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Short Story Framework
The class gets creative after listening to a short story containing a definitive structure. They are required to think about character, relationship, and setting, while attempting to show rather than tell, in their writing. Dialogue,...
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One Pager
Students read the novel, Freak the Mighty and describe and illustrate the setting. They create a graphic organizer that demonstrates the major plot elements and character development.
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Establishing a Point of View in Narratives
Fourth graders investigate the concept and take the opportunity to both identify and to construct point of view in narratives. Additionally, 4th graders practice identifying and sequencing main events.
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Contemporizing Myths
Students examine ancient Greek myths and illustrate origin myths scenes in a contemporary setting. In this Greek myth instructional activity, students analyze Rembrandt’s painting The Abduction of Europa and discuss how the...
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Reading the Biography
Students explore the lives of famous Americans. For this biography lesson, students read biographies about famous Americans and keep reading journals as they read about setting, main events, and character sketches.
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Creative Writing: Halloween Theme
Second graders are read a book about different authors. They identify the parts of a story such as plot and setting. They brainstorm topics for their own paper and begin the writing process. They create a final copy of their story about...
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Story Writing
Students work in groups to create a story that will be presented to the class. In this story writing lesson, students complete a project planning sheet, work together to create a story that includes a hero and at least two other...
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Race, Culture, And Identity in Daughter From Danang (Part 1)
Students examine cultural identity. They watch the PBS documentary, 'Daughter From Danang,' answer discussion questions, and write an essay regarding the characters ethnicities and stereotypes portrayed in the film.
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Twelve Angry Men
Students assess their understanding of Twelve Angry Men. They create flashcards for vocabulary terms, summarize one of the acts, construct a diorama and complete character wheels. They choose from other activities including creating...
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Making a Choice
Students read and discuss the text Miss Rumphius. In this philanthropy lesson, students discuss how the characters in the book made the world beautiful and create a class book of good deeds.
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Dreaming of Gardens
Students demonstrate ways to be an environmental philanthropist. In this philanthropy activity, students read The Gardener and Just a Dream and compare the two books. Students discuss ways the characters demonstrated environmental...
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Meet the Press
Students give their book reports as oral "Meet the Press" type interviews. They team up with another student "reporter" and answer questions about main idea, details, and the point of view.
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Out of the Dust
Students examine 1930's America through literature. In this Dust Bowl lesson, students read Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust and set up vocabulary journals and question bookmarks to log their thoughts and impressions as they read the novel.
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Language Arts: A "Perfect" Lesson
Pupils read "Be A Perfect Person in Just three days," and participate in a host of activities. Connected to technology, they use online sources to create word searches and puzzles from vocabulary words. In addition, students create...
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Enrichment Activities - "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH"
Fifth graders read the novel "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." They discuss the various characters in the book, and the different types of conflict that take place within the book. They also research owls and rats to make comparisons...
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Retelling Nursery Rhymes
Fourth graders explore language arts by reciting a famous nursery rhyme to their classroom. In this oral storytelling lesson, 4th graders read the story "The Three Little Pigs" and identify the characters, setting and story. Students...
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Essay on Themes
Young scholars read the book THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London and discuss the different elements in the book. They then write an essay on a theme providing examples backing up their main point of their essay.
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Get the Skinny! Summarize a Story!
Students examine the steps of summarizing text. They silently read an article, then read and discuss the steps to summarizing a passage. Students then write a summary of the article they read, and as a class discuss the main idea,...
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Role Play on the Plantation of Ulster
Students participate in historical role play about the Plantation of Ulster. In this historical role play lesson, students work in groups to depict the characters of the Plantation of Ulster. They practice and perform a radio program by...
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Book Letters
Young scholars study language. In this writing lesson, students listen to a story and then compose a friendly letter, about the book, to a friend. They work independently to compose their letter depicting what happened in the...
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Literature: Frederick
First graders read Frederick and illustrate a scene from the story. They connect their own backgrounds and experiences with scenes in the story. They identify the setting and conflict of the story.
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Reading Puzzle
Twelfth graders examine the elements of literature. They each read a chapter of a novel, sequentially list the main ideas, present a summary of the chapter to the class, sequence the events, and review the novel by summarizing the timeline.
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The Great Debate--Hellenism, Judaism, and Luke 10:27
Students work in teams to establish the viewpoint of Biblical characters and debate aspects of the Hellenistic view versus the views of the Christian and Jewish people. For this Hellenism and Judaism lesson, students assume the...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Analyzing Literary Elements in Literary Nonfiction
Fourth graders identify the literary elements of a nonfiction text. In this literary elements lesson plan, 4th graders read the text Piano Starts Here--The Young Art Tatum and fill in a chart that includes the events from the book....