Curated OER
When A Story Met A Sandwich
How is a story like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Use making a sandwich as a metaphor to remind your writers that a good, solid beginning, a rich and rewarding middle, and an ending that brings everything together spices up a...
Curated OER
Write a Story
Here is a great way to explore narrative writing! Learners review a previously constructed story map and identify the characters, setting, and main events in the book Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock retold by Eric A. Kimmel. They...
Curated OER
Computer Mysteries
Who has been messing with my trampoline? Young writers choose local events as the basis for their own “Who Did It?” mystery. They then devise a plot, problem, and cast of characters and write an introduction explaining the problem and...
West Jefferson High School
The Novel — Honor
For classes tackling To Kill a Mockingbird, this lesson plan sets readers up for discussions or essay writing with questions and prompts. The prompts encourage individuals to explore beyond the novel itself, looking at...
August House
Anansi and the Tug o' War
Combine art, math, language arts, drama, and delicious Jell-o with a instructional activity based on the African folktale Anansi and the Tug o' War. Kids make predictions and discuss plot points of the story before joining in...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Thank You, Mr. Falker: Identifying the Superpowers of Reading
Third graders read excepts from the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker in order to gain practice in understanding an unfamiliar story by focusing on the details. They use a worksheet, embedded in the plan, which directs them to certain...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: On-Demand Informational Writing
Lesson 7 focuses on building academic vocabulary and writing an explanatory letter with supported textual evidence. For the first five minutes of the lesson, the educator reminds the class of how to read and refer to the accordion...
Curated OER
No Regrets: a Poetry Analysis
Students read a poem and use the TPCASTT strategy for analysis. In this poetry analysis lesson, students journal about their future goals and read John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player." Students discuss the purpose of the poem and...
Curated OER
Literature: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Character Analysis
Seventh graders read the story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and analyze one of its characters. After completing a story element worksheet, they identify their favorite character. In several sentences students give reasons for their choices with...
Curated OER
The Final Copy
Write short stories in which events are presented in logical order, point of view is clear, theme and characters are developed. Middle schoolers also work on sensory language, concrete language and/or dialogue. They establish their...
Orlando Shakes
Henry V: Study Guide
Shakespeare did more than write timeless literary works—he coined words such as moonbeam, fortune-teller, and even eyeball! A study guide for Henry V introduces key words the Bard first used with a fun vocabulary activity, part of a...
Curated OER
KWHL Questioning Strategy Instructions: Siddhartha
". . . gentlenenss is stronger than severity, water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than force." Prior to beginning Siddhartha, employ a KWHL strategy to provided your class members with the background knowledge of Hinduism,...
New York Public Library
What's for Lunch?: New York City Restaurant Menus
Do you remember the days when a cup of coffee cost five cents? At A.W. Dennett restaurant in 1894, you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and as well as a five-cent slice of pie to accompany it. The menu from that year is a primary...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Hobbit
From dragons to dwarves, from riddles to rings, the great adventure story of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien has captivated generations of readers of all ages. An educator's guide explores the novel's literary elements,...
Curated OER
Women's History
In this Women's History worksheet, students write a informational book report by filling in the title, author, general information, and interesting facts. On the second page, students write a Women's History fictional book report by...
Curated OER
Technological Grand Conversations
Conduct a written literary discussion and diminish stress about public writing. Class members, already arranged into literature circles, compose and post responses to novels, signing with initials or class number. The process continues...
Curated OER
Introducing Jane Eyre
"How can a magazine reflect a particular time and culture?" Using this prompt, your class explores the Victorian Era as it relates to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. They can also play the "Victorian Women's Rights" game for the year 1840...
Curated OER
Create a Book with Student Treasures
You can't publish a story until after it has been revised and edited! Budding authors investigate the writing process while drafting an original story. They select a topic, complete a rough draft, edit it, revise it, and finally publish...
Curated OER
Writing Diagnostics and Introduction to Literary Terms
Assess your new learners' writing abilities and knowledge of literary terms with these diagnostic activities. Part of a back-to-school unit, this is meant to provide the teacher with information about the ability levels of their class....
Curated OER
Encouraging Students to Embrace Their Inner Author
Everyone is a writer! Youngsters compose an original piece of writing. In this writing lesson, they come up with their own idea for a piece of writing, revise it, and then publish it with illustrations. This lesson includes three...
Curated OER
The 5 W's of Reading
Primary young scholars will use the five "W" questions for reading comprehension as they read silently to themselves so that they can understand and remember what they have read. They then read The Velveteen Rabbit aloud, discussing the...
Curated OER
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Students study paintings and use their knowledge of story elements to analyze the art. In this art analysis lesson, students review a novel for its elements. Students study the image At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance and discuss the story...
Curated OER
Main Idea- Fiction
Eighth graders investigate the concept of main idea and supporting details, and how they are used in the genre of fiction. In this literacy lesson, 8th graders listen to a fictional passage and take notes on the characters, setting,...
Curated OER
Colors, Characters, & Clues: White Socks
Students examine the process of making inferences. They define inference, view a Powerpoint presentation, and as a whole group locate clues in the pictures of a short story, locating written clues to reinforce their conclusions.