William & Mary
Inferential Reading Comprehension Considerations Packet
Don't forget to read between the lines! Educators learn tips and activities to help scholars learn to infer to increase reading comprehension. Activities suggested include think alouds, backwards words, and who's who. the packet includes...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Intro to Julius Caesar Using Universal Theme Analysis
In this 4-session lesson, students explore the theme of betrayal from different perspectives in their own lives and in modern scenarios through discussions and activities where they create and talk about comic strip scenarios. They...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Reach: Recipe for Writing!
REACH for more! Be an author! Write and illustrate your very own story by mixing up a simple recipe of WHO, WHERE, WHAT, and ENDING.
Read Works
Read Works: Kindergarten: Character: Lesson 3: Main and Secondary Characters
[Free Registration/Login Required] Based on stories Sheila Rae, the Brave and Jamaica's Find, this lesson plan will take students through the process of distinguishing main characters from secondary ones by relying on clues from the text...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Narr. Text Structure: Picture the Character
A lesson plan in which students read a narrative text and complete a graphic organizer to illustrate and write characteristics of one of the characters. Materials are included.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Check a Trait
A lesson plan in which students read a narrative text and complete a graphic organizer to describe the characters in the story. Materials are included. [PDF]
Read Works
Read Works: Grade 1: Three Lesson Unit: Character: Actions, Feelings, Looks
[Free Registration/Login Required] A series of three lesson plans, based on David Shannon's books No, David!, David Gets in Trouble, and David Goes to School. Students learn how to utilize text and picture clues to determine and describe...
Read Works
Read Works: Character 4th Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] A three-lesson unit on characters where students learn about a story's protagonist and antagonist and the relationship between them by reading the book Hansel and Gretel by Rika Lesser. With free login,...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Florida Center for Reading Research: Character Characteristics
A lesson plan in which students read a narrative text and complete graphic organizers to analyze a character. Materials are included. [PDF]
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Story Character Homepage
Online lesson plan which allows for students to create an electronic "Home page," for a specific character when reading a class novel. Students research and create web pages, then present findings to the class.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Describe Characters
This learning module focuses on reading for key ideas and details including main characters, problems, and solutions. It provides a detailed example with an explanation and a practice paragraph with questions.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: I Like Plants [Pdf]
"I Like Plants" is a one page, realistic fiction, reading passage about a person who loves plants and became a botanist; now she teaches her college students about plants and ecology. It is followed by constructed-response questions...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: I Like Plants [Pdf]
"I Like Plants" is a one page, realistic fiction, reading passage about a person who loves plants and became a botanist; now she teaches her college students about plants and ecology. It is followed by constructed-response questions...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Bright Morning
Use this lesson to delve into the exploration of character development in fiction through the novel "Bright Morning," by Scott O'Dell.
Tech4Learning
Tech4 Learning: Creative Educator: Character Scrapbook
When we read novels, authors provide details about the main character through descriptive sentences, events that directly involve the character, and what other characters think and say about the main character. To show what you know...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: The Chicago Journey [Pdf]
"The Chicago Journey" is a one page, fictional passage about a clild and his mother hurrying to catch a train to hear an acceptance speech from an election (Obama). It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
Jacqueline Woodson describes her experiences growing up as an African American girl in South Carolina and New York in the 1960s. Selected (6) reading passages (grades 3-6) to pair with "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson. [Free...
Shmoop University
Shmoop: Animal Farm
A classic novel, Animal Farm, has captured readers for decades. Read about the main characters, themes and study questions to learn more about the novel in this excellent site.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Make an Alarm!
After reading the story "Dear Mr. Henshaw" by Beverly Cleary, students will build an alarm system for something in the classroom, as the main character Leigh does to protect his lunchbox from thieves. Students will learn about alarms and...
Fun Brain
Fun Brain:diary of a Wimpy Kid
Click through the pages and read this web version of the best selling novel Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. Read straight through each day, or click on any day in the calendar feature to go straight to that entry. The main...
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: "Winged Blackmail" by Jack London
The main character in this story is met by an unexpected visitor in the form of a pigeon who disrupts his plan for control. Read the full text of "Winged Blackmail" on this site.
Shmoop University
Shmoop: House of Mirth
Published in 1905 this novel portrays the life of a young woman in her hunt for a rich husband. Read about the main characters, their themes and interesting quotations in this outstanding site.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Story Maps
Story Maps are used for teaching students to work with story structure for better comprehension. This technique uses visual representations to help students organize important elements of a story. Students learn to summarize the main...