What is theme, and how can you find themes in literary works? These and other questions are answered by a colorful and engaging presentation that not only defines the term but also provides easy to understand examples. The slides...

Learners 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.

If your language arts learners have a hard time determining the universal theme of a written work, use a straightforward worksheet to help them find it. After reviewing a list of common themes, kids note the title, character, plot, point...

Have your class do research on natural disasters and create a presentation using this resource. In completing this activity, learners apply the five geography themes to their research. They write a paper describing their results. It's a...

Students analyze "To Build a Fire" by Jack London and "The Open boat" by Stephen Crane. They write an essay in which they compare and contrast the narrators and plots in each story.

North American Indian civilizations had already been in place for over 10,000 years before the arrival of European settlers. Introduce your young historians to Indian tribes that lived in the Chesapeake region in the...

Learners 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 plan, students identify characteristics of...

If you're tired of defining allusion, onomatopoeia, and satire for your language arts students, hand out a complete list of literary devices to keep the terms straight. Each term includes a definition that is easy to understand and...

Fifth graders prepare for their end of the unit essay assessment by continuing to look at what makes an earthquake a natural disaster. They complete a graphic organizer and write a topic sentence. To finish, they view a model essay and...

For this exercise, learners examine the difference between a theme, topic, and moral. After a class discussion on the definition of literary themes, the instructor reads The Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler. Next, individuals analyze the...

The metaphor of a pot of soup and a series of colorful templates remind young writers of the elements that make for a rich story. Pepper the plot with carrot/character, potato/point of view, corn/conflict, tomato/theme, and season with...

Three types of external conflict are outlined in this PowerPoint, including character vs. character, character vs. society, and character vs. nature. Tip: Instruct students to write a paragraph explaining some kind of external conflict...

Japan has a complex relationship with the environment. Explore this relationship with your class through this resource. Included are thought questions, several activity ideas that range from writing, to discussion, to research, and an...

Continue celebrating Poetry Month with an interactive whose focus is writing shape, or theme, poems. Young poets choose from nature, school, shapes, sports, and celebration themes. Then, they brainstorm words that have to do with the...

Breaking down words into syllables has two benefits: it improves vocabulary and it improves understanding of a text. The third and final resource in a series of materials designed to be used with Nature: Friend or Foe offers extra...

If readers don't understand key portions of a text, it may seem more like a foe than a friend. The second resource in a series of three ESL lessons designed to accompany the texts in Nature: Friend or Foe makes the texts easier to...

As an assessment of their skill in crafting a compare and contrast essay, class members read and compare the portrayals of nature in excerpts from naturalist John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra and from poet Emily Dickinson's...

It's time to refine writing and word choice. Learners work on Part 1 of their end of unit assessment by creating an essay titled What Makes a Hurricane a Natural Disaster? They use glossaries and graphic organizers from previous...

Interpret current events using editorial cartoons and other print media. Middle schoolers explore the meanings of literary and artistic terms such as satire, irony, and caricature. They visit internet sites to develop an understanding of...

Reinforce concepts such as long vowels, spelling patterns, sound clusters, double-final consonants, and syllables with a nature-themed unit. Through a series of extra support lessons, learners compare and contrast using a...

I survived! Scholars read a firsthand account from a natural disaster survivor in the text Save Bella! They record the gist of the text in their journals and answer text-dependent questions. They then take notes to more deeply analyze...

Surprise! is the theme of this series of challenge activities. The surprise comes from the information your scholars will discover when researching topics such as alligators and crocodiles, living in other countries, becoming a...