Novelinks
The Little Prince: Blooms’ Taxonomy Questions
Question what you read with a lesson based on Bloom's Taxonomy. As kids read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, they formulate questions with cues from a graphic organizer, and answer them to work on critical...
Curated OER
Through Our Eyes
After reading Sandra Cisneros’ novel The House on Mango Street, class members design a canned food drive, create advertisements for the drive, and use digital cameras to document the entire process. In addition, pupils journal their...
Curated OER
The Last Lecture: Gallery Walk
As part of a discussion of The Last Lecture, class members engage in a gallery walk silent discussion by recording their responses to a series of questions and images posted about the classroom.
Curated OER
James and the Giant Peach Character Study
Every book has a few great characters, but James and the Giant Peach is the only one whose characters travel in a piece of fruit. The class creates T-charts for the main characters of the novel, while reading the book. They write actions...
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to the Works of Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson tackles challenging topics for teens. An educator's guide shares activities for many of her novels such as Prom, Shout, and Wintergirls. Questions, perfect to use as either discussion or as essay prompts, accompany...
Curated OER
How to Write a Biography
Looking for a great lesson on how to write a biography? Here, middle schoolers draw from magazine articles, novels, historical figures, and current events to choose a person, or character to write about in a biography. They follow a...
Reed Novel Studies
Old Yeller: Novel Study
Fred Gipson's Old Yeller tells of a stray yellow dog who becomes the best friend a boy could ever have. While reading the novel, learners complete sentences with new vocabulary words, answer comprehension questions, and create...
Curated OER
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Literature Study Guide
Yo-ho-ho, Treasure Island can be lots of fun with the aid of a resource that guides readers' exploration of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of buccaneers and buried gold. It's the glory of the read that will turn your...
Curated OER
James and the Giant Peach Plot Analysis
It's all about the plot, main events, and story mapping with this lesson. As the class reads the novel James and the Giant Peach, they create an excitement graph that actually charts key events and moments of excitement. After...
Curated OER
The Outsiders Study Guide
Provide this packet for your pupils as they pour over The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The study guide includes graphic organziers and comprehension as well as higher-level questions. Class members briefly summarize each chapter, compare...
Curated OER
Our “Civilized” Society
The Scarlet Letter is the anchor text in a four-week unit that examines Hawthorne's novel through the lens of the intolerances found in a supposed civilized society. In addition to their reading, class members watch clips from...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 3: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Teacher Guide
The Core Knowledge Foundation offers this teacher guide to Robert Louis Stevenson's gothic novel about the duality of humankind. The 128-page guide includes a unit introduction, unit calendar, nine scripted lesson plans, assessments with...
Curated OER
The Outsiders: The K-W-H-L Strategy
What does your class know about the 1960s? Introduce your unit on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders with a K-W-H-L chart, which encourages kids to list what they already know about the time period, what they would like to know, how they...
Storytelling World
Maniac Magee
Add to children's enjoyment of the award-winning novel Maniac Magee with this fun collection of resources. From sequence of events and fact or fiction worksheets, to writing newspaper articles and creating advertisements based...
Curated OER
Fear, and Conquering Fear
The Lord of the Flies and The Kite Runner are the core texts in a unit that asks learners to examine various texts that show how fear can be a destructive force or it can be an agent of change. Individuals they design a project that...
Reed Novel Studies
The Hobbit: Novel Study
All it takes is a little adventure to interrupt a quiet, simple life. A study guide for The Hobbit explores the adventures that disrupt Bilbo Baggins' quiet life. Questions discuss key events found within J.R.R....
Curated OER
Mississippi Trial, 1955: A Request Strategy for Questioning
Knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Class members use Bloom's taxonomy to craft six levels of discussion questions for Chris Crowe's novel, Mississippi Trial, 1955. Model questions from Chapter 3, a...
Curated OER
Biopoem Strategy as Part of a Character Analysis for Of Mice and Men
Readers of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men will learn much “more than what (is) said to them” as they use the biopoem format and craft a poem about one of the major characters in Steinbeck’s tragic story of Geroge Milton and Lennie...
Orlando Shakes
Les Misérables: Study Guide
A writer has the responsibility to defend the less fortunate members of society. At least that was the view of Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables. The novel is the subject of a study guide from Orlando Shakespeare Theater....
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
A 15-page packet includes detailed plans for three activities related to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. To gather background information, class members research topics and create a newspaper page reporting their findings. After finishing...
Livaudais-Baker English Classroom
Literary Theories
Introduce ELA scholars to the basics of literary criticism with a 41-slide presentation that identifies eight different approaches to critical analysis. Each approach is defined, and advantages and disadvantages are listed. Also included...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment
Pain and suffering do not have to be inevitable in a study of Crime and Punishment. A carefully scaffolded instructional activity introduces readers to the divided natures of the characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's complex novel....
Carnegie Library
Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers.
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 4 Overview
The intricate craft of narrative writing can make a happy story feel exuberant or a sad story feel devastating. With 42 extensive lessons that include poignant discussion questions, standards-aligned self-reflections, engaging writing...