Using Movie Maker, sixth graders make an eight frame movie based on a story they have written. They choose music clips, select pictures from PowerPoint, and make their movie. The instructional activity should take about ten days to...

After completing Juliet Marillier's young adult novel Wildwood Dancing, class members rewrite a traditional fairy tale, making three significant changes to illustrate a theme of their choosing.

Eager readers have waited a long time, very patiently, for a set of literary analysis lessons that connect text structure to the work's central idea. As ninth graders continue reading "The Tell-Tale Heart," they focus on the central...

Maya Angelou's first autobiography,  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, demonstrates both the author's exemplary writing and the themes of gender and racial injustice that perpetuate beyond the limits of the 20th century. Use a...

The stories in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street form the basis for a lesson on plot elements. The class examines introduction, sequence, problem, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution and identifies these...

Conduct a close reading of chapter 9 of The Cay. Read the chapter again and ask pupils to respond to a list of included text-dependent questions. Finish the class with the provided writing assignment, which asks learners to use textual...

Explore fantasy as a genre. After working in small groups to identify literary elements in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, class members share their work and then use the presentations to help them prepare to write...

Fifth graders examine basic theatre vocabulary and use it to discuss a play.  In this theater instructional activity, 5th graders identify the elements of a play.  Students perform their play and use theatre vocabulary to...

Students write using a strong sense of place. In this Adventures of Tom Sawyer lesson, students discuss the importance of setting to the novel. Students brainstorm five specific locations that contribute to their personal history....

Fourth graders identify the point of view. In this point of view lesson students compare and contrast the point of view from third person omniscient and first person. Students rewrite a paragraph in an alternative point of view.

In this study guide worksheet, students define vocabulary and literary terms found in "The Gift of the Magi". Students also complete a plot diagram, find examples of literary term usage, and answer comprehension questions based on the...

Cassandra Clare's City of Bones is the first book in the Mortal Instruments series and is quite popular with young adults. This online multiple choice quiz tests readers' understanding of basic plot elements.

Young scholars read a short story and then map out the elements of a short story using "Inspiration" software. They read 'Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allen Poe.

Students read a short story, The Tell-Tale Heart and create a story map identifying the elements of a short story included in the selection. Students complete an Accelerated Reader test on the selection.

Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...

Story elements such as conflict, character analysis, resolution, and moral are discussed and charted as elementary children read folktales involving animals. An element of science is also introduced as learners discover what a keystone...

Create a classroom full of writers using this innovative technique. The presentation walks learners through the process of writing a script, including identifying the setting, characters, and major events in the story. After reviewing...

When scholars re-tell a story, do they boil it down to important details in a logical order? Practice summarizing narratives using this think-aloud strategy, which is scripted here for your convenience. After explaining why this is an...

After reading each chunk of two chapters of Carl Hiaasen's novel Hoot, ask learners to respond to related study questions. The instructions at the top of the questions suggest that individuals should read the questions first, read the...

Young readers select a book from a provided list to use as the basis for an intensive class study of Holocaust novels. After completing their novels, groups create a multimedia presentation highlighting the elements of literature...

Altering the ending of a famous fairy tale is a really fun way for kids to experience creative writing. The lesson here has them do just that! Learners listen to the famous fairy tale, "The Twelve Brothers," and change the ending of the...

Explore the complex themes of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo with a concept and vocabulary analysis lesson plan. Lead your class in a discussion about the underlying social and historical issues surrounding the novel, as...

Dig into any piece of fiction with a series of analysis questions. There are two levels of questions provided: basic and in-depth. The basic questions can be copied double-sided onto a single piece of paper, while the in-depth questions...

Young writers get a jump start on story telling by selecting a plot, a setting, and multiple character cards and then use these basic elements to create a tale.