While music lyrics are often used to teach literary elements, the richness of this resource comes from the wealth of exercises, activities, and support materials provided in the packet.  Although designed for gifted learners, the...

This 97-slide PowerPoint uses Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember, to illustrate the elements of a story. Setting, plot, characterization...

Once upon a time are four words most children are familiar with when reading a fairy tale. But do they know that fairy tales are a great way to learn the literary elements of reading and writing? Use a thorough fairy tale unit...

Foster contributing members of society with a social studies unit focused on five aspects of community. First graders discuss themes of culture, groups, location, scarcity, and change with discussion questions and activities about...

How can something be true even if it didn't happen? Invite your classes to investigate the truths found in the world of magical realism as they analyze short stories, poems, informational texts, video, and art from this genre.

Put scholars in charge of their learning! Individuals read information, discuss what they learned, and put their new knowledge into practice—all in a complete and detailed resource. Activities include creating a literary terms handbook...

What makes a fairy tale a fairy tale? Use a 27-page packet to supplement your next fairy tale unit. With sequencing activities, story map worksheets, character analyses and story elements graphic organizers, and fairy tale highlight...

Does identity come from within, or do external forces shape it? Explore the complex identity concept with a two-unit module for 12th-grade language arts. The first unit uses A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and "A Daily Joy...

"First Appearance," Mark Twain's tale about overcoming stage fright, serves as a model of a personal narrative and gets young writers thinking about milestones in their own lives. After examining student models and considering the...

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...

Bully, bullied, or bystander? Paul Langan's The Bully is the anchor text in a unit that examines bullying and violence. After a close reading of the text, readers imagine themselves as the characters and consider how they would react in...

Students participate in a study of short story elements, applying their knowledge and understanding to a selection of short stories.  In this short stories lesson, students read five short story selections, identifying conflict,...

Lois Lowry's The Giver is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking works of literature in the middle school curriculum. Round out your novel unit with a collection of reading activities, comprehension questions, memoir and...

Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...

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,...

Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...

Engage conversation and explore the journey as you challenge young readers to interpret the german folktale, "The Fisherman and His Wife" written by literary brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

ESL/ELD learners are provided extra support with the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on silly stories by this packet of activities, exercises, and practice sets.

Challenge young scholars with a counting-themed series of activities. Your counters will write invitations to a feast, create books about dinner parties and animals, design posters, draw pictures of their favorite peaceful places,...

Provide extra support with a unit that follows a teach, blend, guided practice, and practice/apply routine to reinforce reading, grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills. Reading and writing lessons include supporting details,...

Start off your young English language learners with this packet of materials, which covers three weeks of instructions. After completing the unit, kids will have practiced the letters K through Z, read several story books, talked with...

The intricate craft of narrative writing can make a happy story feel exuberant or a sad story feel devastating. With 42 extensive lessons that include poignant discussion questions, standards-aligned self-reflections, engaging writing...

A 15-page packet details three activities designed to engage scholars in Homer's The Odyssey. As they read, pupils use a graphic organizer to record examples of several literary terms found in The Odyssey and contemporary...

The activities in a curriculum guide to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein provide readers with an opportunity to explore various concepts in depth. First, groups research controversial scientists, examine their work, and decide whether or not,...