Curated OER
Inferring Themes
Fifth graders practice making inferences on various types of reading material. As a class, they develop a definition of the word "theme" and discuss themes for some of their favorite stories. They use the context of the reading...
Curated OER
ISTEP + Grade 6 Item Sampler
In this cross-curricular sampler of worksheets, students determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and to understand the precise meaning of grade-level-appropriate words, describe and connect the essential ideas, arguments, and...
Curated OER
Latino Literature: Poetry
Under construction, this lesson focuses on Canto Familia, a collection of poetry about Gary Soto's experiences growing up in California's Imperial Valley. Representative of the experiences of many Latinos, the poems also address themes...
Curated OER
The Tell-Tale Heart
Bring Edgar Allan Poe's spooky story to life! After reading the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," middle and high schoolers identify the theme, character traits, irony, and other story concepts. During pre-reading, they take notes,...
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
A Good Man is Hard to Find
Students, in groups, read and analyze the short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor. They present their findings tot he rest of the class and then connect the various themes discussed to outside material, events...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 5
Eager readers have waited a long time, very patiently, for a set of literary analysis lessons that connect text structure to the work's central idea. As ninth graders continue reading "The Tell-Tale Heart," they focus on the central...
K20 LEARN
Freedom And Restraint: Elements Of Fiction
Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour" and John H. Young's "Our Deportment, or the Manners, Conduct, and Dress of Refined Society" offer high school juniors an opportunity to compare the role of women in the 19th century with...
Curated OER
Build a Connection
Learners discuss their personal connections with stories they've read in the past and identify techniques to connect with more stories. They create illustrations, construct task cards, and complete sentence stems based on books they read...
Curated OER
On the Beach: Disabled and Mother's Pride
What do an early 20th century poet and a 1980's rock star have in common with a novel from the 1960's? Using Wilfred Owen's poem "Disabled" and George Michael's song "Mother's Pride," learners answer questions about the lyrics and themes...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 3: The Archetypal Approach to Literary Criticism
As class members continue their study of approaches to literary criticism, readers examine the symbolism and archetypal patterns in John Knowles' A Separate Peace, and how these parallels are used to develop a theme in the story.
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Can you find the themes from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea in other books? What about picture books? Compare the novel to a picture book with a lesson about making predictions and finding textual evidence.
Westford Academy
Universal Themes in Literature
Although dated in appearance, this PowerPoint presents current content in how learners can identity a theme, main idea, subject, and topic. The information is formatted for easy note taking, but offers no explanation of the themes...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Text Connections
There are so many different ways to help learners make text-to-self connections. Here, fifth graders will create tableaus that show an event from a chapter in the class reader. They'll discuss why they chose that event to dramatize and...
Curated OER
Using Drama to Examine Communities: Walking in Others' Shoes
Encourage your readers to make connections between texts with this resource. After compiling notes for each text read (you choose the texts), groups craft skits in which major characters from each text meet. There is a rubric for the...
Anti-Defamation League
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas became a quick hit in the young adult literature genre before its adaptation in the 2018 film of the same name. Use a thorough lesson plan, discussion guide, and series of activities to discuss the social...
EngageNY
End of Unit 1 Assessment: Analyzing Author’s Craft in To Kill a Mockingbird: Allusions, Text Structure, Connections to Traditional Themes, and Figurative Language
Scholars demonstrate their learning with an end-of-unit assessment. They work independently to discuss the Golden Rule and its relationship in To Kill a Mockingbird.
EngageNY
Launching Readers Theater Groups: Identifying Passages from Esperanza Rising for Readers Theater that Connect to the UDHR
Teach young readers how to compare two texts and select passages that exemplify a specific theme with Lesson 6 from Unit 3. Begin by modeling how an expert reader selects examples from a text, performing a think aloud on how Article 2 of...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
We’re a Family: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 3)
Teach your English language learners how to talk about their families with three weeks of lessons. Over the course of the thematic unit, learners pick up new vocabulary so that they can talk about families and relationships, clothing,...
EngageNY
Launching the End of Unit Assessment: Drafting Literary Analysis
Is there a connection? Scholars work to write a summary and theme to connect The Lightning Thief and myth of Cronus. They begin by looking at a model essay and then work on their own drafts.
Curated OER
Problems and Their Solutions in Stories and Everyday Life
Students identify story elements. In this stories lesson, students read a story and identify the chracter, character traits, plot, setting and theme. Groups of students match problem and solution cards.
Fluence Learning
Writing About Literature: What Is Happiness?
Jack London's heart for adventure has come to define the spirit of America and its frontier. Selected passages from the foreword The Cruise of the Snark take eighth graders through London's construction and voyage of his ship before...
Novelinks
Words By Heart: Anticipation Guide
The anticipation guide for Words by Heart is the first of a series of six, contains lesson plans for the activity as well as a handout to be completed individually, in pairs, or as a class. It sparks interest for the text and activates...
Curated OER
Esperanza Rising - Anticipation Guide
Learn about Mexican culture while simultaneously strengthening reading, writing and computer skills. In order to get the most out of Esperanza Rising, pupils should have prior knowledge of Mexican culture. Therefore, there are links to a...