National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
TES Global
Tes: West Side Story (1961) Film Guide
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a film guide for the film West Side Story (1961), the musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which is set in 1950s New York and incorporates themes around street crime,...
Read Works
Read Works: Grade 2: Two Lesson Unit: Setting
[Free Registration/Login Required] A set of two lesson plans designed to teach learners to use context clues to identify the setting and changes within it. Lessons are based on the books Bigmama's by Donald Crews and The Stories Julian...
Read Works
Read Works: Setting 1st Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] A series of three lesson plans designed to teach students to use pictures and word clues to determine the setting of fiction texts. Lessons are based on the books The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down by Paul...
Read Works
Read Works: Setting 3rd Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is series of two lesson plans designed to teach young scholars to visualize the setting and determine its effect on characters in a fiction text. Lessons are based on two short texts and the book...
Read Works
Read Works: Setting Kindergarten Unit: Where
[Free Registration/Login Required] Use the book Gaspard at the Seashore by Anne Gutman to teach clues students can use to determine where a story takes place. The book must be provided by the teacher, but downloadable worksheets for...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: rl.k.3 With Prompting and Support, Identify Characters, Settings,
This landing page provides different lesson plan choices on teaching RL.K.3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings,
Success Link
Success Link: Characters, Setting, Plot, Conclusion, and Summarizing a Story
This lesson plan offers a step-by-step procedure for teaching students how to identify story elements and to summarize a story. It explains how to use a "Who Am I" activity, as well as a linkage activity in identifying characters and...
Other
Fitzhenry and Whiteside: 'Archipelago' Teaching Guide [Pdf]
"Archipelago", a novel by David Ward set in the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, follows a boy who is transported to prehistoric times and must learn to survive there. This extensive teacher's guide includes chapter summaries...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Metamorphosis Stories of Change
The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp. Students realize that the narrative impulse underlies even...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Designing a Medical Device
Students learn the engineering design process by following the steps, from problem identification to designing a device and evaluating its efficacy and areas for improvement. A quick story at the beginning of the activity sets up the...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Discussing "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs"
In this lesson, 1st graders will work with "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" Jon Scieszkaby. They will describe the characters, setting, and key details in the story and help the teacher record the details on a circle map.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: What Is Your Favorite Little Bear Story?
SWBAT create a bar graph to match a data set. SWBAT analyze the graph for 3 pieces of information.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Miss Nelson Is Missing Key Details
Where did Miss Nelson go? We look at the key details in the text to determine what is happening throughout the story. Students will locate and record key details about story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution, and theme) in...
Orca Book Publishers
Orca Book Publishers: Yossi's Goal Teaching Guide [Pdf]
Yossi's Goal by Ellen Schwartz is a novel about a young boy's longing to play hockey. This teacher's guide includes a book summary, teaching ideas and the author's reflections on writing the book.
Michigan State University
Michigan State University: Intervention for Reading: Story Grammar Training
This intervention emphasizes the importance of metacognitive or active reading strategies to improve comprehension. It directs learners' attention on story structure by teaching them to ask five "wh" questions about the settings and...
Orca Book Publishers
Orca Book Publishers: Hero Teaching Guide [Pdf]
Hero, a story written by Martha Attema, is a historical fiction novel set in Holland during World War II. It centers on a young boy's love for a horse that sustains him after he is separated from his family. The horse is later taken away...
Orca Book Publishers
Orca Book Publishers: Flight From Bear Canyon Teaching Guide [Pdf]
Flight From Bear Canyon, an adventure novel written by Anita Daher, is set in the Nahanni River Valley of Canada's Northwest Territories. It tells the story of a young girl's experience as she flies a plane and helps to save the life of...
Orca Book Publishers
Orca Book Publishers: Runaway Teaching Guide [Pdf]
In Runaway, a novel by Becky Citra, a boy must make some difficult decisions about whether to help another boy that he has seen steal but who is also being physically abused. The story is set in the 1830s in Upper Canada. This teacher's...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Using the Prediction Strategy to Set Purposes for Reading
Contains plans for three lessons that teach a reading comprehension technique called the prediction strategy, where students predict what will happen in a story before reading. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional...
Center For Civic Education
Center for Civic Education: Teaching Presidential Elections [Zip]
Citizens, Not Spectators is a voter education program whose goal of the program is to increase the voting rate among young Americans by demystifying the voting process. The lessons familiarize students with the process and the duty of...
HotChalk
Hot Chalk: Lesson Plans Page: Elements of a Story
This resource provides a lesson plan to teach students about the elements of a story.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Using a Fairy Tale to Teach the Elements of a Story
Students will hear and read different versions of a familiar fairy tale and identify what elements a story must have (character, plot, setting) for the story to be interesting and make sense. Using a Venn diagram, students will then...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Using Fairy Tales to Teach the Short Stories
Familiar fairy tales are used as guides to help young scholars analyze the elements of the short story: plot, theme, setting, point of view, and character.