University of Southern California
Coming to America After the War
As part of their exploration of the American dream, class members examine primary source materials to compare immigrant experiences of those arriving early in our country's history to those arriving in the US after World War...
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Mysterious Plot Problems
Students explore the plot of mystery books. In this genre study lesson, students read the book, Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy and listen to a read aloud of a chapter from the text. Students fill in a graphic organizer that helps...
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Unleash the Power of Poetry in Your Classroom
Students can gain an appreciation of poetry by being encouraged to express their opinions and ideas.
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Cliffs Notes: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
A simple, standard, reading comprehension quiz for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. High schoolers answer multiple choice questions that test their ability to recall information about the plot and characters from Mark Twain's novel....
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Frog Principal Lesson Plan
Learners read the fractured fairy tale, The Frog Principal by Stephanie Calmenson and compare it to the original version in order to gain deeper understanding of the fairy tale genre. In this fairy tale activity, students identify and...
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Kate and the Beanstalk Lesson Plan
Students gain a deeper understanding of the fairy tale genre by reading fractured versions of familiar tales. In this Kate and the Beanstalk lesson plan, students read a variety of fairy tales and fractured fairy tales in order to...
RSA Group
Write About This
Looking for an easy way to encourage youngsters to write about a variety of different topics? Users simply choose an image to write about from a large selection of beautiful photographs and then compose original opinion pieces and...
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Make a Memory with Movie Maker
There is nothing more exciting than allowing learners to express themselves through a creative medium. In groups, they write narrative stories, focusing on building a strong storyline and dialogue. Next, they transform their stories into...
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Sequence Clue Words
Leaners read the book Let's Make Tacos and draw a line from the sequence clue words to the step-by-step actions in the book. In order to complete this exercise, they use words such as first, next, last, after, and more. Excellent ideas...
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Characteristics of Nonfiction
The second lesson in a series from ReadWorks.org, this lesson continues to explore the difference between fiction and nonfiction texts. The lesson opens with the teacher reviewing a class Venn diagram started in the last lesson....
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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...
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Literary Response and Analysis
Examine a variety of literary responses to Abraham Lincoln's death and the impact of perception. Your class can work in writing groups to analyze either poetry, eulogy, or a newspaper article. They retell the events of Abraham Lincoln's...
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A Literature of Democracy
Eleventh graders analyze how American literature shows a lot of different genres. In groups, 11th graders create a short report about the passage they have chosen.
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The Rise of Landscape Painting
Students study the rise of landscape art throughout the 19th century and the specific features of the genre. In this landscape art lesson, students read the definition of landscape art and its precedence in the 19th century. Students...
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Book Log
In this book log worksheet, students use this graphic organizer to record details of the books they are reading. Students record the title, author, genre, and pages read.
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Go For The Gold!
Third graders read fiction and nonfiction works for comprehension. Using the internet, 3rd graders participate in a WebQuest. They compare and contrast the Olympics in ancient Greece to the modern day Olympics. Afterwards, students...
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Science Fiction
Young scholars complete compare and contrast activities for two stories about racism and tolerance in the science fiction genre. In this literary analysis lesson plan, students read a Ray Bradbury short story and Walter Mosley poem,...
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Autobiography: Maya Angelou
Students study the concepts of autobiography, biography, and fiction as literary genres. They read, study, and analyze Maya Angelou's autobiographical writings in terms of what she intended to accomplish by her writings. They develop and...
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Crane, London, and Literary Naturalism
Students identify the key characteristics that comprise American literary naturalism in Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat." In this naturalism analysis lesson, students identify characteristics of the...
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Music and Lyrics
Eighth graders analyze lyrics from songs from a variety of genres. In this musical analysis lesson, 8th graders write an essay about their life plans in which they discuss the lyrics of U2's song, "One." They tell how the writings of Dr....
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Science Fiction
Young scholars write a science fiction story. In this science fiction lesson, students read selections of science fiction and compare them to supernatural stories from the Bible. Young scholars identify themes and discuss...
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Foundations
Students investigate the history of literature in America by looking at the types of genres first read in the United States. They look at the foundations of how the original colonists had the intention of transmitting religious and moral...
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Choose a Book You'll Like
Students discuss reasons we choose the books we want to read and their own personal reading preferences. They complete class and personal charts that help them select books to read.
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Nonfiction Assignment Sheet
In this nonfiction genre worksheet, students read a nonfiction story and then complete a summary, vocabulary, interpretation, criticism, and a personal response.