Curated OER
Simile Stories
Fourth graders view song lyrics and identify similes in the song text. In this similes lesson, 4th graders define and identify similes on a worksheet. Students write their own similes using various adjectives.
Curated OER
The Short Story: A Slice of Life
Students are introduced to the characteristics of the short story. Individually, they use their own personal experiences to write a poem about their families to get them used to writing. Next, they practice reading various short...
Curated OER
Wrapped in Mystery
Sixth graders can identify five basic elements that most mysteries contain. They put the elements of mystery into a graphic organizer they can follow. They construct meaning after reading Poe's short story and identify or infer the...
Curated OER
Secret Stories: Exploring the Elements of Folktales and Fables
Pupils are introduced to the characteristics of fables and folktales. In groups, they read and identify the various elements in the stories they read from around the world. For each story, they analyze the setting and the various...
Curated OER
Chocolate and Ice Cream Across the Curriculum
Sixth graders in a special education class discuss excerpts of two stories and read biographical information on the authors. In groups, they read the full text of both stories and try to solve the mystery as they read. They practice...
Curated OER
Hats
Students listen to a read aloud of "Hats, hats, hats," by Ann Morris focusing on the variety of hats. They play a file folder game categorizing hats from the book.
Curated OER
Haiku Poetry
Third graders write their own haiku poem after a lesson plan on the history and format of a haiku. In this poetry lesson plan, 3rd graders write a haiku with the correct lines and symbols.
Curated OER
Mice Squeak; We Speak
Students create a poster. In this vocabulary instructional activity, students use vocabulary words such as squeak, creak, squeal, squawk and quack to identify the sounds and noises of each word. Students come up with rhyming...
Curated OER
Heart (and Arm) of Darkness
Learners read and translate a 19th-century American ghost tale into a Japanese hanging scroll in this exciting lesson for middle-level Language Art classes. The lesson can be completed in four or five days.
Curated OER
The Great Depression and Now: The Migrant Worker Experience
Students identify the concerns of people caught in desperate times during the Great Depression. They make connections between The Grapes of Wrath and historical images from the Great Depression. Students make connections between the...
Curated OER
Honour killings: What do we need to understand in looking for solutions?
Students prepare a chart with four columns: things we know, things we think we know but need to check, things we wonder about, and new things we have learned. Each group is given a case study and they discuss the three cases of "honor...
Curated OER
Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
Learners explore a content area by reading both fiction and nonfiction texts on the topic. They do more research online about the topic. After comparing the texts, they create their own written original work, using both narrative and...
Curated OER
How We Have Changed!
First graders practice using their writing skills. They create memory books through the use of daily journal writing questions of the day. Students respond to story prompts and write autobiographies of themselves and another classmate.
Curated OER
Life on a Farm
Students take a field trip to a farm or observe pictures of farms and animals in the classroom. They paint a mural of a farm setting with animals. They practice phonetic skills with farm stories and songs. They explain how milk becomes...
Curated OER
Getting to Know You
Third graders explore different types of poetry and illustrate their own experiences through creating their own poem. In this getting to know you instructional activity, 3rd graders create and recite their poems with a self-portrait.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Fable and Trickster Tales Around the World
The lessons presented in this website "introduce children to folk tales" and how these folktales are changed and affected by generational and cultural values. Includes several links to further related information on folktales, fables,...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: What's in a Mystery? Exploring and Identifying Mystery Elements
Contains plans for seven lessons that teach students about the plot structure, character, and setting of the mystery genre. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Shhh! Bear's Sleeping: Learning About Nonfiction and Fiction
Students explore the distinction between the fiction story Bear Snores On and the nonfiction book Every Autumn Comes the Bear.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Suggestions for Writing Memoirs: Memoirs With Strong Word Choices
Editor Amy Ehrlich compelled ten well-known children's authors to write narratives, and she compiled these memoirs in her book, When I Was Your Age. The collection of narratives varies, but an underlying theme is the way in which...