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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson 8: Settings that Reinforce Characters

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The best way to be a good writer is to read good writing. Learners read and discuss an excerpt from a book that will help them comprehend the relationship between setting and character. They will use what they've gleaned from discussion...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating Interesting Characters

For Teachers 7th - 9th
What makes a story interesting? Complex characters! As part of a series of worksheets that prepares middle schoolers to write their own novel, the exercises included explain the role of the protagonist, the antagonist, and the supporting...
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PPT
Curated OER

Setting: Location, Location, Location

For Teachers 7th - 12th
How does setting affect a story? Designed for story writers, this presentation encourages the viewer to consider the functions of the setting and how the characters can help build the setting. Show this PowerPoint and then give your...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adventure Writing: Oregon's Landscape as a Setting

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students identify geographical features of different regions encountered by migrants on the Oregon trail. Students research how the Oregon landscape may have affected life and 19th century westward migration. Students write a narrative...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Makes a Novel a Novel?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
They always say to write what you know. This approach is used to get middle schoolers prepared to write novels of their own. Using a favorite book as a model, potential novelists respond to prompts that ask about characters, plot, main...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scrambled Stories II

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Review story elements with your class. They will use examples from a story to develop critical-thinking questions. Then they use a graphic organizer to describe the setting, character, and plot of the story, focusing on how they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scrambled Stories

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan 10: Writing Really Good Dialogue

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Boring dialogue can run a great story into the ground; get your novelists using dialogue as a tool to move their story into deeper and more developed territory. As part of a larger writing series, this instructional activity has a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Building Believable Characters

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students use descriptive strategies such as physical descriptions, background, and comparison of characters when writing narratives. They develop the topic with supporting details and precise diction to paint a visual image in the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Multimedia Storytelling

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Experiment with multimedia storytelling. After watching a segment of American Family, first, middle and high schoolers tell a story about their families, clarifying the setting, characters, and script. They work on setting their story in...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

What Makes a Novel a Novel?

For Students 4th - 8th
As your authors prepare to write a hypothetical novel, they need all the inspiration they can find! Using a book they have already read (and enjoyed), learners complete a literary analysis by filling in eight short-answer questions....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Into the Wild: Creating Characters

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Pupils analyze well-known fairy tale characters to learn about characterization. After choosing two fairy tale characters and determining what the characters most want and most fear, students switch characters and stories. They create...
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Organizer
Curated OER

Reading Study Guide: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

For Students 8th - 11th
Meant for use with Maya Angelou's first autobiographical volume I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the materials here are designed for a homeschool setting, but they'd suit any classroom or text. Graphic organizers, chapter summary guides,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Character Traits

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Using a three-column chart labeled "Character," "Action," and "Trait," pupils analyze the traits of several characters from a short story. The lesson is designed for a SMART board, but a teacher could easily do the lesson without the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Character Baseball Cards

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Create baseball cards for literary characters with this lesson plan. It introduces students to baseball cards, their components (stats, picture, etc.), and prompts them to draft and publish their own cards based on figures from...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
Study historical events by combining the study of historical fiction and non-fiction. Learners read about true past events in historical fiction novels and then research non-fiction accounts of the same events. What are some differences...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dragonwings: Explore Chapters 1-5

For Teachers 6th - 8th
If you are beginning Laurence Yep's Dragonwings, this will provide activities for the first five chapters. The objectives include making connections to oneself and the world, organizing information and events, vocabulary acquisition,...
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Lesson Plan
Penguin Books

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt - Teacher's Guide

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Children in foster care face a lot of uncertainty in their lives. A guide for the novel One for the Murphys introduces a main character, Carley, who is thrust into the foster care system. Chapter-by-chapter questions cover key details in...
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Lesson Plan
Penguin Books

A Guide to the Works of Jacqueline Woodson

For Teachers 6th - 10th Standards
The works of Jacqueline Woodson introduce readers to diverse characters and themes. A guide covers many of the author's best-known books such as Brown Girl Dreaming and Locomotion. Dive & Discuss and Explore & Extend activities...
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Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Irony in Short Stories

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars read three texts and analyze the dialogue of the characters to find examples of humor and irony that contribute to their characterization. They then walk through the writing process to create a final essay.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Creating a Character

For Students 6th - 8th
In this creating a character instructional activity, students identify an interesting person from their written sources.  Students will create details to describe their character's physical characteristics, clothing, speech, and...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover… But Can You Judge a Book by Its First Line?

For Students 7th - 9th
In this literary prediction worksheet, students predict the topic, genre, setting, characters, and interest level of a book based on its first line. They research the title and author of the book using the line. They write a short story...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The World Around Me

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Combining visual and language arts, here is a resource that prompts middle schoolers to write stories based on pictures of their surroundings. They use digital cameras to take pictures of favorite areas in the school. Next, they choose...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

When A Story Met A Sandwich

For Teachers 6th - 12th
How is a story like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Use making a sandwich as a metaphor to remind your writers that a good, solid beginning, a rich and rewarding middle, and an ending that brings everything together spices up a...

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