Mix music into your literature class! After reading a novel (either in class or as outside reading), your mix masters create a soundtrack of 10 songs to accompany their reading. What does each song add to the story? A fun activity for...

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....

Students view the PBS presentation of Leo Tolstoy's, "Anna Karenina." Prior and after each episode, they discuss plot and characterization and in one lesson, use adjectives to describe each of the main characters. Then, students create...

Students defend Mark Twain and the study of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn using persuasive techniques, appropriate word choice, and correct letter format, in response to a fictional letter by an upset parent.

Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...

Learners explain how individual elements (e.g., plot, theme, character, conflict, etc.) comprise the structure of a play. They write an original one-act play with developed characters, specific setting, conflict, and resolution.

Young thespians can try their hand at writing a script and acting out a scene, while gaining a deeper understanding of the universal topics presented in Shakespeare's wide array of plays. Begin the lesson by conducting a compare and...

Comparing the more modern film Ten Things I Hate About You to The Taming of the Shrew leads to an understanding of how Shakespearean plots can be applied to modern-day situations and characters. As a culminating activity, groups select a...

Readers practice character analysis by reviewing Gary Soto's short story "La Bamba" with the whole class (anything you've read together will work). They design t-shirts that feature traits and story elements to reveal the nature of a...

Learn about animal habitats, characteristics, and writing in a different perspective. The class composes a narrative from the perspective of a fresh water animal, they include a problem and the animal's reaction to the problem. The...

Students create and videotape a newscast about the events that take place in the play, Antigone. They perform scenes describing the main events, the main characters and their conflicts.

Students make a Microsoft PowerPoint report from a short story read in class. They summarize and paraphrase a short story identifying the six story elements: characters, setting, plot, conflict, solution, tone/mood.

Students create booklets to provide information on elements of a novel, including plot, setting, character, major and minor conflicts and theme.

Students analyze the Shakespearian play, "Julius Caesar" in this seven lesson unit. Through readings, hands-on projects, and the study of plot development, comparisons are made to the movie and the historical records available.

Second graders identify story elements in familiar stories from their lives. In this story elements lesson, 2nd graders act out familiar activities  by following directions. Students read a story and discuss the story elements....

Students read the novel, Freak the Mighty and describe and illustrate the setting. They create a graphic organizer that demonstrates the major plot elements and character development.

Learners read a book titled This is the Tree about a baobab tree and draw a picture and label the tree. In this tree lesson plan, students also write a paragraph explaining why they drew that tree. 

Introduce your class to drama! You cast each pupil as a different character from a story you have read. They are given a general outline of the scene, act out the scene multiple times, then discuss the weak and strong aspects of each...

Young scholars study the social class conflicts that existed during the Russian Revolution by reading the short stories of Anton Chekov and Leo Tolstoy. They analyze the stories to find criticisms of pre-Revolutionary Russia before...

Students complete activities to analyze points of view in different texts. In this point of view lesson, students read Hansel and Gretel and The Magic Circle and discuss the points of view. Students choose a character from the story and...

Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research, art, and...

What a wonderful way to follow up on the reading of, Roll of Thunder Hear Me Cry! The lesson has pupils split up into small groups of two to four young scholars. Each group must work collaboratively to create a multimedia project that...

Students read a short fiction book and demostrate comprehension by identifying the main characters, setting, conflict, theme, and summarizing the main points. They organize the information in Inspiration and create a powerpoint to show...

Learners read and discuss The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart. For this poetry lesson, students construct a Venn diagram to compare and contrast two pieces of literature.