Learners listen to a story about, and visualize, fanciful dragons with wings. They create imaginative paper dragons that can fly. Students write fictional stories about the adventures of their flying dragons. They imagine if dragons...

Seventh graders create an original narrative story in a diary or journal format involving a fictional character with conflict, plot, resolution and falling action within the story line. They follow the steps of the writing process with...

Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...

Fifth graders read to find the purpose of a piece of writing. They explore the theme of Bridge to Terabithia through events in the story. Furthermore, they consider how they would find a theme and examine a new text for its theme.

Young learners explore the antagonist. They retell Hansel and Gretel and identify the witch and the stepmother as antagonists. They then brainstorm common character traits of an antagonist, and then write a paragraph describing...

A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...

Students are introduced to the definition of a hero. As a class, they compare and contrast the difference between non-fictional and fictional hereos they have read about. They read a story, create a story map of one of the heroes and...

Students discuss famous examples of historical fiction as a genre and why it is used so often. They create an original piece of historical fiction by developing a character who is an immigrant to the United States. They are assessed...

Students define and interpret the elements found in a short story. Then they identify the elements of plot found in a short story. Students also apply knowledge of plot to an original work of fiction. Finally, they identify the...

Students explore pre-reading activities. Through looking at titles, and observing pictures, students predict what will happen in a story. They listen to a part of the story and then write their own conclusion. Students complete the story...

Students imagine and describe fictitious sea animals that might live in the ocean. After reading an article, they reflect on new discoveries found in the ocean recently. Using the internet, they research the interdependence of animals...

Students analyze the characters and events in fictional writing. In this literary elements lesson, students study the meaning of the words characterization and fiction. They listen to the story Pigsty by Mark Teague, or any other book...

Second graders examine the text elements associated with fiction and nonfiction texts. In this text elements lesson, 2nd graders listen to Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock by Eric A. Kimmel. They take formative assessments to determine...

Young scholars recognize the differences between fiction and nonfiction texts. In this genre study activity, students discuss what nonfiction means and write the definition. Young scholars listen to a read aloud and vote whether the text...

Fourth graders write from the perspective of a child in the colonial period. For this writing lesson, 4th graders create a fictional character living in the colonial period and write about daily life from their perspective.

High schoolers read and discuss," The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton and complete a short writing exercise as a warm-up for a longer piece of science fiction writing. They choose a topic and create a science fiction short story...

After a class discussion where learners make predictions about what will happen in a book based on its cover illustration, pupils are asked to compose a written response about an aspect of the story and include some of their own...

Scholars showcase their narrative writing skills with a science fiction writing assignment. Six pages present writers with a question to answer accompanied by a detailed picture to draw. All together, pages create a space-travel guide.

Get ready to read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 with a lesson about historical fiction. Spanning several centuries, the resource prompts learners to guess the historical era of a story based on a word or phrase...

How can you tell if a character is a villain? What about a hero? Work on literary analysis with an engaging language arts worksheet. After completing an activity about the four types of conflict, learners fill out a character map about a...

To prepare for crafting their own memoir, class members examine poetry by Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, Robert Hayden, and Claude McKay, stories by Richard Rodriquez and Willa Cather, and Barry Levinson's film Avalon. They examine...

Historical fiction can be a valuable asset when learning about the past. Integrate several novels written about the Civil War into your social studies unit, with groups of four working collaboratively to comprehend the novel from...

Eleven engaging activities make up a story guide that accompanies Dr. Seuss' Hooray For Diffendoofer Day! Scholars design a fictional classroom setting including scary face tests, writing job descriptions, adapting the book...