Seventh graders examine the internal and external conflicts that Jonas faces in "The Giver" in an essay. Students use SMART Board and Inspiration to organize their ideas graphically before combining them into their paper.

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,...

Students preview the novel, "Dragonwings," by Laurence Yep, make connections between the novel previewed and their prior knowledge, other texts, and the world. They utilize graphic representations including charts, graphs, pictures, and...

Students read independently the novel, "Dragonwings," by Laurence Yep and make connections between a text and the world. They summarize, paraphrase, analyze and evaluate skimming and scanning techniques when reading a novel. Each student...

Young scholars discuss vocabulary words and compare definitions. They read chapters 6-9 of the novel, Dragonwings, and discuss point of view, and complete a plot diagram. Then they review the four types of conflict and identify the...

Learners analyze the plot, problem, and resolution of a story. In this story analysis instructional activity, students read stories and fill out graphic organizers about the plot, story problems, and resolution.

Students research 1920's US History.  In this historical literature lesson, students use the novel The Great Gatsby as a tool to examine the era.  They work in individually to create newspaper articles based on different...

Students probe the story, "The Clay Marble" by Minfong Ho to identify examples of courage, quick thinking, and perseverance. The lesson creatively extends the plot of the story by celebrating the heroin's birthday many years after the...

In this literacy worksheet, students create a graphic organizer for the character of Anne Marie from Number The Stars. Then they write a description of her.

Students complete a graphic organizer depicting character views regarding African Americans during the early 20th century in America. In this graphic organizer of views lesson, students read the book Witness and become familiarized with...

Students write Cinquain poems about a novel.

Students create a KWHL chart as a pre-reading strategy. In this graphic organizer lesson, students communicate their background knowledge before reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Students continue to construct their KWHL chart as they...

In this Venn diagram worksheet, students fill in a Venn diagram for the characters in American Born Chinese. Students have 3 circles that make up this Venn diagram.

"People never notice anything." As part of their study of The Catcher in the Rye, class members adopt Holden Caulfield's approach and spend time as quiet observers of their surrounding, recording their observations/reflections in a...

Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...

Accompany a novel study of Hatchet by Gary Paulson with a unit consisting of 16 lessons focused on physical and emotional survival. Reading the story along with a variety of informational texts, scholars compare and contrast reading...

Young scholars choose an individual project or a group project to culminate the reading of Out of the Dust.  In this Out of the Dust lesson, students have a choice of creative projects to complete after they have finished the...

Sixth graders discover that the cover of printed material holds clues to its content.

Students read the novel, Lord of the Flies, then write an essay analyzing the novel. They analyze, in small groups, characters, plot, setting, style, symbolism, theme, critical responses, and historical influences

Young scholars, after reading the book, "Holes," answer questions about the story's plot, make decisions about game play that involve cause and effect relationships and utilize problem-solving skills and hand-eye coordination to navigate...

Students read the novel, Out of the Dust, and complete a cause and effect chart and a character chart. When the book is completed, they answer review questions.

Students, after reading the novel, Out of the Dust, describe the language used in the novel. They cite examples of words or phrases that are from that time period. Then they are given sentences and must rewrite them in modern-day language.

Eighth graders use first-hand slave narratives that show conditions of slavery. They paste text into Appleworks and publish with a picture clipped from web sites. They create a group account of life during slavery to prepare for reading...