Explore the impact a narrator's point of view has on a story with a reading of the children's book, Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. Written in four different voices, the story is told and retold from different perspectives to...

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...

The social story "What to Expect on the Fourth of July" not only lets learners with autism know what to expect on this very American holiday, but also explains what behaviors are appropriate when at a fireworks display or picnic.

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...

The world may indeed be a stage, and players certainly need to know drama vocabulary. This list of 16 terms (and their definitions) often found in scripts will prompt actors to perform their role.

Sometimes a whole story can change based on the perspective of the person telling it. Practice identifying and analyzing point of view in various reading passages and writing assignments with a language arts packet, complete with Common...

Scholars create a brochure that features three aspects of the poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." The program details information about Robert Browning, the poem's setting, and its events. 

"Fake News" (stories that are entirely fabricated/fictional) is the subject of a case study of the search for Jestin Coler, the creator of some of the most famous fake news stories. After reading NPR's investigative report, scholars...

After completing the first five chapters of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle By Avi, use direct quotes to make inferences about how Charlotte feels about certain characters. Later, when the novel has concluded, revisit...

Building on the previous activity in this series of lesson seeds, this plan focuses on the use of dialect in Theodore Taylor's novel, The Cay. Class members examine specific lines of text, use their reading journals to respond to the...

Chris Van Allsburg's Two Bad Ants provides third graders with an opportunity to examine point of view and how the point of view of others may differ from their own.

Sharpen those pencils; it's time to write! Scholars begin writing the first body paragraph of their literary analysis essays. Additionally, pupils use graphic organizers to analyze a character's point of view from Laurence Yep's...

What if society sought equality by handicapping the gifted and dispelling any traces of diversity? Kurt Vonnegut Jr. offers one possible answer to this question through his incredibly engaging and thought-provoking satirical...

Many families have special dishes they serve during holiday celebrations and get-togethers. Many of these recipes have been handed down from generation to generation and often come with stories. Introduce your middle schoolers to the...

Do you hear what I hear? Encourage scholars to use their listening skills and participate in a series of activities that demonstrate how the sense of hearing is crucial to the human and animal world. Activities guide learners...

The end of the year has arrived, which means it's time to find out what your third graders have learned with this practice Common Core assessment. Presented with one narrative and one expository reading passage, young learners...

With the end of the year quickly approaching it's time to find out exactly how much your sixth graders have learned. Specifically designed for the Common Core ELA standards, this practice test gives students five reading passages,...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the best-known pieces of American literature. An eBook from the Library of Congress provides access to an early edition of the text. Original layout and illustrations are preserved within.

Challenge readers of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to test their knowledge of the tale by providing them with a crossword puzzle that asks them to recall characters and events.

"Promises Denied," the second instructional activity in a unit that asks learners to consider the responsibilities individuals have to uphold human rights, looks at documents that illustrate the difficulty the US has had trying to live...

While this instructional activity includes several nice worksheets to identify and discuss the various limits on government (i.e. a constitution, the rule of law, separation of powers, consent of the governed, etc.), its main value lies...

Did you know only one of the Seven Wonders of the World still exists today? Here is a historical reading passage that provides readers with a brief history of the seven marvelous wonders.

A chilling look of Edgar Allan Poe's works may not be a dream within a dream, but it's certainly a review within a crossword puzzle. Look down and across to find references to "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Black Cat," and "The...

Set in Oklahoma in the 1930s, The Grapes of Wrath presents a powerful view of life during the Great Depression. An insightful lesson plan takes a closer look at the characters in John Steinbeck's classic novel, combining the...