Curated OER
Points of View
Cinderella is a classic love story when Cinderella is the protagonist—but what happens if a stepsister tells the story? Focus on point of view with a lesson about fairy tales and story elements. After reading a few familiar fairy tales,...
Curated OER
Quotation Response Speech: Public Speaking Skills
Improve high schoolers' public speaking with an engaging activity. Class members select three personally relevant quotes from a list. They then write a short speech for each quote, explaining how the quotes are personally relevant....
Curated OER
Creative Writing: Children's Building Blocks
Your class can participate in a writing program involving four building blocks. By exploring words, sentences, writing forms, and story organization, they improve their creative writing skills throughout this year-long unit. Early in the...
Curated OER
Tears of Joy Theatre Presents Anansi the Spider
Accompany the African folktale, Anansi the Spider, with a collection of five lessons, each equipped with supplemental activities. Lessons offer multidisciplinary reinforcement in English language arts, social studies, science,...
Curated OER
My Antonia: During Reading Strategy
Home in on the quote on this page to explore setting, the author's and character's voices, and plot in Willa Cather's My Antonia. Pupils draw a picture of what is described in the quote, discuss the content, and make connections to their...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Caution: Thin Ice!
Sixth graders listen to a story titled "Thin Ice!" then partake in a whole-class discussion asking and answering questions about what was read. Scholars brainstorm risky behaviors in preparation for a game of RISKO—a game similar to...
Curated OER
Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
Curated OER
Desert Drama
Young scholars read both fiction and nonfiction books with desert themes. Then they write desert stories and reports, reviewing texts for information to include in writing. Students also design desert scenes with details and setting...
Curated OER
Lesson: Writings from a Room with No View
Learners examine art by considering how the subject matter and artists design choices affect the viewer's experience. They use the provided close-up images and notes to analyze the painting, Poppies. Afterward, they use the painting as a...
Curated OER
Bringing Household Items to Life
Use folk tales as inspiration for learning about and using personification in creative writing. Learners brainstorm together in order to practice personification before writing their own poems or paragraphs about a household object.
Ed Galaxy
Postcard Template
Wish you were here! Have kids express their salutations and warm wishes with postcards. The worksheet provides two postcard templates for kids to address, sign, and illustrate.
Reed Novel Studies
Winnie-The-Pooh: Novel Study
Winnie the Pooh lands in a gorse-bush plant in chapter one of A.A. Milne's beloved children's novel, Winnie-the-Pooh. With the novel study, scholars research three interesting facts about the plant. They also compose a four-line poem...
Curated OER
Literature and Art Through Our Eyes: African-American Artists
Examine the contributions of African-Americans in the worlds of art and literature. Over the course of a few days, young scholars will read and analyze a poem, a short story, and a piece of art. They complete a range of...
Super Teacher Worksheets
Literature Circle Packet
Looking to set up literature circles in your class? Use these materials to support pupils when they meet in groups. Pupils take on various roles over the course of reading and meet with their groups to share the work they have done on...
Planet e-Book
Crime and Punishment
Can an action be so bad that you are sickened with guilt? Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, the main character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, believes that committing a crime could be the answer to his troubles. However,...
Reed Novel Studies
Summer of the Monkeys: Novel Study
There are more than 260 types of monkeys in the world. With the novel study for Wilson Rawls' Summer of the Monkeys, pupils research interesting facts about the banana-loving primates. They also practice exaggeration, write...
Curated OER
Around the Room Short Story
Collective story writing is a great way to reinforce the concept of story elements and collaborative learning. Young writers discuss story elements such as, setting, character, action, climax, conclusion, foreshadowing, dialogue, and...
Curated OER
Puss in Boots/Jamil and the Clever Cat
Second graders read the story PUSS IN BOOTS identifying main characters, setting, and significant events. They then read the story JAMIL AND THE CLEVER CAT and compare it with the story PUSS IN BOOTS compiling a list of characters,...
Curated OER
Telling a Story
Do your class members complain they don’t know what to write about? Give them disposable cameras and ask them to take pictures of 12 things that make them happy. After the pictures are developed, they are pasted on a poster board and...
Curated OER
Writing Scripts
Create a classroom full of writers using this innovative technique. The presentation walks learners through the process of writing a script, including identifying the setting, characters, and major events in the story. After reviewing...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 7: The Elements of Story
Budding novelists work on character development by relating to the characters in their stories. They imagine their own hopes and dreams and recall those of characters from books they've read. Learners also consider struggles the...
Curated OER
Silly Story Starters
Fifth graders brainstorm some ideas for each of the columns. As they call them out, write some on the sticky notes until each sticky note is used for each column They stay in the same groups; have each group draw one sticky note from...
Curated OER
Creating a Story Map Using Kidspiration
Fourth graders use computer software, Kidspiration, to create a graphic organizer detailing main characters, setting, problem, solution, and theme of their favorite short story. Students also discover how graphic organizers can help them...
Curated OER
Varied Beginnings: Research Process / Narrative Writing Techniques
What's the best way to start a story? Learners write a memoir using effective openings. They research the process and work through a list of hooks to use in their writing. They use at least two hooks to begin their personal memoir. A...