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 lesson has a worksheet that can...

Analyze characters and stories to identify stereotyping. Learners will examine the concept of character gender to evaluate bias in classroom story books. They are asked to read a story or play and change the gender of the character to...

Connect to real-world experiences by having your primary learners create an award certificate based upon literal and inferential information from a story. They present the award to a character from a story and explain the criteria used....

The simple instructional techniques described in this plan will help young readers learn and practice basic reading skills and strategies. Before reading, introduce your readers to the meaning of main character, setting, and plot. Then...

Guide your readers to explore character traits. As a class, discuss and record the traits of a commonly-known fairy tale character. Then do the same with the main character in the class novel. Finally, have learners use magazines...

Read this twist on Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Dusty Locks and the Three Bears by Susan Lowell. Kindergartners listen, predict, and discuss the story. They then participate in a dramatization of the story and draw a picture...

Students analyze characters in a story and contrast them in terms of their appearance, education, family, religion, and more. In this characters lesson plan, students fill out a worksheet provided.

Students read the story, Dear Mr. Henshaw. They build an alarm system for something in the classroom, as the main character Leigh does to protect his lunchbox from thieves. Students explore alarms and use their creativity to create an...

Young scholars read passages from several sources and evaluate the text for various criteria. In this problem solving lesson, students evaluate character problem solving processes after reading passages. They will use a Venn Diagram to...

Students read three different genres of fiction. They create a story map and brainstorm possible collage inclusions. Each student prepares a minimum of two scrapbook page entries for each text or passage. Students write beside each...

Read the story Gingerbread Baby and use these various activities to connect to grammar, art, and point of view. In one activity, learners create character masks. They practice writing verbs on the back of the masks to tell what each...

Here is a creative way to assess your geologists' grasp of the rock cycle: have them write and illustrate a children's book in which the main character journeys though his life, i.e. the rock cycle! A brief student instruction sheet and...

Third graders read the book Hi New Baby! and identify how the main character changes throughout the story. For this character lesson plan, 3rd graders write descriptive clues to explain the changes in feelings of the character.

Students create Venn diagrams of similarities and differences between two main characters in Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco.

Students create the front page of a newspaper by writing news stories about the main characters and plots of fairy tales.

Young scholars practice visualizing elements from a poem or story. While reading a poem aloud, the instructor models what they see as they read the passage. Students draw a picture of the main character of the story "Because of...

In this graphs lesson plan, students read stories and present story situations on a graph.  They explore distance and diameter and explain graphs.  Students create their own stories to fit graphs.

Students role play the characters and events which led to the holiday of Cinco de Mayo. In this Cinco de Mayo lesson plan, students dance the "La Raspa" dance. Students complete a Cinco de Mayo word search.

Students examine the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Cask of Amontillado." In this character instructional activity, students discuss and analyze the characters in the story. Students make personal connections to the characters and create a...

Students examine Patricia Polacco's web site as an introduction to her life and literature. They listen to "Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair" before discussing how the main character believe in the power of books. They...

Students practice visualizing elements from a poem or story. While reading the poem "Snowball," the instructor models what they see when they read the passage. Students draw a picture of the main character of the poem "Danny O'Dare"...

Who has been messing with my trampoline? Young writers choose local events as the basis for their own “Who Did It?” mystery. They then devise a plot, problem, and cast of characters and write an introduction explaining the problem and...

Students discuss folktales and read Tiger and The Big Wind, listening for animal characters for later discussion. In this language arts instructional activity, students complete a T chart on characters and make a doll for one either...

Students design an original cartoon character. They explain the creative process and development of a cartoon from brainstorming to final draft and study different types of cartooning. Use the correct terminology associated with cartooning