National Endowment for the Humanities
The Preamble to the Constitution: A Close Reading Lesson
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." These familiar lines begin the Preamble to the Constitution, but do learners know what they mean? A close reading exercise takes a look at the language of the...
Thalian Association Community Theatre
West Side Story: Teacher Resource Guide
West Side Story is widely known as a modern-day Romeo & Juliet. Learners read a list of characters from the play and list their counterparts from Romeo & Juliet before completing a vocabulary enrichment activity and word...
Orlando Shakes
West Side Story: Study Guide
Hey, enough frabbajabba about that stool pigeon, Daddy-O! Using the West Side Story study guide, scholars explore the language of the play and read about its historical associations and themes. Pupils also engage in a Spectrum of...
Curated OER
What Is the True Story of the Three Little Pigs?
Cozy up and listen to a recording of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Three Little Javelinas. Then, lead your class in a compare and contrast of the two stories by creating a Venn diagram.
Curated OER
Story Retelling
Students explore storytelling by participating in an image analysis activity. In this story structure lesson, students read the book Cookie's Week by Tomie dePaola and retell the story to their teacher in sequential order. Students...
Curated OER
The Interactive Read-Aloud
Youngsters participate in interactive read alouds about immigration.As they listen to teacher-chosen books that highlight the concept of immigration, they will be provided with opportunities to interact. They can respond to the...
Curated OER
Elements of a Short Story (SMARTboard)
TV for homework? Your pupils' dreams have come true! After reading Sandra Cisneros's "Eleven," they analyze the elements of the story, particularly the plot and and climax. The lesson could work with any short story that you are using to...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Flora's Box
Young readers consider text-to-self connections. Learners discover the text-to-self connection as they read Flora's Box by Tina Althaide. They practice high frequency words, prepositions, and 1:1 correspondence.
Curated OER
Creepy Read Week
Here's a clever technology twist to writing in the round. Participants rotate through a series of computers adding to stories and editing by keystroke and mouse click. "Locked" forms prevent the loss of stories filled with suspense and...
Curated OER
Detail Detective: Story Activity
In this story detail worksheet, students complete a graphic organizer, filling in details about a story read and what characters see, hear, smell, taste, touch and where they go.
Curated OER
Reading Made Easy with Mindwing Concepts
While this resource is actually attempting to sell a product, the foundational ideas may be worth looking into. Using Braidy the StoryBraid doll, learners will gain a better understanding of beginning, middle, and end, as well as story...
Curated OER
Reading Aloud
Reading aloud is a great way to engage learners in pacing and pronunciation! They practice using voice, pitch and intonation correctly. The teacher introduces the lesson plan by example, correctly stressing punctuation and using...
Curated OER
Encore! Reading with Expression
When you read aloud from Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, class members respond with "Encore!" or "No!" depending on your use, or misuse, of volume and speed as you demonstrate reading with expression. Readers then practice in...
Curated OER
Fluency is the Key!
A field trip to the library begins this lesson plan where children select their own books to practice fluent silent reading. They then practice their writing by creating a new ending to the story they chose before receiving a mini-lesson...
Curated OER
Tell Me A Story -- Feelings
Practice using feelings as a way to reflect on past experiences. The poem The End and the text Tell Me a Story Mama are used to identify feeling words. As an extension, pupils participate in a service learning project and...
Curated OER
Story Starters for Beginning Readers and Writers
Young scholars respond to a story starters about a dinosaur, present, pet store, puppy or another topic of interest to primary-grade students. They dictate or write stories in response to 15 story starters designed to develop language...
Curated OER
Compare and Chart the Stories
Elementary schoolers engage in a literature study. They make comparisons of two different versions of a story using a graphic organizer. Using the text and pictures elementary schoolers investigate three elements from the story. Then,...
Curated OER
Scrambled Stories
Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...
Curated OER
Sentence Completion: "Ima's Story"
Second graders read a paragraph containing one missing word per sentence. Using the provided word box, they choose the correct word to complete each sentence.
Curated OER
Sentence Completion: "Anna's Story"
Learners read a paragraph containing one missing word per sentence. Using the provided word box, they choose the correct word to complete each sentence.
Curated OER
Exploring Contrasting Story Elements Through Tapestry and Poetry
Young thinkers view two narrative art tapestries and study the images included that tell a story about the Roman Emperor Constantine. As they examine the details of the tapestries, pupils use a Venn Diagram to record the similarities and...
Curated OER
Inspiring Imagination for Story Content
Here is a very interesting story writing presentation. Young writers are prompted to write by responding to a variety of questions. Once their imaginations have been piqued, they are told to write the first three lines of an original...
Curated OER
Watch Out Books! I'm Reading with Expression!
Students discover how to read with expression. By reading and rereading decodable words in connected texts, students study the importance of expressions and how it can make a book more enjoyable.
Curated OER
Kites are Slow, Reading is Fast
Speed read with your third, fourth, and fifth graders. Learners pair up and work together to improve their oral fluency. Use the technique of covering up unknown words to isolate the vowel and decode the word. There's a sheet included to...