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Fairy Tale Facts
Students analyze fairy tale characters and story elements. For this fairy tale lesson, students label two charts for the characters and settings of a fairy tale. Students view props in story boxes and answer questions about the story...
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Around the Room Short Story
Collective story writing is a great way to reinforce the concept of story elements and collaborative learning. Young writers discuss story elements such as, setting, character, action, climax, conclusion, foreshadowing, dialogue, and...
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Understanding Character
Readers practice character analysis by reviewing Gary Soto's short story "La Bamba" with the whole class (anything you've read together will work). They design t-shirts that feature traits and story elements to reveal the nature of a...
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A Newer, Better, Older Me
First graders engage in a lesson that is concerned with self-respect and interpersonal relationships. They create a character clover as an art project that lists positive character traits and specific attributes of strength. Then...
Curriculum Corner
8th Grade ELA "I Can" Statement Posters
Eighth grades can master the ELA Common Core standards! Show your learners the connection between classroom activities and assignments and the standards with this set of "I Can" statement posters. Each standard has been rewritten as an...
Curriculum Corner
7th Grade ELA "I Can" Statement Posters
Help your seventh graders relate the ELA Common Core standards to their own learning with these "I Can" statement posters. Each standard has been translated into a statement that pupils can understand and placed on its own page for...
Ereading Worksheets
Figurative Language for Edgar Allen Poe
Are your classes weary of dreary worksheets? Are the learners nearly napping? Thrill them, fill them with delight with an interactive instructional activity that asks them to identify the figurative language Edgar Allen Poe uses to add...
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Much Ado About Illumination
Students analyze the language and characters in the Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. In this Shakespeare play activity, students read section of the play and discuss the speech of Benedick and Claudio. Students record the speech...
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What's the Problem? Exploring Conflict in "On the Sidewalk Bleeding"
Students use the story 'On the Sidewalk Bleeding' to analyze the various conflict types found in literature. In this conflict lesson, students view a PowerPoint about the story and identify the four types of conflict. Students identify...
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Map the Mystery!
Seventh graders read the novel, "The House of Dies Drear", and create a story map to analyze the plot and recall events.
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A Water Droplet's Experience in the Hydrologic Cycle
Students write a story from the perspective of a water droplet on a journey through the water cycle. They use the 6+1 Traits writing method to focus on voice in the writing as they create characters that their water droplet has...
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Novel Analysis
Students read the novel, Lord of the Flies, then write an essay analyzing the novel. They analyze, in small groups, characters, plot, setting, style, symbolism, theme, critical responses, and historical influences
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The Story Project: A Lesson Plan for the Combining Voices Literary Competition
Students analyze Simple Answer, by John Cleaveland, and use this image to inspire a short story. They use both verbal and visual language to help them create the characters and the plot. The lesson plan contains steps that helps the...
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Descriptive Writing
Second graders analyze descriptive writing. In this writing lesson, 2nd graders read a story with a villain, describe the villain in words, and create a Wanted Poster describing him on paper.
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"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
High schoolers read and analyze the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe. They take notes while reading the story, select an element to analyze, and write an essay about the characters, theme, or the setting.
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Window Mural
Students analyze visual arts by creating a presentation in their schoolyard. In this mural instructional activity, students identify the work of Keith Haring by researching the web. Students utilize construction paper, markers and...
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Tracking Down Meaning in Great Expectations
Fourth graders are assigned an unique theme, symbol, or character in Great Expectations. They becomes the class expert on that facet of the novel while learning the basic skills needed to write a research paper.
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Contemporizing Myths
Learners examine ancient Greek myths and illustrate origin myths scenes in a contemporary setting. In this Greek myth lesson, students analyze Rembrandt’s painting The Abduction of Europa and discuss how the artist took an...
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Grapes of Wrath as a Primary Source
Eighth graders consider the plight of migrant farmers during the Great Depression. In this historical perspectives lesson, 8th graders watch the film based on Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and then discuss the conditions the characters...
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Pigs: Facts And Fun
Learners complete a unit on pigs. They take a field trip to the fair and zoo, watch the video of "Charlotte's Web," create a poster, read and analyze "The Three Little Pigs," write a storybook, participate in a reader's theater, and make...
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Taxonomy
High schoolers analyze the complexity of organism classifications based on certain criteria. For this classifying organisms lesson students study taxonomy and gather information and leaves to do their own experiment on...
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William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
Students analyze William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. In this literature analysis instructional activity, students compare a modern novel and play. Students analyze Faulkner's interior monologues. Students write a paper about the ways As I...
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Freckle Juice
Students analyze a chapter from the assigned book they are reading. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read chapter four from Freckle Juice by Judy Blume, and discuss the main character, Andrew. Students complete...
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Write Your Own Folk or Fairy Tale
Students analyze folk and fairy tales. In this language arts lesson, students discuss the elements of a tale determining what the differences are between folk and fairy tales. Students then write their own tales using the graphic...