Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Holes Comprehension Companion

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Here is a one-stop planning resource for Louis Sachar's Newbery Award-winning book Holes. You'll find 21 links to worksheets and various activities designed to span the entire book. Learners draw to help analyze settings and...
Lesson Plan
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The Newspaper Article

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Have your class participate in an interview activity using an informational text about the Amazon. After reading a Cultural Connections story about a person from the Amazon, middle schoolers write interview questions based on the text....
Activity
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Express Yourself Lesson Seed 14: Dedication

For Teachers 6th Standards
Connect Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech, "I Have a Dream," to The Cay by Theodore Taylor. Taylor refers to the speech in his dedication, which creates a natural segue into talking about the speech and how it relates to the novel....
Lesson Plan
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A Discourse on the History of Language

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Analyze and make inferences from the information used by linguists to construct the evolution of languages. They research different dating techniques to explain how scientists infer age with evidence.
Lesson Plan
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Detective Fiction: Focus On Critical Thinking

For Teachers 6th
Turn your 6th graders into detectives while growing their love of reading. Using critical thinking skills, they will be able to describe the five basic elements of detective fiction, read detective novels, make predictions, use the...
Lesson Plan
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Heartsongs Poetry by Mattie Stepanek

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Use Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsongs book of poetry to inspire young poets to write about their own lives, experiences, and feelings. After reading the introduction to Mattie’s book, in which he talks about himself and his reasons for...
Activity
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Express Yourself Lesson Seed 11: Setting

For Teachers 6th Standards
Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...
Activity
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Express Yourself Lesson Seed 13: Character Development 2

For Teachers 6th Standards
Building upon prior lessons in the series, this reading and writing exercise requires pupils to look back at their own writing, track character development in the novel The Cay, and analyze how Phillip has changed. The reading focus is...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Comparing yourself to others is a sure way to make you feel worse about yourself. Kyle, a character in Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library, knows this well, as it is difficult for him to compete with his older brothers. Will he finally...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Flora and Ulysses: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
As Flora from Flora and Ulysses drowns in her misery, she discovers a squirrel with bigger problems than her own. She saves him from the vacuum cleaner and finds out that his brush with death gave him superpowers. Scholars match...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Jacob Have I Loved: Novel Study

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Twins always have double the fun, right? Sara, in Jacob Have I Loved, always is in the shadows of her twin sister. Scholars identify synonyms, answer comprehension questions, foreshadow, and create alliterations as they read about how...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

The Janitor's Boy: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
The perfect plan can easily backfire. Jack, in The Janitor's Boy, thinks he has the perfect plan to get back at his father. Little did he know he would end up being sentenced to help his father. Scholars read about Jack and his...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Johnny Tremain: Novel Study

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Scholars read Johnny Tremain to see how Johnny's terrible accident helped him become a part of history. Learners write two poems, analyze characters by matching descriptions, and create...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Peter Pan: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
J.M. Barrie's classic book Peter Pan is about an adventurous boy who never gets old. Scholars read the first two chapters about Peter and three young friends. They then complete worksheets by filling in sentences with vocabulary...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Bad Beginning: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Scholars read about the unlucky events that continue to fall on the children in A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. A set of worksheet activities include completing sentences with vocabulary...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

The War That Saved My Life: Novel Study

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Most people think of war when they think of casualities. However, Ada used war to regain her life. A ten-year-old girl in The War That Saved My Life is a prisoner in her own home. However. when her brother goes to war, she takes the...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

The Underneath: Novel Study

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Do you have a place that makes you feel safe and secure? Ranger, a hound in The Underneath, finds his new friend, a calico cat, and her safe place—underneath a porch. Scholars complete sentences using vocabulary from the novel as they...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

The Railway Children: Novel Study

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
How can you prove your innocence? After being falsely accused and placed in prison, the father in The Railway Children is looking for the answer to the question. The children make friends with an elderly gentleman who helps them prove...
Lesson Plan
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Kumeyaay Indians

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...
Activity
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Express Yourself Lesson Seed 15: Theme

For Teachers 6th Standards
Build understanding of theme with an activity designed for The Cay and the Common Core. Small groups or pairs use graphic organizers to determine themes, find and record related details from the text, and formulate theme statements. In...
Activity
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Express Yourself Lesson Seed 2

For Teachers 6th Standards
Use Langston Hughes's poem, "Words Like Freedom," to explore the concepts of freedom and liberty. Learners read the poem, determine the theme, and use the provided graphic organizer to examine the connotative and denotative meanings of...
Activity
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Express Yourself Lesson Seed 12: Story Event

For Teachers 6th Standards
Focus on plot and the impact-specific events in The Cay. Class members use their double-entry journals, created in a previous lesson in this series, to record their thinking about the guiding question as they read chapters 15 through 17....
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Flush: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Standing up for beliefs sometimes leads to trouble! The father in Flush takes knows this all too well when he sinks a boat in protest to its illegal dumping. With his dad behind bars, the son, Noah, takes matters into his hands by...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

I Am David: Novel Study

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Many people dream of getting a fresh start or starting over again. David, a main character in I am David, gets that chance and must learn to live life outside of the concentration camp. Scholars read about David's adventures as they...

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