Pennsylvania Department of Education
Analyzing Literary Elements in Fiction
Students analyze the characters and events in fictional writing. In this literary elements instructional activity, students study the meaning of the words characterization and fiction. They listen to the story Pigsty by Mark Teague, or...
Curated OER
Cause Célèbre
In this exercise, learners identify characters from an "Archie" comic and discuss the relevance of "Archie" to today's youth. They create public service advertisements featuring celebrities to address common concerns among teenagers in...
Curated OER
Character Traits in Fables
Combining art, music, dance, and reading comprehension, this lesson is geared to reach all ability levels. After reading a variety of fables and discussing story elements and character traits, class members select a moral to use as the...
Curated OER
Character Study
Third graders work in pairs to choose two characters and find their similarities and differences. In this character lesson, 3rd graders compare characters by their actions and attributes. Students individually complete a graphic...
K5 Learning
Race Cars
Do you ever get nervous before a big event? A pair of race cars discuss their nerves before tomorrow's race in a reading activity that includes five comprehension questions.
Mission Valley Ambulance
The Crucible
Prepare readers of Arthur Miller's The Crucible for a timed, in-class essay assessment with seven graphic organizers that ask individuals to note conflicts, both internal and external, characters' actions, possible motives, and changes...
Curated OER
How About a Hand?
Students experience a shared reading regarding the importance of feeling like a valued member of the community within a family. In this family member feelings lesson, students discuss the feelings and the motives of the characters....
Curated OER
Number the Stars, Lesson 3
Students consider how an author creates a feeling of suspense in a reader's mind. They analyze characters in the story. Students make a character map for Peter. They discuss how suspense unfolds in the novel Number the Stars.
Curated OER
Bullying
First graders learn healthy ways to express their feelings, needs and wants. In this bullying lesson, 1st graders read A Bad Case of the Stripes, discuss why the main character is getting bullied, dicuss why it's okay to be different...
Curated OER
Characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Stories
Students read literature by Nathaniel Hawthorne and write an essay comparing the main characters in the two stories. In this character analysis lesson, students read the stories Young Goodman Brown and The Minister's Black Veil. Students...
Curated OER
Changes in Character
Third graders read the book Hi New Baby! and identify how the main character changes throughout the story. In this character lesson plan, 3rd graders write descriptive clues to explain the changes in feelings of the character.
Curated OER
Write Some Dialogue
Students write dialogue. For this character development lesson students use direct or indirect speech to include a confrontation between two characters in their story. Students portray the emotions of the characters in addition to what...
Curated OER
How Is Arthur Really Feeling?
In this literary element learning exercise, students, after reading the novel Home Child, analyze what they think each of the seven stated reactions by Arthur tell about how he might be feeling.
National Association of Writers in Education
Character and Situation
Delve into narrative writing that puts choice in the hands of the writers. Kids pick their own characters, emotions, items, and places from a list and tie them together in the exposition. Several questions help guide the writers toward...
Curated OER
The Outsiders Study Guide
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...
Film English
Moments
Examine homelessness through a series of writing and discussion activities and a short film. Learners first come up with their own stories based on images of characters in the film. They then watch the film and respond to a series of...
Curated OER
Biopoem Strategy as Part of a Character Analysis for Of Mice and Men
Readers of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men will learn much “more than what (is) said to them” as they use the biopoem format and craft a poem about one of the major characters in Steinbeck’s tragic story of Geroge Milton and Lennie...
Project B.A.S.I.C. Child Development Specialist and Child Care Consultation
Better Attitudes and Skills in Children
Little kids often have very big feelings, and need help expressing them. A set of social emotional lessons provide tangible ways for young elementary learners to visualize their emotions, focus on clear communication, and channel their...
Curated OER
What a Character!
Guide your readers to explore character traits. As a class, discuss and record the traits of a commonly-known fairy tale character. Then do the same with the main character in the class novel. Finally, have learners use magazines and...
Curated OER
Horse Character: Ceramics Lesson
Animals oftentimes elicit various characteristics which make them symbolic or representative of human feeling, action, or emotion. The class creates horse characters out of clay to show character action and symbolism. This is a great...
Curated OER
Gus and Grandpa and the Two Wheeled Bike: comprehension skills
What a fantastic idea! Give these bookmarks to your readers to help them conquer pages 206-222 of Gus and Grandpa and the Two Wheeled Bike. They make inferences, conduct close reads, search for cause and effects, and focus on Gus, the...
Curated OER
Fortune Cookies Motivate Writing
Fortune cookies are used as motivation for a story. In this creative writing lesson, young writers review the six traits process. They discuss interesting characters, setting, problem and solution in a story. Original stories based on...
EngageNY
Close Reading of The Boy Who Loved Words: How Do People Build Their Word Power?
Third graders practice the skills of identifying the main message in a story, describing the main character, and sorting the key details of a story into specific categories. The story they read is, The Boy Who Loved Words. Using a...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Goldilocks Revisited
After a read-aloud of the story Goldielocks and the Three Bears, scholars gather into small groups to answer a series of questions. Peers examine the idea of smart decisions and identify three feelings of characters alongside three...