The Odyssey, Star Wars, The Hunger Games. Odysseus, Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen. Add The Hobbit and Bilbo Baggins to these lists, and you have a unit examining classic and contemporary myths, legends, and folktales with hero and...

Students observe and demonstrate the strategy of summarizing the main idea. They discuss six rules of summarizing, and observe the teacher summarizing the first chapter of the novel "The Incredible Journey." Students then read chapter...

High schoolers read a variety of novels and watch clips of films through which they begin to feel empathy for cultures and countries occupied by foreign countries. They have the option of studying the Sino-Japanese Wars or the...

Conduct a close reading of chapter 9 of The Cay. Read the chapter again and ask pupils to respond to a list of included text-dependent questions. Finish the class with the provided writing assignment, which asks learners to use textual...

Guide young readers through the classic novel The Swiss Family Robinson with this collection of activities and worksheets. From basic spelling and grammar practice, to reading comprehension skills, this resource will enhance...

In this language arts activity, middle schoolers write a summary of Chapter one and answer the related questions for Number The Stars.

Shocking! After viewing a short clip from the 1931 movie, Frankenstein and reviewing electricity references in Mary Shelley's novel, class members examine Luigi Galvani's and Alessandro Volta's observations on electricity and muscle...

Students read and complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the novel, Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. Included are reading, math, science, writing, social studies, and library connections. A vocabulary/spelling...

Your class has just begun reading Jacob Have I Loved, and they're coming upon the fifth chapter. Pause their reading and have them complete a KWHL chart (not included) to detail what they've learned from the novel's beginning. An example...

Twelfth graders examine the elements of literature. They each read a chapter of a novel, sequentially list the main ideas, present a summary of the chapter to the class, sequence the events, and review the novel by summarizing the timeline.

Here is a one-stop planning resource for Louis Sachar's Newbery Award-winning book Holes. You'll find 21 links to worksheets and various activities designed to span the entire book. Learners draw to help analyze settings and...

Are you working on an Outsiders unit? Use this list of activities to deepen your middle schoolers' understanding of the novel. After reading S.E. Hinton's novel, young readers work on three required activities, including participating in...

The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...

Prepare your class for argumentative writing with a close inspection of the controversy surrounding Theodore Taylor's novel, The Cay. All necessary articles and materials are linked at the beginning of the resource. Kids use the provided...

If you're looking for a way to structure your unit on Jack London's White Fang, use a well-organized guide to bring the intrigue of the novel to your middle school classroom. Covering a biography of the author, main background and...

In this reading worksheet, students read a given portion of a book, summarize the information, select vocabulary words, write questions and answers about the reading, and draw an illustration of their favorite part. Students complete...

Cover the vocabulary and thematic concepts from Lois Lowry's The Giver with an extended reference guide. It includes relevant plot elements, discussions on themes and motifs, and any possible issues arising from your class's...

Before you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, introduce the themes of the play with a instructional activity based on the biblical story of Joseph. Taking your high schoolers through selected text...

Pupils visit links about Utah's Beehive Award. They investigate which books received nominations and read reviews about them. They explore other sites to participate in various games and activities.

Learners research one aspect of the life of Faulkner and the culture of the South.  In this As I Lay Dying instructional activity, learners explore a webpage on Faulkner and write a summary.  Learners analyze the images...

Students construct a book banquet to help us to recall and enjoy food eaten in Korea during the 1940's. The class is to read When My Name Was Keoko and then create a book banquet that the students invite their parents to. Students cook...

Students read sections of the novel, "The Jungle". They identify the problems of the meat industry during the Progressive Era. They discuss food concerns of today and make connections between the two time periods.

Students recreate an "American Idol" contest in which they present their favorite books to their classmates using arguments for and excerpts from the books. Following the presentation, students will be polled and the least popular books...

Students are introduced to the novel Sing Down The Moon written by Scott O'Dell. Throughout the book, after each chapter is read, class discussions and journal writing is incorporated into the unit.