How do modern adaptations of Shakespearean plays relate to their original source material? Middle and high schoolers focus on Shakespeare's play Othello and its screen adaptation "O" to explore how modern film adaptations of Shakespeare...

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...

Students create a literature pyramid. They review and discuss their assessment task and rubric and select the literature for their pyramid. They read the literary selection and complete a pyramid sheet for one of the four literary...

Sixth graders analyze the a character's qualities and the effects of these qualities on the plot and the resolution of the conflict in the story "The Pigman and Me." They develop a list of the qualities, discuss if these qualities were...

Fourth graders investigate the style of diary writing as its own genre of literature. They read Harriet The Spy in order to have a text for this literature study. Students use the skill of prediction to preview the story, and then...

Middle schoolers create literature pyramids. They read selections of various societies, eras, and ideas. They complete two pyramid sheets for the same literary element including either plot, character, setting, or theme. They color-code...

Students complete activities with a leveled chapter book. For this literature lesson, students read a novel and complete several graphic organizers and activities as they read. They focus on characters, settings, vocabulary, and plot. 

Second graders identify the elements of the story "The Librarian from the Black Lagoon." They listen to the story and list the story elements of character, settling, problem, and solution. They then use KidPix to create individual...

Sixth graders explore strategies authors use to make characters and setting seem real to readers. They develop characters and describe setting in original narratives. Students read myths and determine common themes found in myths from...

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 read Katherine Paterson's book, A Bridge to Terabithia, and select small groups to complete a project based on a chapter of the book. They create a story web for the chapter, summarize it, design a brochure or advertisement,...

Third graders explore the elements of a story using fairy tales from all over the world. They compare and contrast story elements, key ideas and concepts found in a variety of texts from around the world.

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 make observations about the wind and develop predictions to test with kites. The lesson plan's Language Arts component invloves communication of concepts with peers. On their kite flying day, students discuss how the wind and...

Time for a story! Learners of all ages enjoy listening to stories, so read them some common fables and have them work cooperatively to create a fable.  Differentiate for varying ability levels by providing sentence frames, graphic...

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...

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. 

Students watch Charlie Chaplin films and discuss film elements. They select a story written by Edgar Allen Poe to write and produce a movie of. They film scenes, edit, and create a final iMovie project.

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...

It is rough trying to make your way through Romeo and Juliet with young readers. The language can set up barriers that prevent conversations about the conflicts and themes. Robert Swindells Daz 4 Zoe is similar in structure and theme,...

Ideas like this are highly effective for helping build better reading comprehension. The class listens to an excerpt from a grade-appropriate text, and they discuss what clues or words helped them visualize the scene. They then read a...

"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...

Learners demonstrate the ability to select and evaluate media materials. They demonstrate comprehension when listening and reading for literary experience, to be informed, and to perform a task. Students evaluate a fiction book based on...