How can you tell if a character is a villain? What about a hero? Work on literary analysis with an engaging language arts worksheet. After completing an activity about the four types of conflict, learners fill out a character map about a...

“Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die/Passing through nature to eternity.” Grief, and the response to grief and loss, is the focus of a series of activities that uses Hamlet as a launchpad. Groups examine Act I, scene ii to...

Provide this packet for your pupils as they pour over The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The study guide includes graphic organziers and comprehension as well as higher-level questions. Class members briefly summarize each chapter, compare...

Ten drama lessons are the perfect addition to your language arts or theater class. With a focus on script elements, plot development, and parts of a dramatic story, the lessons guide young playwrights through the steps of telling a story...

What can we find out about the data from the way it is shaped? Looking at displays that are familiar from previous grades, the class forms meaningful conjectures based upon the context of the data. The introductory lesson to...

Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...

After reading Richard Connell's best known work, "The Most Dangerous Game," have your class complete the 12 study questions included here. Readers answer plot related questions, compare and contrast characters, and analyze story...

Reading Mary Pope Osborne's Civil War on Sunday? Here's a packet crammed with activities, exercises, reading guides, and project suggestions. A must-have for your curriculum library.

Introduce literary analysis, writing skills, and purposeful reading with a book review. Pupils answer five questions that ask about plot, characters, language used, story elements, and the main character. This is a wonderful way to start...

In this revision activities activity, students plot the development of tension throughout the book, answer seven questions about plot, analyze characters and theme, and discuss the writing style of the author. Students answer ten short...

In this study guide worksheet, learners analyze the plot, characters, and structural devices used in The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy.

Address the literary elements in a piece of writing using these materials. The packet includes plenty of resources, and focuses mainly on theme, character, and point of view, with some materials for setting, symbolism, and author's...

Readers must go beyond the surface level of Guy de Maupassant's story, "The False Gems," to answer the questions on this worksheet. They must draw inferences, evaluate character's actions, and analyze how irony and symbolism give depth...

In this Tuesdays with Morrie worksheet, students answer three questions and complete one Venn Diagram to help analyze the characters and plot of the text more thoughtfully.

Celebrate National Reading Month in March—or any month of the year—with a selection of versatile graphic organizers. The worksheets prompt readers to compare characters easily, predict what will happen next in a story, track their...

For this The Brothers Karamazov worksheet, students analyze the plot, characters, theme, and details of the novel as they answer study questions and compose essays.

In this The Catcher in the Rye instructional activity, learners analyze the plot and characters of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.  The instructional activity includes 3 study questions and 5 essay questions.

"What is the theme of this story?" The very question can spark fear in the minds of readers and incinerate confidence. Here you will discover an exercise that shows how writers use the tools of setting, plot, conflict, and...

So many themes are expertly woven through Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. On the first page, scholars will read five themes, selecting an incident and a quote to highlight that theme. On page two, they use chapters 29-31 to...

Teach your class the basics of narrative writing! The resource first describes the Common Core standard for narrative writing in-depth, and then moves into how to apply the standard. Show your class the example essay and quiz them...

Focus on complex characters with a instructional activity from a series that teaches individual skills from the Common Core. Specifically, this resource provides practice with standard RL.9-10.3. Get pupils thinking and talking about...

As the saying goes: there are no new stories. Standard 9 for reading literature in the Common Core addresses this fact and requires that learners be able to analyze how authors use the themes, stories, and characters of earlier works....

Sixth graders learn to plan a story by using a story map. They analyze a detailed sample story map and answer 5 questions about it. Then, plan their own story using a story map template.

Activate higher-level thinking and reading comprehension skills with these questions about act 2 of Taming of the Shrew. Literary analysts respond briefly in writing to 5 questions about plot, characters, motivation, and personal...