While you tell the story of "The Gunny Wolf," your class will actively participate by asking questions and clarifying. Next, they answer questions about the story to increase comprehension before creating a storyboard to document the...

Examine the differences between totalitarianism and democracy in this writing instructional activity. Using the same format and theme from Great Expectations, young writers work in pairs to compose their own short stories. They follow...

Students revise Spanish mystery stories. They sequence the events from a group's mystery story and suggest revisions for the setting. They revise their stories using the suggestions from classmates and describe characters in folktales....

Students explore the myths and legends of the Ancient Greek and Romans in the ten lessons of this unit. Students compare and contrast the myths and the cultures that created them. Norse myths are included in this unit.

Everyone has a story; help your writers develop their own with this prewriting packet. Designed for upstanders to share their story and encourage others to be upstanders, this set of questions helps writers craft and structure a story to...

What was your most (exciting, maddening, nervous, thrilling, etc.) experience in school? A part of a unit on narrative writing, in this lesson class members review the elements of the form and then choose an event when they learned a...

Imagine the surprise when small groups present their Evidence Charts to the class and discover that each group has studied a different version of the Cinderella story. Irish, Ojibwa, Egyptian, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Mexican, and...

Students examine presentations of problems and reaching solutions in literature. In this writing skills lesson, students read "The Three Little Pigs," and respond to several discussion questions about plot, characters, setting, conflict,...

High schoolers create a new ending for a familiar story that stand alone with a clear beginning, middle and end. As a class, students review a familiar text focusing on plot and character development. In small groups, high schoolers...

In this scene diagnostics instructional activity, students examine the elements of a chapter, discuss the point of view, plot, and goals of the scene. Students also evaluate a chapter in the book they are currently reading.

Students explore language arts by completing a graphic organizer in class. In this story structure lesson, students read the poem "Sick" by Shel Silverstein and discuss the different elements in the piece which make it an effective...

Students interact with the main concepts of a narrative text in the six lessons of this unit. The setting, prediction, retelling, sequencing, and the identification of the beggining, middle and end of a story are investigated.

Students dress and act as selected characters from Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". They identify each other and make predictions about the upcoming chapters based on their observations about the characters.

Different animals live in distinct and specialized environments. Learners will discuss organisms and environments, and then create some using their dramatic art skills. They all act like animals in a marine environment. When they are...

How does Oliver Twist, the novel written by Charles Dickens, compare with its screenplay adaptation? Although the activity doesn't require learners to have read the novel, the similarities and differences of the highlighted passages...

What makes a story interesting? Complex characters! As part of a series of worksheets that prepares middle schoolers to write their own novel, the exercises included explain the role of the protagonist, the antagonist, and the supporting...

Cultivate young performers while teaching them about helping one another with this interactive storytelling lesson plan. Elementary schoolers read or listen to the story The Little Red Hen by Mike Lockett and then act out the story while...

Assign this practice test to your ninth graders reading "Cask of Amontillado," by Edgar Allen Poe. They examine the characters, the plot line, the mood, and different themes in the text during this 32-question quiz. 

Plot, setting, characters, and conflict are common to both drama and narrative stories. Kids create narrated tableaus that show their understanding of the plot, setting, and conflict of a story they've recently read. The lesson...

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...

Stories contain very specific elements; plot, characters, and key events. Learners use pantomime to retell a key event from the beginning, middle, and end of a story. They discuss setting and character as each group discusses and then...

Read and analyze the book, The Teacher From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler with your class. They will compare/contrast the two Mrs. Greens with a Venn diagram, design a new book cover, create a paper mache mask, and complete a story...

The tale of "Lon Po Po" is a Chinese story, very similar to the European tale of "Little Red Riding Hood." Learners make cross cultural comparisons between the two tales, focusing on themes common to both. They review story elements such...

Explore language arts by completing a story worksheet in class. Readers will identify the importance of plot, setting, and character while they write their own short story. They also retell their story to a classmate and participate in a...