ReadWriteThink
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a comic strip combines both images and words for the ultimate narrative effect. After reading The Three Little Pigs and deciphering the plot elements, elementary readers work through four...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment and Establishing a Context for My Hero’s Journey Narrative
How do writers engage their readers in a story? Pupils consider the question and use the informational text, "The Hero's Journey" to justify their plan for their own fictional narrative. To that end, scholars write an explanatory...
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End of Unit Assessment, Part 2: Drafting Introduction and Conclusion of a Narrative
First and last impressions matter. Scholars compose the introductory and concluding sections of their narrative writing assignments. Also, to prepare for an upcoming performance task, pupils watch a modern-day monologue from the movie...
Curated OER
Slave Narratives
Students examine the slave perspective and how it differs from stories we hear in text books. In this slave narrative lesson, students use primary source narratives to compare how slave life was expressed by the slaves to how slave life...
Curated OER
Interpreting Characters, Setting, Plot, and Theme - The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Disaster
Examine story development and historical disaster with your class. Learners view a video depicting the incidents surrounding The Triangle Shirtwaist Disaster. They use graphic organizers and the Internet to gather enough information to...
Curated OER
Poetic Elements Are Fun!
Engage your class in the elements of poetry with a series of lessons and activities. The plans cover simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, and imagery. Learners come up their their own metaphors, identify poetic...
Curated OER
A Handmade House Book with Student Writing
Use this activity for your bookmaking project. First, young writers work on making an accordion fold house book. After composing a variety of pieces of writing, they can use their book to store their writing. The structure is ideal for a...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Benjamin Franklin and Learning a Lesson
Examine stories with a moral in a character development instructional activity. The class reads a short story written by Benjamin Franklin in which he pays too much for a toy whistle. Individuals then make text-to-self connections and...
Curated OER
Morality "Tails" East and West: European Fables and Buddhist Jataka Tales
Have your class explore Buddhist Jataka Tales to compare and contrast them to European fables. After defining fables, Jataka tales, and the elements of each, learners identify themes and patterns for both types of narratives and the...
Curated OER
Borrowing Narrative Skills from Mr. Fletcher: Using a "Prompts in Reverse" Technique to Inspire Your Writers
Help your class find their writing voices with this instructional activity which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher...
Curated OER
Narrative Structure: Les Miserables
What is the initiating event? What is the protagonist's goal? What attempts are made to achieve this goal? What is the outcome? Model for your class how to map out the structure of any narrative. Readers then search for answers as the...
Curated OER
Dear Diary
Work on narrative writing with this lesson, in which middle schoolers analyze the characters from a selected piece of literature and write narrative diary pieces as the character. They work to understand the point of view of the...
Curated OER
Good vs. Evil
Make a study of good and evil by examining a short legend. After reading, learners compose their own stories and participate in a class discussion about the text, the characters, and the message of the reading.
Curated OER
Family Stories and Personal Narratives
Fourth graders read various stories in their literature books about families. Individually, they make a timeline showing the most important events in their lives. They bring in one artifact from their lives and write a paper about it...
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Revising for Organization and Style: Exciting Endings
Young writers compose a gripping ending to their historical fiction narratives. Following the previous lesson plan, where learners wrote a bold beginning, class members examine exciting endings from a literary text. They then draft their...
Curated OER
The Purpose and Power of Persuasion
Examine the power of persuasion and have learners consider how it influences events in their own lives. After reading and analyzing informational texts to understand the author's purpose, class members take a written test and craft a...
Curated OER
Mission Accomplished
Second graders describe the impact of certain figures in United States history, including Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. They describe experiences of early American explorers and compose narratives from the perspectives of others.
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Finding the Gist of the Immediate Aftermath: Excerpt of “Comprehending the Calamity”
Brace for the aftershocks! Scholars read an excerpt from a primary source document about the immediate aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco fire and earthquake. Next, pupils complete an anchor chart, analyzing how the author introduces,...
Curated OER
Say Hi to Haibun Fun
What is a haibun? With this interesting lesson, writers will experience the Japanese writing form haibun, identify elements important to Japanese writing styles, analyze a haibun, and compose their own. Different from the typical journal...
Curated OER
From Page to Stage
Students, utilizing video clips and Web sites, compare specific passages from original texts to moments in Broadway musicals on which they were based, analyzing similarities and differences between them. They adapt literature into a...
Curated OER
Say Hi to Haibun Fun
Students examine the Japanese writing form of Haibun. They identify the elements of Japanese prose and poetry, analyze a haibun for writing devices, complete a graphic organizer, and compose an original haibun as a form of journal keeping.
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: Assessment Strategy
Close up your study of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a letter-writing assignment. Pupils prepare by journaling and sharing with a partner. They then compose letters that focus on a big idea from the...
Curated OER
Publish Your Daily Dilemma Results
Young scholars fill out an outline and write an expository text on a dilemma that they read about. They brainstorm how they can solve the dilemma, write about it, then submit their suggestions to the Wilderness Classroom Expedition Team.
Curated OER
Michelle Kwan: Heart of a Champion
Who is a champion to your class? Elementary and middle schoolers think of a role-model from their lives. Then, in their journals, they write evidence of that person's perseverance. They identify the character trait of perseverance with...