is every body hitting it with a stick? Prepare your Autistic child for a common birthday activity that may be slightly over-stimulating. This printable book explains what a pinata is and how it is used at a...
Curated OER
Text Features of a Story
Bring the enjoyable story of Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock by Eric A. Kimmel to your young readers. After reading the story as a class, students answer questions about a reading and make a graphic organizer. They make...
Curated OER
A Pixie Biography Report
Students practice biographical writing after completing research on the subject. In this journalism activity, students read a story of an important person's life and discuss the important moments along the way. Students...
Curated OER
What is a Tangram?
Students identify a tangram. In this geometry activity, students read Grandfather Tang's Story and retell each story using the tangrams on a flannel board. Students use tangrams to complete an included worksheet.
Curated OER
Numbers Tell a Story
Learners connect census data to historical events. In this civics lesson plan, students understand cause and effect, and how they are reflected in census data and analyze census data for social and economic significance.
Curated OER
Telling Time to 5 Minutes
In this second grade lesson your class will practice telling time. The goal is to tell time to five minutes using an analog clock. Your young students count by 5 minute intervals and discuss elapsed time.
Curated OER
Animation Pre-Production
Does your class love reading cartoons? Use their talents and interests to examine the process of writing a story they wish to tell through a cartoon. They develop the beginning, middle, and end of a story based on their original...
Curated OER
A "Moment" of Unprotected Sex Leads to HPV
In a health class, participants read a story about a young woman who contacted HPV. The story is not included in the lesson plan, but is easily located on the Internet. The teacher then describes different scenarios for individuals to...
Education Closet
West Side Shifts
Combine math, language arts, music, and dance with an activity focused on "America" from West Side Story. After listening to the song, learners compare the film to Romeo and Juliet, analyze the song's meter, design choreography, plan...
Lakeshore Learning
What's Next? Sequencing Story
First, next, then, and, finally are the words in focus of a sequencing lesson plan. Scholars listen to a read aloud of the tale "Lost in the Fog," and take part in a grand conversation about the story's sequence...
Annenberg Foundation
America's History in the Making: Classroom Applications One
Someone finds a time capsule 100 years from now, and it includes your family photo album. What would the photos tell that person about you and your place in history? Scholars investigate how artifacts tell stories. Using photos, maps,...
National Arts Centre
Create a Set Design
Groups create a set for a play or story they select, build a model, and share their stage with the class. The team explains the rationale for their choices and the mood they feel their staging creates.
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Benjamin Franklin and Learning a Lesson
Examine stories with a moral in a character development instructional activity. The class reads a short story written by Benjamin Franklin in which he pays too much for a toy whistle. Individuals then make text-to-self connections and...
Have Fun Teaching
Making Inferences (18)
Here's a bright idea. Model for readers how to use what they know about a story and combine this knowledge with clues from the text to formulate inferences about the story.
Art Institute of Chicago
Lesson Plan: A Writer’s Odyssey
Looking for a fresh approach to an end-of-unit project for The Odyssey? Check out a resource that has class members write their own hero's journey short story and then craft an illustration that depicts their tale. Apollonio di...
Poetry4kids
How to Write a Tanka Poem
Take your haikus to the next level with tanka poems, another form of Japanese poetry that regulates the length and rhythm of each line by syllables. Young writers read the explanation, examples, and tips for tanka poems before writing...
K5 Learning
The Wolf
Fourth graders have likely heard the expression to cry wolf, but they may not know the saying's origin. A short reading passage tells the story and includes four comprehension questions for pupils to demonstrate their...
E Reading Worksheets
Making Predictions #1
How can you tell what is going to happen next in a story? Learn to make predictions with five sections of stories. Kids read the beginning, and then write what they believe will happen next. Additionally, they provide evidence for their...
Annenberg Foundation
Analyzing Artifacts
If only a mask could talk! Using the interactive tool along with historical thinking skills, pupils uncover the meaning behind the various materials the resource presents. History becomes more relevant as the artifacts tell their stories...
Middle Tennessee State University
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? A Comparison in American Culture
As part of their study of the Progressive Era, class groups examine a 20th century version of "The Three Little Pigs" through a New Era lens and identify how ideals such as the value of hard work, creativity, and problem solving,...
Curated OER
Pretend Memoirs
Elementary schoolers explore the concept of a memoir. The teacher tells a story from his/her childhood as an example of what a memoir is; a written account of one's past. The kids are asked to pretend that they are now adults, and are...
Public Schools of North Carolina
Math Stars: A Problem-Solving Newsletter Grade 2
Develop the problem solving skills of your young learners with this collection of math newsletters. Covering a variety of topics ranging from simple arithmetic and number sense to symmetry and graphing, these...
National Constitution Center
Born in the U.S.A: Music as Political Protest
Though often used in shows of patriotism, Bruce Springsteen's 1985 song "Born in the U.S.A." is critical of America's role in the Vietnam war and its treatment of American veterans. High schoolers analyze the song's lyrics in an activity...