Students explore the elements of realistic fiction. In this genre study lesson, students discuss connections they have to characters in their favorite show or movie. Students hunt for realistic fiction elements in a text and complete the...

Students explore journalism by reading a book in class. In this factual research activity, students read a portion of a Magic School Bus book and identify parts that seem to be factual and fictional. Students view an episode of the Magic...

Students are introduced to the genre of detective fiction. Based on their reading level, they are given a different series of books to read. For each story, they are to make predictions and practice decoding messages. To end the...

Fifth graders explore historical fiction. In this genre study lesson, 5th graders go on a text feature scavenger hunt to identify the parts of a historical fiction text. Additionally, students read the book, My Secret War and discuss...

Centered on the short story "The Tenth Man" by Polish Holocaust survivor Ida Fink, here is a solid one-day resource to support study of World War II or Nazi history, short stories, or to complement any ELA unit on The Diary of Anne Frank...

Students categorize information into a problem/solving chart and examine the value of using a diary. In this problem solving and diary lesson, students read portions of Dear Mr. Henshaw, while they investigate the importance of keeping a...

Prepare your class for a unit on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with an activity that works for pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading. Learners fill out a K-W-H-L chart to reflect on what they already know, what...

Guide your class on an adventure 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with this Hampton-Brown outline. It provides educators with a guide to increase reading comprehension, critical thinking, literary analysis, and reading strategies. This...

"The Hare and the Water," a Tanzanian folk tale, lends a global perspective to literary analysis. Learners spend the first two days reading and storyboarding. On day three, they examine folk tale elements (worksheet included), and design...

Students explore language arts by reading and reflecting on literary examples. In this fiction writing lesson, students read several different cultural versions of the story "Cinderella" and discuss their interaction with the story and...

Second graders complete a KWL chart about libraries. They create a book using writing patterns of a particular author. Students decide criteria for awarding the Second Grade Librarian Award to books in the classroom library, and use a...

How do you that you are reading a realistic fiction story? Help your pupils discover the answer to this question by providing a series of situations for them to relate to and analyze. The lesson is meant as a build-up to Bridge to...

Class members select a science fiction novel for independent study. To verify they have completed the reading, they write a summary, a critique, and an outline of the plot for a sequel or prequel. They then deliver a five-minute...

Address the literary elements in a piece of writing using these materials. The packet includes plenty of resources, and focuses mainly on theme, character, and point of view, with some materials for setting, symbolism, and author's...

You won't find any wrinkles in your instruction with this unit guide on Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. The 34-page document includes everything from instructional questions and learning tasks aligned to Common Core...

This discussion guide accompanies the fiction book Midnight Magic written by Avi, enforces story elements, inferences, and theme/plot. Have the class work on it over time, it will engage even your reluctant readers. 

Middle schoolers discover the wealth of literature written by individuals not born in the United States. They discover the literature of individuals of multiple ethnicities born in the United States. Students compile a list of books they...

Students identify the themes of different books by classifying their genre.  In this genre lesson, students examine a specific animal by reading both a nonfiction and fiction book about the species.  Students compare the...

First graders differentiate between different pieces of literary genres by participating in a hands-on activity. This includes a student assessment sheet.

Students explore the concepts of fantasy writing through this nine lessons unit. The unit presents semantic mapping, discussions, comparisons of various works of fantasy, and the opportunity to create their own fantasies.

Students explore a content area by reading both fiction and nonfiction texts on the topic. They do more research online about the topic. After comparing the texts, they create their own written original work, using both narrative and...

Students examine websites about realistic fiction. These sites include lists of books that fit into this category and a list of realistic fiction authors. There are also writing prompts to help students write their own realistic fiction...

Learners use White Fang to help them study active verbs. In this grammar lesson, students define active verbs and find examples in the the novel White Fang. Learners then use ProQuest to research a place they'd like to visit. Students...

Students read and discuss the fictional biography, "Strega Nona: Her Own Story" by Tomie dePaola. They compare the characters of the story to other fictional characters then choose their own favorite fictional character to write a...