It's a fact: kids love bugs! With this lesson, young learners explore reading informational texts and conducting research while learning about their favorite insects. Spark learners' interest by reading a book about one kind of bug and...

Looking to improve your classes literacy program? Then look no further. This comprehensive collection of resources includes worksheets and activities covering everything from r-controlled vowels and consonant digraphs, to the...

If your writing classroom was the Wild West, what phrases would be "outlawed"? Here is one poster that every writing instructor, and really, any teacher of communication, should have in their classroom!

Students complete a literature analysis of fiction texts to study elements of fiction. In this fiction analysis lesson, students read various fiction texts and examine them to learn about fiction elements. Students learn to draw...

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...

Students analyze Shakespeare's Macbeth in a variety of creative activities. In this Macbeth lesson, students read Act Two, Scene IV and Act Three, Scene I-VI. Students then complete the text given at the link.

Students investigate the concept of theme and how it is used in literary works. They read a variety of texts looking for the theme in each of them. Students also differentiate between the plot and theme by using a correct definition for...

Young scholars analyze William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. In this literature analysis lesson, students compare a modern novel and play. Young scholars analyze Faulkner's interior monologues. Students write a paper about the ways As I Lay...

Readers are first introduced to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart by making a map of Africa. They will better understand the novel's historical and literary contexts, European and African literary traditions, and how...

As learners continue to examine a short story of their choice, they take some time to look at analysis completed by others on the same story. In the eleventh lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils explore various sites for literary...

Are you preparing to teach Peter and the Starcatchers? If so, you'll want to take a look at this analysis of the text, which describes plot and literary elements in-depth and explores potential implications related to diversity and...

Aesop’s Fables offer young learners an opportunity to study figurative language. After reviewing theme, simile, alliteration, and metaphor, model for your pupils how to identify examples of these devices in the fable. Class members then...

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is always a favorite for middle and high school readers because it addresses issues that hit home to them, decades after the book is set. Have learners fill out an anticipation guide that encourages them to...

Should companies be able to build wherever they want? Are animals worth protecting? Explore the literary themes from Carl Hiaasen's Hoot with an anticipation guide. Kids read ten statements and decide if they agree or disagree, then...

Introducing or need to review literary devices and terms for a study of poetry? Though text heavy, the explanations and examples of key poetic devices will provide learners with the vocabulary they need to discuss and craft poems.

Before reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, take part in this thought-provoking, pre-reading activity that invites discussion about the story's theme using universal adages.

Help readers recognize elements in a story. They will use pictures and text to gain meaning from written material. Have learners listen to the story A Plump and Perky Turkey and participate in a discussion. They recognize the...

Test the true meaning of giving - and irony - with this activity about "The Gift of the Magi." Using textual analysis, details, and text organization, middle schoolers make predictions about future events in the story and determine the...

Poems by O. Henry, Marion Dane Bauer, Monty Roberts, and Langston Hughes provide the text for a study of symbolism, hyperbole, and imagery. Employing the “think-pair-share” strategy learners generate definitions of these terms and locate...

Nonfiction texts about people on the move provide young readers with an opportunity to examine not only the problem-solving strategies employed by immigrants, but to also find examples of figurative language these writers use to tell...

First drafted in the year 996, The Pillow Book contains reflections of those met by a lady-in-waiting in the Japanese court. A brief summary, historical context, and discussion questions are provided on the first two pages. Then, two...

Young readers explore reading comprehension by creating a class presentation. In this storytelling lesson, puils read an assigned text in class and analyze the characters, settings and story. They create an illustrated presentation in...

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.

Students explore world literature through completing several varied exercises. In this compare and contrast lesson students compare and contrast stories and how time and culture impacts the stories.