Rudyard Kipling Lesson Plans

Students use Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" as a lens to examine Victorian India as a social and geographical context for the story. They explore Kipling's use of plot, characterization and personification.

Students read an illustrated version of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, examining how Rudyard Kipling and visual artists mix observation with imagination to create remarkable works. They follow similar principles to create works of their own.

Learners use interactive materials to study about Rudyard Kipling's life and times. They read an illustrated version of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." Students explore how Kipling effectively uses personification by mixing fact and fiction.

Eleventh graders read and discuss the poem, "If", by Rudyard Kipling. They relate the poem to their own experiences, tell how it makes them feel and what it makes them want to be.

Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson. The class takes a virtual "art safari" with the Museum of Modern Art and then discussed how illustrations contribute to meaning. Individuals write and illustrate a story about an animal that includes examples of fact and personification.

Fourth graders listen to Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories read aloud. After observing an animal, 4th graders create their own "Just So" stories and publish them on Beacon's SiteMaker.

Seventh graders explore newspaper articles using the Internet. In this newspaper article writing lesson, 7th graders brainstorm the necessary components of a newspaper article.  Students relate the components of a newspaper article to "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling and write a news article based on events from the story.

Students read the beginning of Rudyard Kipling's, Rikki- Tikki-Tavi focusing on the illustrations in the story. They look at illustrations to determine how artists tell their stories through their illustrations. They discuss a variety of illustrations before writing and illustrate an original story.

Fifth graders identify the external parts of a blue crab. In this ocean life instructional activity, 5th graders read Rudyard Kipling's The Crab that Played with the Sea and identify characters and important phrases from the story. Students use an interactive website to identify the external body parts of a blue crab.

Students explore nature by reading stories in class. For this animal characteristics lesson, students read the story Rikki-tikki-tavi, by Rudyard Kipling and identify the different animals mentioned in the book. Students review the plot, characters and settings while completing a graphic organizer about the book.