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Leaf People
Kids create leaf people out of sticks, glue, and leaves. They use their imagination to construct leaf people and then glue them onto construction paper. Tip: Extend this craft by incorporating writing. Have learners write a short story...
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Fill a Jar
Sometimes short lesson outlines are enough to give you a great idea. Young writers draw any object inside an image of a jar, that doesn't belong in a jar. They can draw a tree, truck, or dinosaur. Tip: Have kids write a short story...
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If I Were An Animal
Young scholars choose a favorite animal and identify its prominent characteristics. They draw their favorite animal adding their own heads to animal bodies. Then they write a creative, detailed short story about themselves as a nonsense...
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Outline and Shine
Seventh graders read and discuss a short story. They complete an outline of the story. They pair and share to evaluate each other's outlines.
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Controlled Narrative Writing
Students examine a short story and add possible adjectives. They re-read the story and add adverbs. They also add other information to make the story interesting.
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Predictions, Predictions, and More Predictions
Third graders pose questions about the subject of a short story based on the title and cover illustration; then read the story and determine if their questions actually pertained to the story line, and, if so, how the story answered the...
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Revising Your Mystery Story
Students 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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Truman Capote: Other Voices, Other Rooms
Students read and analyze Truman Capote's autobiographical short story, "A Christmas Memory." They discuss writing styles, conduct Internet research on Truman Capote, write a book review, and write a short story based on one of Truman...
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DRMRS VANDERTRAMP: Le pass?? compos?? avec ??tre
High schoolers assess the acronym DRMRSVANDERTRAMP (Dr & Mrs Van Der
Tramp) to help them memorize verbs. They pair up to create a short story describing what they did yesterday incorporating ten to fifteen of those verbs. In...
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Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find": Who's the Real Misfit?
Students read and analyze the short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," by Flannery O'Connor. They write a one-page response, explore various websites, take an online interactive journey, and write a final assessment paper.
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For Richer or for Poorer
Students read about one cross-class marriage and create scenes to dramatize interactions among the family members and consider how class shapes relationships. They imagine the issues faced by cross-class couples by writing a short story.
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Human Evolution
Students recognize that achievements of human beings throughout human history can be considered part of the ongoing story of human evolution. They research settings such as the biosphere and Mars and write imaginative short stories using...
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Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
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Diego Rivera: Art as the Universal Language
Students analyze the work of Diego Rivera. They participate in a class discussion, critique various paintings, write a short story based on a Rivera mural, and create a class mural.
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How Does Power Affect Conflict?
Young scholars use several short stories to analyze different types of power. While discussing the role of power in these short stories, students will practice communication skills essential to conflict transformation, specifically...
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Haunting Music
Students discover music that was inspired by the spooky and bizarre. In this music of Hector Berlioz and Camille Saint-Saens lesson, students identify elements of music and listen to the Symphonie Fantastique and Danse Macabre....
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Was the Wolf Really Guilty?
Students read plays, short stories, or novels which revolve around trials, and write essays explaining or defending the assigned role in a mock fairy tale trial.
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Vivid Adjectives
Students review adjectives and play a game where students compete to see who can write the most adjectives for a given noun. They write a story about one topic and try to use a variety of adjectives in sequence tto describe a noun.
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Mythical Beasts
Students explore literature and art forms containing creatures that are part human and part animal, such as the Greek Sphinx, Neptune, or the Green Centaur. Individually, students write a poem or short story to create a character with...
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Regions Change
Students examine how geography can have an impact on change in a region. They discuss what their local area might be like in 50 years, and in pairs, select a situation and write a short story to describe how it changed from one thing to...
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The Science of Aging
Students reflect on the lives of older people they know, then research and debate the key issues surrounding scientific experimentation in anti-aging. They write a short story that reflects their own philosophical beliefs on aging and...
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I Can Author a Children's Math Book!
Young scholars write short books teaching a mathematical concept. They may work in teams, with one student being the author and one student being the illustrator. They view examples of studenT books that deal with math concepts before...
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Literature: Isabel Allende
Students watch and respond to a Bill Moyers Now video on the Chilean author, Isabel Allende. They brainstorm a list of recent events that might inspire writers and choose one to write about in poetic, diary, or short story form.
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The Missing Word
Students, after reading a short story, predict possible missing words by utilizing context clues and graphophonic clues. A picture book with several words covered up sets the scene for this lesson. They share their predictions in groups...