Introduce young philosophers to the wisdom of China's most famous thinkers with a short bio. The reading comprehension passage includes an answer key.

Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...

Paul Fisher, the main character in Tangerine, comes to see that it's the choices in life that lead to the consequences that make all the difference. A unit study of Bloor's young adult novel leads readers down this same path. 

Students are introduced to the idea of traditional oral narratives and divide them into genres. They explore the genres of context, motifs and variants. Each student finds oral narratives in their own lives and practice retelling them in...

This annotated bibliography and list of websites are valuable resources for any study of the Holocaust and/or of Elie Wiesel's Night.

Define and write proverbs! Learners define proverbs, use the Internet to find weather-related proverbs, and talk with their parents to learn other proverbs. There's a well-structured worksheet included here. 

Distinguish between primary and secondary source documents using the theme of philanthropy. Middle schoolers discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl as a way to study the past using a primary source. Then they investigate how to...

A getting-to-know-you activity that is perfect for the beginning of the year! Kids craft their portrait out of clay, then make a mobile by dangling ceramic representations of things they love. This project builds self-awareness, motor...

Give young scholars a chance to practice making inferences after reading the book Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges. They confirm whether or not their conclusions are true, have a class discussion, and then independently complete an...

Students read excerpts of autobiographies from Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. After listening to excerpts of an oral reading of Frederick Douglass' book, they discuss the ways African Americans were treated on plantations. ...

Students evaluate nonfiction text. In this evaluating nonfiction lesson students read two pieces of nonfiction text and respond with a short free-writing piece. Students discuss the content and focus on the accuracy.

Students listen to a story, then use the same format to write a class book.

Students research their family's heritage. They follow a guide, document their family's history and put it together in report form.

Learners locate the literary devices used in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. In this figurative language lesson plan, students first distinguish between similes, metaphors, analogies, personification, etc. Learners...

Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book The Last Day of Slavery. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer...

 In this genre study PowerPoint presentation, students read the definitions and characteristics of each literary genre. There are 17 genres that the PowerPoint presentation addresses, such as science fiction, tall tales and poetry.

Five primary source materials on African American history: I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr., My Bondage and Freedom by Frederick Douglass, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, Up From...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will learn the difference between biography and autobiography with these resources. PowerPoint lessons, biographical paragraphs, and autobiographical paragraphs are provided.

This article provides extensive excerpts from "The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass." This is a lot of information about the great abolitionist and orator written by himself.

Enhance your reading of "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" by Ernest Gaines with the help of an author biography, novel introduction, vocabulary lists, and reading-response exercises. After completing the novel, write about the...

Read the complete text from the book "Up from Slavery: An Autobiography", by Booker T. Washington, in which he explores his journey from slave to educator. Includes illustrations, biographical facts, and links to further information on...

The Autobiography of Malcolm X traces the life of one of the most influential, controversial, and thoughtful people of the 20th century. Selected (10) reading passages (grades 8-11) to pair with the "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by...

This site from the University of Groningen provides Benjamin Franklin's complete autobiography 1706-1757.