Curated OER
Literary Response and Analysis
Examine a variety of literary responses to Abraham Lincoln's death and the impact of perception. Your class can work in writing groups to analyze either poetry, eulogy, or a newspaper article. They retell the events of Abraham Lincoln's...
Curated OER
Responding to Literature: James and the Giant Peach
Fifth grade reader/writers create an alternate ending to an episode in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach in which our protagonist "loses" the chance to magically solve all his problems. Prompts students not only to write creatively...
Curated OER
Responding to Literature
Fifth graders examine how to respond to literature. In this literature response instructional activity, 5th graders discuss how to respond to literature. They write a response in a literature log each night based on their reading and the...
Curated OER
Salvaged Pages: Writing as a Response to Literature
Students discuss the topic of the Holocaust. Before reading and discussing Elie Wiesel's "Night", they complete an activity giving them a different perspective on the event. They read diaries and journal entries of children and write a...
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I'm a Changed Pig
Introduce your class to fairy tales with this lesson. After reading the fractured fairy tale, "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig," third, fourth, and fifth graders write a personal narrative as a response to the fairy tale....
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre
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...
National First Ladies' Library
The Many Voices of Literature
Middle schoolers discover the wealth of literature written by individuals not born in the United States. They discover the literature of individuals of multiple ethnicities born in the United States. Students compile a list of books they...
National Endowment for the Humanities
In Emily Dickinson's Own Words: Letters and Poems
Analyze the depth and beauty of American Literature by reading Emily Dickinson's letters and poems. The class analyzes Dickinson's poetic style and discusses Thomas Wentworth Higginson's editorial relationship with Dickinson. They pay...
Curated OER
A Literature of Democracy
Eleventh graders analyze how American literature shows a lot of different genres. In groups, 11th graders create a short report about the passage they have chosen.
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A Year in Review: The Memoir
If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...
Curated OER
Using Southeast Asian Folktales to Teach Reading and Writing
Students use maps to locate the countries of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. In groups, they compare and contrast the three countries in regard to their culture, morals and values. They read various examples of folktales and write their...
Curated OER
Literature: Isabel Allende
Students watch and respond to a Bill Moyers Now video on the Chilean author, Isabel Allende. They brainstorm a list of recent events that might inspire writers and choose one to write about in poetic, diary, or short story form.
Curated OER
Would You Like to Become a Millionaire?
Students answer questions written by other teams about literature in an attempt to become "millionaires." In small groups they write a motivational introduction to their teams selected books, publish their questions as a HyperCard...
Curated OER
Folk Genres
Students classify folk life traditions into folk genres. They create folk genre museums by laying down their images or postcards wherever they see a relationship. They give each an image to examine in depth and decide which folk genre...
Curated OER
TOTAL LITERATURE SERIES
Fifth graders listen and react to the book Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry. They write in their journals every day approximately one page or more as a reflection on the reading.
Curated OER
Post- Modernism
Students participate in a lesson that investigates post-modernism in American literature. They conduct the lesson with the help of reading "America" by Ginsberg to create context. Then students define the genre and the culture that has...
Curated OER
Critic's Choice
Third graders read three to five genres and choose one as a favorite. They write an essay persuading the class to read the genre. This lesson plan serves as a nice introduction to different styles of literature.
Curated OER
Kid Lit Crit
Students explore different types of student literature; they then write their own fiction pieces, in either fantasy/adventure or memoir/realism style.
Curated OER
Objectivity
Help young readers examine historic artifacts to determine if they were designed to help people survive or to create enjoyment. They identify objects that were designed to help people to survive and to enjoy themselves. Then compare and...
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A Soldier's View of the American Civil War
Study and research the American Civil War in this explanatory writing lesson. Middle schoolers complete six activities to learn about the American Civil War and soldiers' views of the war. The lesson includes several options to complete...
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Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
Curated OER
The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain, the famous American author, is often studied in the school system. Use "The Prince and the Pauper" to analyze the differences between the text and its video version. This lesson includes several culminating project...
Curated OER
Checkmate
Students start identifying the cause and effect relationships in games of Chess. Using the internet, they research the history of the game and how the roles for each of the pieces. They develop a skit based on the roles and...
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Poet Naomi Shihab Nye
Learners read and analyze poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye. They define stereotypes, view and discuss a video interview with Nye, present an oral reading of a poem, and write a persuasive letter to an author.