Curated OER
A News Story of Your Own: Sentence and Lexical Variety
Given the two-sentence skeleton of a news story about a car theft/joy ride, budding writers create their own version of the story varying diction and sentence structure to heighten interest and complexity in their writing. Resource...
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Adoption Stories
Although originally designed for young film makers who wanted to enter their videos in a contest, the step-by-step instructions included here would serve as a guide for any video project. Classes with no access to video editing software...
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Learning Life Lessons through Fables
Explore a variety of fables to learn life's lessons through engaging stories. Add rigor to the learning process with activities that include matching a a fable to the story's moral, short answer exit slips, and a three-column graphic...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Was that supposed to be funny? Scholars analyze The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County to determine if Mark Twain's story is indeed based on humor. Learners work through short response questions, vocabulary, and active reading to make a...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Franklin’s Philadelphia: Another Point of View
The impressive story of Benjamin Franklin, including his rise from a printer’s apprentice to a statesman, color upper-level scholars’ understanding of the possibilities of life in colonial Philadelphia. But not everyone had the...
Curated OER
Writing a Query Letter
Students examine how to write a query letter to a publisher. They plan a short story they would like to write, conduct Internet research about possible publishers, and write a sample query letter.
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Writing in Different Viewpoints
Students read and analyze the point of view of a selected classic short story. They take notes while reading the story, select a character, and rewrite the story from a different viewpoint.
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Tell Me a Train Story
Second graders write a short story about train track safety and make a train shaped book.
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Creative Writing Inspired by Paintings
Third graders view a PowerPoint presentation of the images by Maxfield Parrish. They wirte a short story based on one image and create drawings of an imagined character.
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Creating A Story
Second graders practice the necessary steps that should be taken in order to create a story from scratch. They brainstorm as a class in order to come up with different ideas. Students write a story that includes a plot, characters, and...
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Writing From Mythological Narratives
Students compose a short piece of creative writing based on a painting depicting a mythological narrative. In this creative writing lesson, students create a short piece of writing and then learn more about the mythological scene in the...
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Fictional Narrative Writing in Mathematics
Fifth graders discuss variety of fictional writing genres and connect each to familiar story that has been read, use creative and analytical skills to develop original piece of fictional writing that incorporates math skill, and share...
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Creative Caribbean Story
Young scholars read stories about the Caribbean. They write about the Caribbean lifestyle. Students write their own stories of the Caribbean, using facts and researched information.
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Fun with Summarizing
Students practice summarization by creating a story map. After reading Freckle Juice, students working in groups, create a story map of the main events of the story. Groups use their story maps to summarize a chapter of the story and...
Curated OER
Writing Fiction lesson plan
Students compose a opening paragraph that sets the scene and foreshadows events. In this writing fiction lesson, students write an opening paragraph about a mugging and describe the scene in a way that foreshadows something bad is...
Curated OER
A Couple of Kooks and Other Stories About Love
Students read an article about teenage pregnancy and the story, "A Couple of Kooks and Other Stories About Love," making notes about how the pregnant teens are characterized. They then compare and contrast the views of pregnant teens in...
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Outlining Essays (Grades 3-6)
Students brainstorm story idea in preparation of writing an expressive essay. They study how to outline essays to assist them in writing an expressive essay. Each students conclusion should summarize their main idea and restate their...
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Read and Remember - Story Grammar
Pupils use the Story Grammar strategy to outline the main elements of the story which will help them with free recall and cued recall. The strategy includes: identifying the main characters in the story, recalling where and when the...
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Multimedia Book Reports
Students read a chapter book of 100-200 pages in length. They create a story map and multimedia book report. Pupils review the elements of a story map such as: characters, setting, problem, important events, solution, etc.) Students...
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Beginning Your Journal
Students develop a deeper awareness of the use of journals and gather inspiration to begin their journal from their graphic time lines. They explore, ponder, test and illustrate self-expression through daily journal writing. Each student...
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Telling a Story Through Dance
Students explore how to tell a story through dance. In this dance instructional activity, students watch Swan Lake and choose a story of their own to show through dance.
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Write a Caption!
Young scholars examine different photographs from around the world. They write their own captions in the foreign language to the image. They share their captions with the class.
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Personal Narratives
Students discover journalism by writing about themselves. In this non-fiction writing lesson, students discuss the outline of a personal narrative and write a paper about an experience they've had. Students reflect on the...
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Children's Book Creations
Students create a children's book version of the Japanese folk story "Momotaro Boy of the Peach" and present the story to elementary students. In this children's book lesson, students design their book to explain Japanese culture to...