Young artists will respond to reading children's literature, by engaging in original storytelling and representing their own images through the visual arts. Then they orally describe details of people, places, and things in their stories...

Starting at the very beginning may be a very good place to start, but it can also be very difficult for emergent writers. Help them get started by providing them with a setting, a main character, and a basic plot.

Reading A Separate Peace? Readers analyze important quotes that appear in John Knowle's classic novel using the provided graphic organizer. Learners record a passage and provide an accompanying analysis for each entry. Consider...

A 10-lesson unit takes high schoolers through a novel study of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. To start, students learn about Fitzgerald's background and gain historical context that prepares them for a reading of the book. The...

Use photographs to trigger memories. Writers use a personal photograph as a starting point for an autobiographical writing exercise. They complete brainstorming activities that have them study their photograph before actually putting pen...

Kindergartners identify where a story takes place. In this literature lesson, learners take a picture walk and discuss how pictures can provide clues to the location of the story. They then illustrate where a new story of their own takes...

Invite your pupils to create original Greek characters and myths for their characters to star in. Similar to a traditional Greek myth, the story must explain a natural phenomenon, depict a struggle between good and evil characters, and...

Use measures of variance to compare and analyze data sets. Pupils match histograms of data sets to their respective statistical measures. They then use calculated statistics to further analyze groups of data and use the results to make...

Investigate exponential growth and decay. A set of six activities has pupils collecting and researching data in a variety of situations involving exponential relationships. They model these situations with exponential functions and solve...

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...

Break down Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls into manageable chunks by focusing on plot points and literary elements in specific chapters. This resource is all about the first chapter, and asks pupils to use complete sentences to...

Three astronomy activities in one resource! Here you will find one hands-on activity, one demonstration, both with discussion questions, and one activity worksheet. During these lessons young scientists discuss how stars are...

What would the characters of Pride and Prejudice say to each other in a letter? Draft unsent correspondence between characters from Jane Austen's novel. A great way to explore characterization and plot structure in a creative lesson.

Under construction, this lesson focuses on Canto Familia, a collection of poetry about Gary Soto's experiences growing up in California's Imperial Valley. Representative of the experiences of many Latinos, the poems also address themes...

It's always fun to make up something together as a class. This fine instructional activity has children make up and illustrate a collaborative adventure story. The essential elements of a good story (setting, characters, plot, help,...

Slow and steady wins the race? In the assessment task, scholars calculate the rates at which different snails travel in order to find the fastest snail. Hopefully, your class will move much more quickly in finishing the task!

Students use a Story Wheel to summarize a novel, practice sequencing skills, visualize story elements and recognize story structure. In groups, they each complete a piece of the story wheel and put it all together. They complete the...

Students explore the elements of film to analyze character, action, and the themes in the movie, "Quiz Show." The lesson encourages students to make personal connections and real life applications as they view the movie, critically.

Students complete a Web Quest on How to Write a Mystery. They listen to or read a short mystery story and discuss its elements. They write an outline of a mystery story using all of the elements.

Students explore The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  In this book review lesson, students examine the elements included in a book review, such as author, opinions of the book, summary, character information, main points and plot summary....

Students practice plotting coordinates on a flat surface or plane. The coordinates can be identified and labeled. An interesting variation of this process is made in the lesson plan when the position of holes made by thrown darts are...

Students explore "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe. In this literature instructional activity, students read the story and take notes. Students choose a literary element such as character, setting, or theme....

Students explore The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. In this plot summary instructional activity, students read the book and take notes about the plot.  Students write a plot summary of The Fellowship of the Ring.