Orange County Department of Education
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses
Fifth graders read the selection Black Cowboy, Wild Horses and identify characteristics of self-discipline shown by story's main character, Bob Lemmons. Students then identify some of their own traits of self-discipline and reflect upon...
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Super Hero High
Students define the characteristics of a hero by creating their own fictional superhero. In this film making lesson plan, students write the background of a superhero character and storyboard scenes from a movie they would like to...
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How a Writer Conveys Descriptions With a Wallop
Students identify strategies the author used to vividly convey qualitative and quantitative aspects of life in China, then use those strategies in writing of their own. They examine the author's writing style and techniques to learn some...
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You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover… But Can You Judge a Book by Its First Line?
In this literary prediction worksheet, students predict the topic, genre, setting, characters, and interest level of a book based on its first line. They research the title and author of the book using the line. They write a short story...
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Philanthropy in A Christmas Carol
Students explore philanthropy in literature. For this cross curriculum literacy and character development lesson, students read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and note charitable acts described in the story. Students relate story...
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Creating Characters
High schoolers examine the methods of effective characterization. In this writing skills instructional activity, students discuss how emotions, dialogue, actions, and physical descriptions build believable characters. High schoolers then...
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A Happy Time
Second graders listen to stories about feelings and identify their own feelings during certain times of their lives. In this a happy time lesson, 2nd graders explore writing elements as a way to communicate with a variety of audiences...
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Breaking News English: Wallace and Grommit
In this Wallace and Grommit worksheet, students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion questions,...
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Literacy: Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth
Students explore language arts by analyzing a children's book in class. For this vocabulary lesson, students read the book Slowly, Slowly, Slowly... by Eric Carle. Students identify the characters, setting and plot of the story before...
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Breaking News English: capture of Rodovan Karadzic
In this Rodovan Karadzic instructional activity, students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion...
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Homes of Yesterday and Today
Students explore homes as shelters while they built writing and technology skills. In this homes of yesterday and today lesson, students produce books using digital photography. Students develop vocabulary while researching how homes are...
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Cereal Box Book Report Project
Students create a book report using a cereal box. In this book report lesson plan, students cover the outer parts of a cereal box representing a book they red. They create an original cover on one side, and use the other sides to report...
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Living History- An Intergenerational Philanthropy
Students gather information from a senior friend to write a biography. In this living history books lesson, students organize information to complete a book about their senior friend. Detailed teacher instructions for completing the book...
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Diwali
In this Diwali activity, students complete activities such as read the passage, match the phrases, fill in the blanks, choose the correct word, multiple choice fill in, correct the spelling, put text in correct order, unscramble the...
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Literary Analysis - Young Goodman Brown
Why is literary analysis so important? Readers explore writing a literary analysis by reviewing literary elements such as character, metaphor, plot, setting, simile, personification, and style. They read "Young Goodman Brown" by...
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The Important Thing About Reading
Third through fifth graders discover the importance of reading and plan a service project to provide books to children. First, they read the book The Important Book and then they brainstorm about the importance of reading. Afterward,...
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To Kill a Mockingbird Details: Fun Trivia Quiz
Give this quiz to your class if you'd like to test their knowledge of ten details in To Kill a Mockingbird. This quiz is based on basic comprehension and recall of the text. While this is not the most academically challenging quiz, it...
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Writing a Short Story -History
Students write a short story set in a selected period of history. They conduct research on a selected period of history, write and edit a rough draft of their short story, and submit a final draft of their story that includes details...
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Creating and Acting Mammal Stories
Fifth graders write and perform stories on mammals. They review the parts of a narrative story and write stories. They rehearse their stories and present them to the class. They make mammal cookies after their peformance.
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Write a Story 2
In this creative writing worksheet, students use the picture to generate ideas for a story. Students also incorporate the elements about the plot and setting for their story.
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Creative Outline for Your Short Story or Book
Students discuss the information listed about how to make an outline for a short story or book. They then begin writing their short story and edit it and revise before turning it in to be graded.
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Short Story Framework
The class gets creative after listening to a short story containing a definitive structure. They are required to think about character, relationship, and setting, while attempting to show rather than tell, in their writing. Dialogue,...
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Writing the Mystery with a Purpose
Students present the outline of the mystery story they are writing while working in reciprocal teaching groups. They respond to group members writing before they continue to finish revisions.
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Humorous Story Featuring Clowns
Students write a funny story about clowns. In this humorous story writing instructional activity, students determine how to develop a setting, use clowns as characters, and how to write a humorous story with a happy ending. They follow...