Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...

Before beginning F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, create a historical context of the Roaring 20s with this lesson. Set up a gallery walk with the provided PowerPoint, which features 10 topics related to the 1920s. Then begin...

Write and work with authors on the Scholastic Website to promote the recognition of various genres.  Young writers will participate in activities based on the type of writing such as biography, descriptive, folktales, mystery, news,...

While reading A River Runs Through It, have your high schoolers work on their final project, a multi-genre research paper. There are 10 clear steps for completion but not much additional help. For early high schoolers (or...

Students play a Jeopardy game in which the questions are about different genres. They can use this activity as a review before a test.

Looking for a lesson about differing sentence types? Use this lesson on compound and complex sentences in your grammar unit. After composing simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences individually and as part of a group,...

Students examine genre painting. They explore the Illinois State Museum website, identify how genre paintings were composed, analyze the activities of an Illinois farm in the 1850s, and create a genre painting of current everyday...

Before you jump into this lesson, be aware there is little to work with. That being said, the ideas are solid and will be brought to life with a little Halloween spirit. Learners examine horror as a sub-genre, and contemplate what makes...

Students discuss the characteristics of several different writing genres. They are given a prompt to and work in groups to continue writing in the style of a humorous, fantasy or suspense story. They share their stories with the class.

Students explore poetry by listening to readings, identifying and understanding the elements of poetry, as well as the types of poetry. Students respond to poetry through discussions and writing their own poem.

Students explore the concepts of fantasy writing through this nine lessons unit. The unit presents semantic mapping, discussions, comparisons of various works of fantasy, and the opportunity to create their own fantasies.

Transform your class into a butterfly museum! Research different types of butterflies, their habitat, and life cycle. Interactive components such as PowerPoint presentations, Claymation movies, and webpages add pizzaz to the museum...

Third graders research what a Haiku is and be able to answer related questions on an example of a Haiku. They create an original Haiku of their own using general Haiku characteristic guidelines. Students use Kid Pix to type in and...

Students become familiar with each member of the tenor trio: Cook, Dixon and Young. They conduct research and then create a television segment based on their findings. Students identify a variety of musical genres and explore the...

Second graders complete a KWL chart about libraries. They create a book using writing patterns of a particular author. Students decide criteria for awarding the Second Grade Librarian Award to books in the classroom library, and use a...

Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre.  Based on what...

Eighth graders imagine they are getting ready to "take off." They may imagine themselves in any type of aircraft or spaceship. They may then sketch themselves as passengers anticipating this moment.

Students complete activities using apples that help improve their science, math, and reading skills. In this apple instructional activity, students read the book Apples, Apples Apples and visit an orchard or farmer's market to buy a...

Students complete activities to learn narrative writing. In this narrative writing lesson students are given writing prompts in order to better understand how to write in a narrative format.

Students read and understand a variety of genres in a library setting. In this library activity lesson, students act as detectives and use clues in text and pictures to hypothesize the title of the missing book for the library reading...

Students explore genre of comics, view variety of comic strips, discuss components of comic strips, examine conventions of comic strips, analyze online comic creator interactive and create planning sheet for using the tool, and apply...

Middle schoolers create a multimedia piece that integrates drawing and collage. Students learn about metacognition and the discovering of self through genres of art and literature by using these steps: inspiration, brainstorm,...

Students analyze and appreciate various types of poetry. In this poetry unit, students read classic and contemporary works to discover ways in which poetry expresses strong feelings. Students identify key vocabulary used to analyze...

Students read The Kapok Tree and write about the story.  In this rainforest story, students write a book in the genre of The Kapok Tree. Students research their animals on the Internet and find facts about the importance of...