Curated OER
Pop-Up Pop Art, Tunnel book
Students study iconic symbols Keith Haring would make in his artwork. They invent a background for the images, and draw the characters. Students create a Tunnel Book and a Pop-Up Book based on their drawings.
Curated OER
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss
Students create and write mini books. In this Dr. Seuss activity, students bring in their favorite Dr. Seuss book, share why it is their favorite with the class and write a paragraph explaining why they like it. Students...
Curated OER
Celebrate Books: A (Book) Week of Fun!
Students celebrate Book Week by participating in a variety of fun literature-based activities.
Curated OER
Using Children's Literature to Teach Writing: Oh, Tucker!
Students are read the book "Oh, Tucker". They write a paper about the positive and negative aspects of having a dog as a pet. They use a graphic organizer to organize their thoughts and they edit them the next day in class.
Curated OER
Responding to Literature: James and the Giant Peach
Fifth grade reader/writers create an alternate ending to an episode in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach in which our protagonist "loses" the chance to magically solve all his problems. Prompts students not only to write creatively...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Savvy by Ingrid Law
Literature circles give learners a chance to explore a novel in a unique way. An educator's guide for the book Savvy uses literature circles as part of the novel study. Additional activities cover elements of figurative language and...
Curated OER
Lesson 4: Theme Matters
This useful approach to determining themes based on specific details from a book is aimed at readers of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee. It could also easily be adapted for use with other books or readings. The class identifies recurring...
Book Units Teacher
Where the Red Fern Grows: Understanding Sentences
Using sentences from the book Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, this presentation explores the use of correct grammar. It starts out by giving examples of complete and incomplete sentences, and then moves on to nouns, verbs, and...
Mr. Mansour
Mouse and the Motorcycle: Chapter 1-3
Get the facts straight with a reading quiz on the first three chapters of Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle. The questions address details from the plot and provides a writing prompt to predict what will happen next in the book.
Curated OER
Word Search: Favorite Children's Books
Word trackers hunt down the titles of 50 favorite juvenile books in this word search puzzle. Needs reformatting to be a single page. Appropriate for grades 2-6.
Curated OER
Use Literature to Teach Tolerance
Students listen as teachers read a different book or a different passage that focuses on the theme of tolerance. Students then write a paragraph each day to tell how that day's book/passage taught them the importance of tolerance.
Curated OER
Literature Awards: Beehive Award Nominees for Children's Fiction 2003-2004
Students examine information about books that were nominated for Utah's Beehive Award in 2003-2004.
Curated OER
Using Children's Literature to Teach Writing: Perfect Pancakes
Students are read the book "Perfect Pancakes". They write a paper about how to make a bowl of cereal. They state the items they need and the steps involved. They write each part of the paper in different colors to help distinguish them.
Curated OER
Literature-Based Skill Building: Freak the Mighty By Rodman Philbrick
Students complete a variety of comprehension activities related to the novel "Freak the Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick. They complete a learning log for each chapter, examine the purpose of signal words "because" and "but," define key...
Curated OER
Lemony Snicket Series Comes to an End (Unfortunately)
An informational text about Lemony Snicket leads to a discussion of the books class members have read in the Series of Unfortunate Events series. Children then compare and contrast the settings, plots, and characters in the...
Curated OER
Road To Roota
Did you know that there are comic books that can help learners discover economic concepts like supply and demand. The format of this lesson is highly engaging and enables them to discover how economics can be an exciting field of study....
Curated OER
Celebrating Maurice Sendak's Legacy
Lesson ideas that focus on the author and illustrator's contribution to children's literature.
Scholastic
Frindle Lesson Plan
"Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle?" Inspired by this quote from the award-winning novel written by Andrew Celements, this lesson allows children to invent their own...
Penguin Books
Addressing Text Complexity - Making Independent Reading Meaningful
Many English teachers dream of a classroom full of readers silently enjoying their books. A useful guide helps make that dream become a reality by providing book recommendations for a range of readers. Each suggestion includes the...
Library of Congress
The Story of The Three Little Pigs
Bring the 1904 version of the classic kid's tale, The Story of the Three Little Pigs to your young readers. With original drawings by L. Leslie Brooke, young reader take a step into a world where pigs can talk and a wolf is big and bad.
Library of Congress
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Follow the journey of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion down the Yellow Brick Road. An eBook version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz features the original text and graphics. Notice how colors change between...
Curated OER
Look at Philanthropy in Children's Literature
Students listen to stories about different philanthropic acts. They work together in groups to create a list of the needs of their community. They chose a service project which could be completed by their class.
Curated OER
Best-Selling Books Bar Graph
Create a bar graph with your elementary school learners. First they read and interpret data, and then they color in the graph (provided) to indicate how many of each were sold. Consider providing them with the data but having them...
Curated OER
Children's Books Teach Diversity, Respect
Students compare aspects of children's books that teach diversity and respect. They examine universal values such as courage and bravery, respect and apathy. They create a final project based on their ability to recognize the values in...