Curated OER
Poetic Justice: Understanding the Life of a Tethered Dog
The Humane Society provides a lesson in which class members explore the issue of tethering dogs. Through the resources used -- a comic, a poem, and narrative and expository writings -- class members realize that messages can be conveyed...
Planet e-Book
Les Miserables
Many consider Les Miserables to be one of the greatest novels ever written. An eBook version of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo contains the entire text, translated from the original French. Each section is organized into books...
Penguin Books
A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of Mary Shelley ’s Frankenstein
Contrary to popular belief, the monster's name in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is not Frankenstein. A teacher's guide for the novel helps readers make sense of key details in the text, define vocabulary words, and discuss prominent...
Planet e-Book
Tess of The D'Urbervilles
How would it feel to discover that you are not who you thought you were? For John Durbeyfield, in Tess of the D'Urbervilles, it likely felt better than his current situation. Readers delight as the story reveals turns and twists of John...
Penguin Books
The Jungle
It's a jungle out there! Teachers gain information to guide learners through reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Instructors give an overview of the characters in the story and a summary of each chapter. The resource includes questions...
Curated OER
The Flat WSD Students
Students engage in creative writing and performance using Flat Stanley. After reading Flat Stanley your class summarize their understanding and then create a flat image of themselves. Students then brainstorm ideas of how they would...
Penguin Books
Core Curriculum Lesson Plans for The Lions of Little Rock
Schools in the 1950s and 60s looked very different from the schools we know today. An educator's guide explores the civil rights movement and, specifically, the process of integrating schools. Questions cover key themes in the novel and...
Curated OER
Sequence, Predict, Infer: Pink and Say
Practice sequencing with your 2nd graders via Patricia Polacco's Civil War book Pink and Say. Begin with a blindfold and a bag of mystery items. Connect their use of clues to identify what they can't see with the skill of making...
Learning to Give
What Are Your Thoughts?
The varying responses of the characters in Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to the discrimination they experience or perpetrate provides readers with an opportunity to not only examine the feelings of the characters but...
Curated OER
The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism
Is it possible to tell a true war story? Tim O’Brien says that fiction is for “getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.” To get at the truth about war, class members examine primary source materials from the...
Curated OER
Red Riding Hood in China
Inspire young writers to compose their own version of the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood." They begin by reading "Little Red Riding Hood" and the Chinese version <i>Lon Po Po</i>, then they compare and contrast the two...
Curated OER
Beowulf
High schoolers complete literature analysis activities for Beowulf. They read lines from the poem and complete character analysis activities. In addition, they write and share a boast modeled on the text and then create heroes and...
British Council
Romeo and Juliet
An engaging video featuring William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is accompanied by six activities designed to reinforce vocabulary, story elements, and comprehension. Scholars match words to pictures, place events in sequential order,...
EngageNY
Leaving the Play: All’s Well That Ends Well
How does Shakespeare develop the theme of control in A Midsummer Night's Dream? Using the resource, scholars analyze the theme of parental control in the play and the Greek myth "Pyramus and Thisbe." Next, they talk to partners to...
EngageNY
Planning the First Draft of the Character Confessional Narrative
Scholars read and analyze a model character confessional narrative to help guide their writing. Then, they plan the first draft of a character confessional based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Curated OER
Do You Have Character?
Sixth graders read Katherine Paterson's novel, Bridge to Terabithia, and watch a video of Maurice Sendak's book, Where the Wild Things Are. They examine the characters in both stories that share similar characteristics. Students use the...
Curated OER
Giving Can Be Fun!
That it is better to give than receive can be a difficult concept for little ones, especially during the Christmas holiday season. A reading of Jan Brett’s, Christmas Trolls, helps children focus their attention away from what they want...
Curated OER
Produce Rhyming Words
Have fun creating rhymes! Your class will read the familiar nursery rhyme Three Little Kittens and list rhyming words. They then use the story as a template to develop their own rhymes.
Curated OER
Pink and Say
Read Pink and Say and discuss the Civil War with your upper elementary learners. They create a KWL about the Civil War and record words relating to the Civil War as they read the book. Then they work in groups to create an ABC...
Curated OER
Bats
Use Stellaluna by Janell Canon to discuss bats and other types of animals. Learners identify the differences between bats and birds, list the traits of mammals, create a Bat Facts game, and go on a written scavenger hunt. Fun,...
Curated OER
Briar Rose: Anticipation Guide
Prepare your readers for Briar Rose with an Anticipation Guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of statements that reflect issues raised by Jane Yolen’s narrative about a young girl’s research into her grandmother’s...
Seussville
The Lorax's Earth Day
Add a touch of Dr. Seuss whimsy to your Earth Day celebration with six pages consisting of Earth-friendly, inspiring, and engaging activities designed to enhance the beauty of your school campus and showcase the famous story, The...
McGraw Hill
Study Guide for Tuck Everlasting
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt is a classic novel that readers have enjoyed for years. Resources within the study guide such as discussion and guided reading questions, extension activities, and graphic organizers aid...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...