Students investigate Mexican holiday celebrations and compare them to American Christmas holidays. They conduct a Mexican Christmas Scavenger Hunt. The lesson uses a streaming video in order to engage students in the main objectives.

Students write a story from the perspective of a water droplet on a journey through the water cycle. They use the 6+1 Traits writing method to focus on voice in the writing as they create characters that their water droplet has...

Students are introduced to authors and discover they are real people. Using the author's stories, they are incouraged to write their own stories using technology. Using the internet, they research facts, ideas and stories and develop a...

Pupils read the book Esperanza Rising and discover the meaning of a summary. They re-read chapter one and write down some things that they think are the most important facts about what is going on in the story. They copy a story map...

Sixth graders complete the magazine template in the Macmillan "Writer's Journal" available through the basic skills department using word processing, spreadsheet, graphic, and electronic resource (i.e.-Internet) skills

Third graders identify the three major parts of a story. After reading the book "Stellaluna," students discuss the beginning, middle and end of the story. They write a short story depicting the events that would happen if the story...

Students write summaries of books to exemplify comprehension of the stories. They create a story web to outline the important details of the story. In groups, students make story webs for separate chapters for the book. After the webs...

Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the literature study of Dragonwings. They write about the story from the perspective of a reader that is well informed towards the last chapters. Students also find target vocabulary and...

Eighth graders explore the life and works of Pablo Neruda. They complete an author map concerning his personal and professional life. Students identify the key components of an ode. They write an ode to a common object around their...

Tenth graders read and analyze the poem, "The Street," by Hispanic author, Octavio Paz. They research the life of Octavio Paz and identify his literary contributions. They complete an online scavenger hunt and create an author map of...

Young scholars review, examine and study the seven stages to a traditional legend or modern story in legend form. They locate two traditional legend stories and see if they fit into the two categories listed for them in two boxes. Each...

Young scholars engage their families to write down a folk story from their primary language. For this family literacy lesson, students rewrite the story or fairy tales in English. Parents and young scholars are invited to present the...

Students build their own neighborhood. In this lesson on community, students are introduced to books about families and neighborhoods. As a class, the students create their own neighborhood, elect a leader for their neighborhood and...

Young scholars study personification and alliteration in various fiction texts. In this literary devices lesson, students use various texts to identify the literary devices of personification and alliteration. Young scholars use examples...

Students place emphasis on the use of figurative language when analyzing prose and poetry. In this figurative language lesson, students explore the tone of a story and its imagery. Students read and discuss how the author uses imagery in...

Third graders read a readers theater written by Nasreddin Hodja. In this Nasreddin Hodja lesson plan, 3rd graders learn about the philosopher and participate in one of his reader's theaters.

Students complete activities using the book The Higher Power of Lucky. In this literature lesson, students read the story and identify the parts of the story. They create a wind chime like that found in the book. 

Students research Langston Hughes poetry for his use of figurative language. In this poetry analysis lesson, students research the life and poetry of Langston Hughes and his use of vivid words. Students complete 23 different...

Young scholars analyze the conventions used in Noh plays and write an introduction to a Noh play of their own. In this Noh play lesson, students identify the conventions of the Noh form and analyze the realizations the main character...

Students analyze the storytelling methods in wordless books.  In this visual storytelling activity, students write a story that correspond to a specific wordless picture book.  Students create their own wordless picture book...

Students will create a fictional narrative based on the cover of a picture book provided by the teacher. In this narrative writing lesson students incorporate all story elements and use strategies to engage the reader.

Tenth graders use the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to analyze relationships in society. In this literature analysis instructional activity, 10th graders participate in a shoe activity where they bring in one shoe belonging to someone they...

Students examine literary elements in non-fiction literature. In this problem solving instructional activity, students read Rosa Parks, My Story and Beyond the Limits. Students make oral presentations based on the causes and effects,...

Students read passages from several sources and evaluate the text for various criteria. In this problem solving lesson plan, students evaluate character problem solving processes after reading passages. They will use a Venn Diagram to...