Curated OER
Editing Emily's Way: An Exercise in Diction and Its Implications
Students examine the poetry of Emily Dickinson and the diction in her poetry. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Dickinson poetry and analyze the diction in the poems. Students journal about the poetry and rewrite their own...
Curated OER
Point of View and Mentor Relationships
Tenth graders analyze the role of mentors, point of view, and prejudice using the texts of To Kill a Mockingbird and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. For this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders review Scout's...
Curated OER
Would You Like to Become a Millionaire?
Students answer questions written by other teams about literature in an attempt to become "millionaires." In small groups they write a motivational introduction to their teams selected books, publish their questions as a HyperCard...
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Folktales around the World (Middle, Reading/Writing)
Students analyze, synthesize, and use the elements of various US cultural folk tales to describe the elements of fiction in general and in folk tales specifically.
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Exploring Prejudice and Text-to-Text Relationships
Tenth graders use the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to analyze relationships in society. In this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders participate in a shoe activity where they bring in one shoe belonging to someone they know and a...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Using Literary Elements to Compare Fiction Texts
Learners explore language arts by reading and reflecting on literary examples. For this fiction writing lesson, students read several different cultural versions of the story "Cinderella" and discuss their interaction with the story and...
Curated OER
Come On, Rain!
Students read and analyze the story. In this language arts lesson, students read Come on, Rain! and examine how mood and tone are created, the use of figurative language and the characteristics of the genre. Students research the...
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Literature Circles in Action
Students form cooperative groups to read, discuss, and respond to a novel. They select a novel from offered choices or by criteria given by teacher and complete a culminating project on the novel from such choices as: creating a...
Curated OER
Creating a Science Fiction Story
As the culminating activity in a unit study of science fiction, young writers demonstrate their understanding of the genre by producing their own graphic novel. After deciding on the main elements of their story, individuals use a comic...
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Compare and Contrast: Literary Analysis
Great for a reading intervention or remedial Language Arts class, this instructional activity uses two stories from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III ("Terri Jackson" and "Mary Lou" to reinforce note-taking skills, story elements,...
Curated OER
Bon Voyage - Literature Travel Unit
Eighth graders locate and interpret information about the culture of another country using multi-media tools. Students read and interpret literature about characters and cultures from a foreign country. Students create a travel guide...
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In The Eye Of The Beholder
Students, in groups, research Rembrandt's life and works. They find critiques of his work, as well. Each group reports their findings back to the rest of the class. Finally, they create abstract drawings and write interpretations about...
Curated OER
Fact or Fiction
Young scholars explore journalism by reading a book in class. In this factual research lesson, students read a portion of a Magic School Bus book and identify parts that seem to be factual and fictional. Young scholars view an episode of...
Curated OER
Who is Dr. Seuss?
Learn more about Dr. Seuss in an author study activity. After young readers create a KWL chart on information they know about Dr. Seuss, they take on group roles, such as the researcher or recorder, to find out more about Dr....
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Technologies of the Civil War
Fifth graders discover new and interesting technologies of the Civil War. In this Civil War portfolio of lessons, 5th graders analyze primary resources, develop new vocabulary, investigate websites, and create a time line of new...
Curated OER
Pioneering Children on the Move
Students inquire about life for pioneer children. In this pioneer period lesson, students analyze photographs of children, make information foldables, and create a covered wagon that was typical of the ones of the past. Students will...
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Crane, London, and Literary Naturalism
Students read London's "To Build a Fire" and Crane's "The Open Boat" and compare and contrast the authors' style as they explore the genre known as American literary naturalism.
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Individuality: India Arie Music Video
Students examine individuality. In this music video lesson, students listen to music by India Arie to determine how music shapes our ideas of what normal is as well as how music is a form of poetry. Activities are related to...
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The Collaborative Works of Rodgers and Hammerstein: Show Business
Students study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two decades...
Curated OER
An Introduction to Nonfiction
Examine the elements of nonfiction writings in this instructional activity. Learners list common features of nonfiction and compare nonfiction and fiction books on the same topic. Create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two...
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The Miracle of the First Poinsettia
Connecting to literature and learning how to infer are two great reading strategies everyone needs to know. Here, the class will read along with the story The Miracle of the First Poinsettia, review folktales as a genre, and make...
Curated OER
Pictures from Korea: Shards of an Almost Forgotten Past
Students explore the Korean War through photography. In this Korean War lesson plan, students examine photographs taken by a soldier and respond to question about them.
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Coast-to-Coast Book Design-Part 1: What is a book?
In this first of four lessons on book design, students are introduced to the vocabulary of book design through the use of bookwalks and a non-linear PowerPoint presentation in game-show (Jeopardy!) format.
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Chocolate Fever
Students study plants in the rainforest. They complete a variety of activities surrounding the subject of chocolate. They create new candy bars, invent learning games and write poetry--all focusing on chocolate.