Roald Dahl
Fantastic Mr. Fox
A fancifully illustrated guide to Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox, this series of lessons, activities, and tasks could be used in its entirety or picked apart and used piecemeal. Have young readers investigate the role of dialogue in...
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Animal Farm: Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
"Four legs good, two legs bad..." Focusing on the themes from George Orwell's Animal Farm, this reading comprehension worksheet prompts middle schoolers to respond to several short answer and essay questions. They may also complete...
Syracuse City School District
Literary Elements
Address the literary elements in a piece of writing using these materials. The packet includes plenty of resources, and focuses mainly on theme, character, and point of view, with some materials for setting, symbolism, and author's...
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Stone Fox Plot Frame
Fifth graders recall the major plot points of a chapter book. After reading the chapter book "Stone Fox," they students describe the plot framework through use of a worksheet. Students are then divided into group to act out selected...
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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...
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Plot Summaries
In this plot summaries learning exercise, students read the plot summaries and write what the expositions, inciting moments, rising actions, climaxes, falling actions, and denouements are in them. Students do this for 2 plot summaries.
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When (Seasons, Day, or Night)
Practice identifying the setting with a reading activity. Kindergartners find the setting of a story by observing when the story takes place. They read the book Look! Snow! by Kathryn O. Galbraith and decide in which season the story...
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Telling Stories Through Creative Drama
Students examine fairy tales. As an introductory activity, students play the statue game. In groups, they write statements that tell the plot of the story. Using props, and without voices, students retell the story by creating...
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Comic and Film Strip Writing
Young scholars write a funny story and illustrate it in a comic strip. In this comic strip lesson plan, students study comic strips and determine the plot of each story. Young scholars then write a short story and illustrate it using a...
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Evaluate Problem-Solving in the Context of Culture and Time-frame
Young scholars examine literary elements in non-fiction literature. In this problem solving lesson, students read Rosa Parks, My Story and Beyond the Limits. Young scholars make oral presentations based on the causes and effects,...
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The Cause & Effect Model
Students analyze the plot of the story, "The Little Engine That Could" to provide a model for writing creatively, developing critical essays, producing themes, and making predictions.
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Humpty Dumpty: The Whole Story
Fifth graders analyze a nursery rhyme to explore the writing process. In this writing process lesson, 5th graders recite Humpty Dumpty and chart the plot of the story. Students select their own nursery rhyme and write a creative story...
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"The Necklace" and "Cinderella"
Tenth graders complete literature analysis activities using Guy de Maupassants "The Necklace" and the Grimm Brothers "Cinderella." In this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders discuss the life and career of Guy de Maupassant and...
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Web Quest on "How to Write a Mystery."
Students complete a Web Quest on How to Write a Mystery. They listen to or read a short mystery story and discuss its elements. They write an outline of a mystery story using all of the elements.
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I Want To Go To the Library
Students are introduced to the library as a resource to obtain reading material. After a review of the way to correct reading mistakes, students travel to the school library to select a book according to their reading level. They...
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Narrative Writing
Imagine a day in the life of a child who has to work 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week. After viewing images and reading stories of child laborers, class members select an image and write a richly detailed narrative about a typical...
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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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Understanding Fantasy
Explore fantasy as a genre. After working in small groups to identify literary elements in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, class members share their work and then use the presentations to help them prepare to write...
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"The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson
Middle schoolers who are about to read the chilling tale, The Lottery, do some writing beforehand. They are asked to write how their lives would change if they won a huge lottery jackpot. Then, they read the short story, and will be...
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Reading Comprehension
For this reading comprehension worksheet, 5th graders complete 3 long answer questions. Students must explain the setting and main characters of a story they read and give a paragraph summary.
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Tales From Around the World
Young scholars read stories. In this culture lesson, students read stories from different regions around the world. Young scholars look for each region on the map and listen for interesting cultural details in the story. Students then...
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A Closer Look: Unemployment
Young scholars view a video clip about unemployment. They research data and create a scatter plot graph. They discover the importance of graphs and what they can tell us. They create their own publication on unemployment.
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The Glory Field
Students examine the power of inner strength and fimily ties as they read through Walter Dean Myers' story, "The Glory Field." Milestones in African-American history become the focus of this lesson.
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Fitting Trash into Yesterday: A Fifth Grade Activity
Fifth graders explore the concept of waste management. In this recycling activity, 5th graders discover the history of waste management and discuss how the U.S. should respond to the issue of ever-increasing waste.