Using a character map, learners assign traits to characters from Nicholasa Mohr’s El Bronx Remembered: A Novella and Stories. In addition, groups record evidence from the stories to justify the labels and use these sheets to prepare for...

The danger of mob mentality is on display in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Get your class thinking with some challenging quickwrite questions, then assign characters from the play to be read aloud altogether. Links to worksheets...

Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms...

A performance task challenges scholars to read an informational text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins with an independent reading of Seeing Eye to Eye by Leslie Hall. A second reading follows with the...

Using a variety of activities, kindergartners explore sorting and classification. Learners engage in an online sorting activity, read books involving classification, and create their own class book. This is a marvelousway to explore this...

Who's your favorite Roald Dahl character? What book by Roald Dahl is the most exciting for you? Explore the wacky world of Matilda, The BFG, The Twits, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, and more with a helpful resource pack for...

Students listen as the teacher reads A Country Far Away. They predict what they will do and what they think their partner student will be doing. Students create a KWL chart for Japan. They collect information about their activities on an...

Analyze characters and stories to identify stereotyping. Learners will examine the concept of character gender to evaluate bias in classroom story books. They are asked to read a story or play and change the gender of the character to...

Learners read "The Senegalese Miracle". They discuss the amount of sharing the author finds in Africa. They examine the relationship the author has to the locals.

Fourth graders conduct a novel study of the book Freedom Train North. They identify the parts of a story that include beginning, middle, and end. Students also recognize the setting, plot, and theme after reading a part of the book daily.

Learners examine the literary elements of fairy tales. After reading the fairy tale "Rapunzel" and discussing the elements of fairy tales that occur as they read, they use a story web to help plan and create an original fairy tale. ...

Students analyze Jack London's use of anthropomorphism to identify the importance of adaptability in life. In this literature lesson, students use the novel The Call of the Wild to identify key elements in survival. Students...

Students read Macbeth for examples of paradox and equivocation in the text. In this literature-response instructional activity, students work in groups to analyze Shakespeare's writing for use of paradox using handouts to guide...

Students prepare for and evaluate their performances in poetry slams. In this literature lesson, students write personal narratives about their poetry slam experiences.

Fourth graders read a nonfiction story that is presented to them with graphic features, and presented to them with only the text.  In this text features lesson, 4th graders decide what the benefits of text organizers are and create...

Students discover philanthropy. In this service learning lesson, students read literature and discuss occurrences of people sharing their time, talent, and treasure. Students respond, in writing, to the theme of philanthropy in a...

Students explore U.S. history by reading a Native American tale in class. In this cultural storytelling lesson, students read the story How Grandmother Spider Stole the Sun and discuss the characters and themes of the Native American...

Students explain how civil war impacts the common person. They analyze the effects of conflict on identity. They synthesize the impact of the civil war on the common person. They view a PowerPoint on Lebanese Conflict.

You are destined for an engaged and happy class as they read Siobhan Dowd’s Bog Child because there is nothing missing from this study guide, seriously. This might be the easiest novel to teach because you don’t have to do a thing in...

Comparing the more modern film Ten Things I Hate About You to The Taming of the Shrew leads to an understanding of how Shakespearean plots can be applied to modern-day situations and characters. As a culminating activity, groups select a...

Have your class discuss the letter /l/ sound. Using a variety of entertaining books, preschoolers identify the sound of this letter. This is a terrific way to review the letter L.

After reading "How to write a good book review" and browsing some book reviews, class members generate a list of things they would like to see in a book review. Then young reporters read a book, write a review and post their polished...

Student compile a poetry anthology. In this literature instructional activity, learners examine notable poetry anthologies. Students then select a theme to build their anthologies of 10 poems pertaining to their chosen theme.

Students read and analyze the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe. They take notes while reading the story, select an element to analyze, and write an essay about the characters, theme, or the setting.