If your class loves movies, this lesson is sure to interest them. After discussing the purpose and structure of movie reviews, young writers compose a movie review and discuss why people may read a review before they go see a film. The...

Review the terms denotation, connotation, diction, and mood in paragraph writing. After defining the terms, middle schoolers practice writing examples of both connotation and denotation. They complete a connotation and denotation...

Students use the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" to identify and analyze drama vocabulary, literary terms and elements of fiction. They write an original version of scenes from the play and develop a character analysis for the lead.

Poetry is everywhere you look! Create found poems using headlines from newspapers and magazines. Young poetry focus on creating alliterative phrases with words they find in headlines, tying their poems to a central theme.

Tenth graders use the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to analyze relationships in society. In this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders participate in a shoe activity where they bring in one shoe belonging to someone they know and a...

After a review of poetic terms, groups are given an object and they create a poem using a simile, a metaphor, internal rhyme, end rhyme, alliteration, and personification. Groups then exchange objects and repeat the process. Consider...

First graders review the terms characters, setting and events in stories. They are shown how to access the Kidspiration Map, and how to add pictures in the correct spaces on the map. Students insert pictures in the map of the story...

Students create a dodecahedron shaped visual report of the literary elements of a short story.

What was your most (exciting, maddening, nervous, thrilling, etc.) experience in school? A part of a unit on narrative writing, in this instructional activity class members review the elements of the form and then choose an event when...

Pupils create a piece of original fiction utilizing flashbacks. Students define and identify the use of flashbacks in the novel Holes. Definitions and examples are recorded in student journals. They use their examples as springboard...

Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act II, Scenes I and II) lacks explicit details of the murder of King Duncan, yet the author creates an atmosphere that allows us to visualize the event. Readers interpret the "Dagger Speech" by writing stage...

Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...

Students write and illustrate original cinquains based upon the ideas of nobility and virtue. The lesson includes a vocabulary list of key terms and rubric for student reflection and assessment. This is intended for a 4th through 6th...

Young scholars explore the location, place, human-environmental interactions, movement, and regions of the New Hampshire landscape through the use of visual representations.

Help your class listen and respond to a fictional story by creating a story structure mobile illustrating the main characters, setting, plot, problem, story events, and solution. Using a coat hanger, they will create an artistic element...

Students analyze art to determine themes for the Great Depression Era. In this Great Depression lesson, students identify themes for the era and research evidence for the themes to present to the class. Students interview family members...

Learners create a definition for the term resistance. Once a definition has been created, they create a visual image to correlate with their definition. Working in groups, students read several different resistance poems and classify...

Students define the term hyperbole and determine when it is appropriate to use hyperboles in writing. They work in pairs to develop short stories and poems with examples of hyperboles.

Sixth graders conduct a plot diagram for a short story. They identify the problem, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. Students are able to sequence events in a story, and identify the parts of the plot...

Students read Blackbeard and brainstorm their knowledge of maps. In this language arts and geography lesson plan, students use landmarks on their playground to review north, south, east and west and discuss the compass rose. Students...

In this biography/autobiography lesson, students read a few biographies and discuss the term and it's characteristics. Students then brainstorm what makes a good biography/autobiography and create an 'All about me' poster. Suggested...

Learners review important facts about the famous 17th-century Dutch painter Rembrandt. They compare two of Rembrandt's self-portraits and discuss the style of each. Students create an exhibit guide describing the overall theme of the...

Learners discover the literary genre of biographies.  In this creative writing lesson, students write about their own life experiences and personal stories.  Learners create a poster about their lives, a biographical...

Young scholars establish a basic definition of stop frame animation and the processes involved in creating a film. Through guided practice and film reviews, they create their own stop motion animation in response to a film they have seen.