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Identifying Personification in Poetry
Improve your young poets' descriptive writing with this lesson on personification. A SMART board and PowerPoint presentation guide your class through the process of identifying human qualities attributed to various non-human objects. A...
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High School Literary Paragraph Development
You can cover literary elements, writing organization, and proofreading skills in this SMART board lesson. Using student paragraphs from a previous assignment, the class reviews the best examples of writing. A SMART board activity guides...
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Understanding Fantasy
Explore fantasy as a genre. After working in small groups to identify literary elements in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, class members share their work and then use the presentations to help them prepare to write...
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Poetry: It's Rhyme Time!
Define poetic devices and provide examples. The slides list information for rhyme, repetition, alliteration, simile, metaphor, free verse poetry, onomatopoeia, and patterned poetry. The animation and sounds are a bit distracting, and...
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Five Elements of a Story
Here’s a graphic organizer that permits learners to chart the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution of a story. The PDF file can be customized to work with any narrataive.
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Pick A Short Story
Students select a short story and apply various literary elements they have used throughout the year. They deconstruct a short story according to plot, setting, characterization, and theme. Students create a PowerPoint.
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Literary Elements in Of Mice and Men
Ninth graders review an exercise, after reading most of the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. They demonstrate a range of literary elements such as conflict, symbolism, setting, and foreshadowing. Students also are able to provide...
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Point of View Practice: Narrative Perspective
Excerpts from ten texts (There's something for everyone from Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath to Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, and more!) provide the springboard for an examination of point of view. For each short excerpt,...
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Good Book, Bad Book: Lesson 2
An interesting way to incorporate pop culture and the elements that make a book good. Kids watch a clip from MTV Cribs, they discuss how good or bad books are similar to good or bad homes. They are all different and not everybody will...
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Responses to Literature
Middle and high schoolers hone their writing skills by reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. They fill out a graphic organizer (included here), and use the organizer to write an...
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Hillbilly Feud:Language Arts Game
English language learners or native elementary schoolers will enjoy practicing their parts of speech with this interactive grammar game. Set deep in the backwoods of Tennessee, the class splits in two to join either the Hartfields or...
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Scene Plotting Worksheet
Think about literary elements, characters, and point-of-view. Then click on this link to have your class answer 14 questions intended to solidify, test, or review their understanding.
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Age of Iron Theme of Race
In this reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 4 short answer and essay questions based on the theme of race in Age of Iron. Students may also complete their choice of 3 reading activities suggested.
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Literary Elements and Vocabulary: Mini Quiz
Readers match five literary terms -- personification, narrator, tone, dialogue, foreshadowing -- with their definitions. They also spell, identify the part of speech, define, and write a creative sentence for each of five dictated words....
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Ray Bradbury Short Stories - Independent Reading Activity
A straightforward lesson about the themes in Ray Bradbury's short stories, this activity allows learners to first work independently and then share their analyses with the class. They read "The Other Foot" as well as another story from...
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Methods of Characterization
The best stories usually have the best characters and identifying characterization in literature is key to fostering good writing skills. The four most common characterizations are defined in this slide show. Each slide presents a...
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All the King's Men Theme of Drugs and Alcohol
In this literary analysis activity, students respond to 4 short answer and essay questions based on themes of Drugs and Alcohol in All the King's Men. Students also debate the validity of two thesis statements about the text.
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
In this online interactive reading comprehension activity, students respond to an essay question based on Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Students may also access an online quiz on the selection using the link at the bottom of the page.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Analyzing Literary Elements in Fiction
Students analyze the characters and events in fictional writing. In this literary elements lesson, students study the meaning of the words characterization and fiction. They listen to the story Pigsty by Mark Teague, or any other book...
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Creating Characters
Students examine the methods of effective characterization. In this writing skills lesson, students discuss how emotions, dialogue, actions, and physical descriptions build believable characters. Students then use the methods of...
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Author's Voice in Passage
Students explore author's voice. In this literary elements and reading comprehension lesson, students listen to two poems about snakes (included) and identify adjectives and other descriptive words and phrases that help them determine...
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Theme: The Search for Meaning
Students explore themes. In this literary elements lesson, students view a PowerPoint presentation defining and describing examples of common theme traits. Students read several short passages, then infer the theme of each story.
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Read Aloud- Literary Elements- Prediction
First graders read two stories. In this literary elements lesson, 1st graders read The Hat by Jan Brett, notice patterns of prediction, identify the setting, problem and solution and compare the story to the book The Mitten.
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No Regrets: a Poetry Analysis
Learners read a poem and use the TPCASTT strategy for analysis. In this poetry analysis lesson, students journal about their future goals and read John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player." Learners discuss the purpose of the poem and...