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Reading Comprehension Strategy Ideas
Students participate in pre-reading activities, journal keeping, vocabulary lists and other reading comprehension boosters. These activities can be applied to many genres.
Midland Independent School District
Drama
Ten drama lessons are the perfect addition to your language arts or theater class. With a focus on script elements, plot development, and parts of a dramatic story, the lessons guide young playwrights through the steps of telling a story...
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The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins
Students explore the penguin life cycle. In this penguin life cycle lesson, students read the book The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins. Students look at the pictures and make predictions. Students identify facts about penguins and do...
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Tales of the Supernatural
High schoolers explore the origins and development of a literary genre. They investigate how shared imaginative concerns link the members of a literary period and compare works of literature from different eras.
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Fishing Fun
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Fishing Fun. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer questions, have...
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Sahara Special
Third graders read the book Sahara Special and participate in comprehension activities. In this realistic fiction lesson, 3rd graders create a brochure for where they live. Students have personal bags, a brown paper bag, that they fill...
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Identifying Differences Between Fiction and Nonfiction Books
Students explore the differences between fiction and non-fiction book. For this genre study lesson, students read examples of fiction and non-fiction and identify the characteristics of each genre. Students list the characteristics on a...
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Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales
Introduce the concept of myths to your class. Using the link to "Myths Around the World," read a story aloud and have learners list characteristics of a myth. Readers then choose their own myths from the site and work in groups to answer...
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Let's Talk About Painting
Discuss art and read Matthew's Dream. In this visual arts lesson, students recognize that there are different styles of art, each with its own techniques. Use simple techniques to understand art and work at stations to...
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Asian Cinderella Tales
Explore the world of fairy tales using this lesson focusing on higher- order thinking skills. Learners compare and contrast an Asian Cinderella story to other versions. It is a great way to review the characteristics of the genre and...
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Off the Record
Music reflects culture and culture is reflected in popular music. Reading an article on how hip-hop has affected the lives of two young men of different races launches an investigation of the development and influences of various musical...
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The Hare and the Water: A Tanzanian Folk Tale
"The Hare and the Water," a Tanzanian folk tale, lends a global perspective to literary analysis. Learners spend the first two days reading and storyboarding. On day three, they examine folk tale elements (worksheet included), and design...
Dream of a Nation
Writing a Narrative Essay
Imagine using narrative essays to encourage change. This multi-week unit plan does just that. After reading a series of articles from Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, class members examine the...
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Exploring Race Through Literature
Provide your class with an opportunity to examine race through a variety of literary works. They read and analyze a chosen poem, interview, speech, or story describing race in America. They then use key words from the original work to...
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Library Curriculum: What Would a Wonderful Library Be Like?
Second graders complete a KWL chart about libraries. They create a book using writing patterns of a particular author. Students decide criteria for awarding the Second Grade Librarian Award to books in the classroom library, and use a...
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Robin Hood: England's Man of Mystery
Students study the tale of Robin Hood to further their knowledge of character traits, improve their vocabularies, and increase their knowledge of the Medieval Ages. In this Robin Hood lesson, students complete 14 lessons that help them...
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Modesto City Schools Library Lesson Plan
Students read and understand a variety of genres in a library setting. In this library activity lesson, students act as detectives and use clues in text and pictures to hypothesize the title of the missing book for the library reading...
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Post-Colonial Writers Unit
How do cultural and historical background impact thought? To explore this essential question, class members view of portion of the film, The Passage to India, read an excerpt from The Magician’s Nephew, and Nissim Ezekiel’s...
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The Breaking of Charity
The danger of mob mentality is on display in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Get your class thinking with some challenging quickwrite questions, then assign characters from the play to be read aloud altogether. Links to worksheets...
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The Game is Afoot - A Study of Sherlock Holmes
Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre. Based on what...
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Introducing Biographies - Getting to Know You
Students explore several different types of biographies to determine their area of interest, choose one notable person they would like to explore, complete online tutorial on biographies, and use written and Internet resources to...
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Historical Fiction: A Wealth of Interpretations
How can understanding the genre of historical fiction help your language arts class with literary analysis? Use this instructional activity to help young readers learn about historical fiction. After reading a selection from the "Dear...
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Memoir
After reading and analyzing two narrative memoirs, middle schoolers engage in a variety of activities, including writing an essay, developing a story map, and creating character charts. They then compare and contrast story maps, and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Tales of the Supernatural
Scary stuff! Whether approached as the first horror story or a "serious imaginative exploration of the human condition," Frankenstein continues to engage readers. Here's a packet of activities that uses Mary Shelley's gothic...