Unit Plan
Curated OER

A High-Interest Novel Helps Struggling Readers Confront Bullying in Schools

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Bully, bullied, or bystander? Paul Langan's The Bully is the anchor text in a unit that examines bullying and violence. After a close reading of the text, readers imagine themselves as the characters and consider how they would react in...
Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

Unit 3: Adventures of Don Quixote

For Teachers 5th Standards
Fifth graders explore the Adventures of Don Quixote in a four-week language arts unit. Scholars listen to and discuss a new chapter each day as well as examine vocabulary and practice word work including suffixes, subject-verb agreement,...
Unit Plan
West Jefferson High School

The Novel — Honor

For Teachers 9th Standards
For classes tackling To Kill a Mockingbird, this lesson plan sets readers up for discussions or essay writing with questions and prompts. The prompts encourage individuals to explore beyond the novel itself, looking at...
Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...
Study Guide
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Reed Novel Studies

To Kill a Mockingbird: Novel Study

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American fiction writer whose biggest claim to fame was the creation of Tarzan. Using the novel study for Harper Lee's beloved novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, pupils research and list facts about him or another...
Unit Plan
Santa Ana Unified School District

The Giver

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials...
Activity
Japan Society

The “I” Novels in the Context of Early 20th-Century Japan

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Although this lesson plan covers the rather obscure topic of the Japanese "I-novel", it also includes a great deal of historical information and material for an in-depth discussion of universal literary concepts. Specifically, young...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Three Times Lucky: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
A car crash, a murder, a hurricane. With such a plot, why is the title of Sheila Turnage's novel Three Times Lucky? After making a prediction about the plot, scholars use the novel study to research and record facts...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Stella By Starlight: Novel Study

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Who were the Ku Klux Klan, and what role did they play in the United States during the Great Depression? Using the Stella by Starlight novel study, scholars research the organization and answer questions relating to Sharon M. Draper's...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Snow Treasure: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
What does it mean to be courageous? With the study guide for Marie McSwigan's novel, Snow Treasure, scholars answer questions about the text and practice new vocabulary. They also write quatrain poems about courage or another theme from...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Old Wolf: Novel Study

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Do wolves ever attack humans? An informative novel study for Old Wolf helps pupils conduct research to answer the question. They also decode anagrams, learn about onomatopoeia, and write quatrain poems about themes from the novel. 
Unit Plan
ReadWriteThink

Beyond the Story: A Dickens of a Party

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It's time to party like it's 1899! Incorporate a research-based celebration of the Victorian Era into your unit on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. After learners read the novella or view a production of the play, they craft a...
Lesson Plan
Digital Public Library of America

Teaching Guide: Exploring Little Women

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is a literary masterpiece as well as a timestamp of the formative mid-nineteenth century in America. Using a primary source set of photographs, letters, and portraits, readers discuss the ways...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bridging the Centuries: Teaching the Nineteenth Century English Novel Today

For Teachers 12th - Higher Ed
Students compare and contrast the elements used in the 19th century British novel and those novels in American society today. In groups, they brainstorm what it might have been like to be a teenager growing up in England during the 19th...
Activity
Listening Library

The Sign of the Beaver

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Extend a class reading of the novel The Sign of the Beaver across all subject areas with this literature unit guide. From basic discussion questions and writing prompts, to a research project about tracking animals, this...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hoot: KWHL

For Teachers 6th - 8th
How can we help endangered animals? Learn about which animals are endangered and what people can do to protect them with a lesson based on Carl Hiaasen's Hoot. After completing a KWHL chart to note what they already know and what...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Looking at Portraits: Literary Monuments

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Examine artwork, research literature, and create art pieces for a monument to a literary figure. Young scholars analyze the sculpture Model for a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père and compare it to other well-known monuments. They...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Language Arts: Learning About the Self

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders explore the self through a study of autobiographies. By writing daily in their journals, they improve their writing skills and write reflection pieces at the end of the year. Through a series of writing assignments, 10th...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Treasure Island: Novel Study

For Teachers 5th - 9th Standards
Pirates ahoy! Readers go on an adventure using a novel study for Treasure Island as they research and write about a modern-day pirate story. Additionally, scholars practice writing similes and alliteration before answering comprehension...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing: Novel Study

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Many turtle species can retreat their heads into their shells when threatened by predators. With the Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing novel study, pupils conduct research to uncover other interesting turtle facts. As they explore Judy...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

No Talking: Novel Study

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Many of the world's most inspirational sayings are attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. Using the No Talking novel study, pupils research and write about one of his sayings. Additionally, they practice alliteration and write a quintet that...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Surviving the Applewhites: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
The Bradys, the Flintstones, and the Simpsons are some of pop culture's most memorable families. So how do the Applewhites stack up? Using a novel study for Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, scholars answer text-based...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Skink No Surrender: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
The oldest turtle ever recorded lived to the age of 188! As it turns out, two characters from Carl Hiaasen's Skink No Surrender are fascinated by these shelled creatures. Using the novel study, scholars research three types of...
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Winnie-The-Pooh: Novel Study

For Teachers 3rd - 4th Standards
Winnie the Pooh lands in a gorse-bush plant in chapter one of A.A. Milne's beloved children's novel, Winnie-the-Pooh. With the novel study, scholars research three interesting facts about the plant. They also compose a four-line poem...