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Unit Plan
Roald Dahl

The BFG Lesson Plans

For Teachers 3rd - 7th Standards
A 55-page unit examines the novel, The BFG, by Roald Dahl. Six lessons pay close attention to friendship, dreams, and believing themes while analyzing interesting characters, writing creative vocabulary, smilies, metaphors, an exciting...
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Printables
2
2
Curated OER

"I Can” Common Core! 6th Grade Writing

For Teachers 6th Standards
It is impossible to know whether one has reached a goal without first knowing the goal. Help your sixth graders reach all the Common Core writing standards by giving them a checklist written in language they will understand. As you teach...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Your Best Of/Worst Of Anything: Writing To Engage And Entertain

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It was the best of places! It was the worst of places! Middle schoolers practice their descriptive writing skills by creating an e-book about the best of/worst of topics. A series of activities about descriptive writing and worksheets...
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Unit Plan
Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers

Justice for All - Educating Youth for Social Responsibility: Grades 6-8

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Teach middle schoolers how to develop healthy relationships with activities and lessons designed to create a kind and inclusive classroom. Pupils create guidelines to develop a safe and civil learning environment. They learn how to...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment, Part 1: Drafting the Experience or Event of the Narrative

For Teachers 6th Standards
Don't be tone deaf. Scholars study two photographs to better understand the concept of tone, so they can incorporate the literary device into their writing. Additionally, they draft the experience or event portion of their personal...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing and Sharing: A Narrative of Adversity Plan

For Teachers 6th Standards
When life brings you lemons .. write about it! Scholars work with partners to complete graphic organizers analyzing two narratives. Next, they develop an outline for their narrative writing assignment about a personal experience with...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Introduction: Writing a Narrative of Adversity

For Teachers 6th Standards
A little adversity is good for writing. Scholars review narrative-based monologues and concrete poems and choose which genre to use to express their own theme of adversity. Pupils also consider how to structure their narratives by...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment: Final Draft of Hero’s Journey Narrative

For Teachers 6th Standards
All journeys must come to an end. Using the final lesson in the series, pupils analyze a model narrative for use of transitional words and phrases. Next, they apply their learning to their final drafts of their hero's journey narrative. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing to Show, Not Tell: Dialogue, Sensory Words, and Strong Action Verbs

For Teachers 6th Standards
Consume, gobble, devour ... serving up strong verbs! Writers focus on using dialogue, strong action verbs, and sensory details in their writing. After analyzing a model narrative, they apply their learning to their own hero's journey...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing: Getting Feedback, Setting Goals, and Drafting

For Teachers 6th Standards
Why is it important to set goals as a writer? Scholars process feedback from their mid-unit assessments, writing down their strengths and weaknesses on index cards. Next, pupils use the feedback to begin drafting their hero's journey...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment and Establishing a Context for My Hero’s Journey Narrative

For Teachers 6th Standards
How do writers engage their readers in a story? Pupils consider the question and use the informational text, "The Hero's Journey" to justify their plan for their own fictional narrative. To that end, scholars write an explanatory...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

“The Hero’s Journey”: Analyzing a Model Narrative and Continuing to Plan a New Hero’s Journey Narrative

For Teachers 6th Standards
Many elements go into an engaging narrative story. Using a helpful resource, scholars analyze a model narrative and deconstruct it using a graphic organizer. Next, they apply their learning from the model to update their plans for their...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

“The Hero’s Journey”: Using a Graphic Organizer to Deconstruct Percy Jackson’s Hero’s Journey and Plan a New Hero’s Journey Narrative

For Teachers 6th Standards
Time to go on a journey! Using a graphic organizer, scholars deconstruct Percy Jackson's hero's journey from the Rick Riordan novel, The Lightning Thief. Next, they begin planning their own hero's journey narrative, creating a profile of...
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Lesson Plan
Penguin Books

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt - Teacher's Guide

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Children in foster care face a lot of uncertainty in their lives. A guide for the novel One for the Murphys introduces a main character, Carley, who is thrust into the foster care system. Chapter-by-chapter questions cover key details in...
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Lesson Plan
Vanderbilt University

Stories from the Panama Canal

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
The stories of the Silver People, the West Indies immigrants hired to work on the Panama Canal, come to life in a lesson about the building of the Panama Canal. Groups research why the canal was built, how it was build, the working...
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Unit Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Out of the Dust

For Teachers 6th Standards
The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...
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Activity
Novelinks

Zach’s Lie: Guided Imagery

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Close your eyes and picture a time where you decided to tell the truth to someone. What were you wearing? How did you feel? Such prompts begin a guided imagery activity for Zach's Lie. Directions for creating an environment conducive to...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A picture's worth a thousand words—and even more inspiration! A visual activity uses photographs to inspire writers. The process teaches aspects of narrative writing, such as point of view and characterization.
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Roald Dahl

Matilda - The Ghost

For Teachers 3rd - 7th Standards
How do you think the parrot in "The Ghost" chapter of Matilda feels in the chimney? Put a class member in the hot seat and have the class ask questions relating to how they might have felt if they were the parrot in the chimney. Then,...
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Printables
Curriculum Corner

Comic Strip Writing Templates

For Students 4th - 6th Standards
Spark interest in young writers with a three-box comic strip template including speech bubbles. Learners draw and write a sequential comic with boxes that are stacked on top of each other. Using this format or the other templates...
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Unit Plan
1
1
Curated OER

Build Your Dream Science Lab

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Would your ideal science lab be filled with bubbling beakers and zapping Tesla coils? Or would it contain state-of-the-art computer technology and data analysis? Dream big with an innovative lesson that connects math and language arts...
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Unit Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Hatchet

For Teachers 6th Standards
Accompany a novel study of Hatchet by Gary Paulson with a unit consisting of 16 lessons focused on physical and emotional survival. Reading the story along with a variety of informational texts, scholars compare and contrast reading...
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Handout
2
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Calloway County Schools

Dialogue Rules, Worksheet, and Writing Assignment

For Students 3rd - 10th Standards
Punctuating dialogue properly can be tricky, but your pupils can become punctuation masters with practice. This resource includes an explanatory page that describes the rules of writing dialogue and provides examples. On the second page,...
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Writing
John F. Kennedy Center

Writing a Myth

For Students 3rd - 6th Standards
Tap into the imaginative minds of young learners with a creative writing activity. After reading the myth Giants and Mosquitoes, this student guide supports young writers as they brainstorm and develop their very own creation myths....