Fourth graders choose a fantasy genre to research and summarize information on in text. They utilize a variety of communication techniques, including oral, visual as well as written/multimedia reports and then present information...

Students identify the key characteristics that comprise American literary naturalism in Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat." In this naturalism analysis lesson, students identify characteristics of the...

Students read and analyze the story "The Hell of Mirrors," by Edogawa Rampo. They watch a video excerpt, answer discussion questions, construct a periscope, complete handouts, define key vocabulary terms, take a quiz, and write a book...

Seventh graders examine words of Greek origin and discuss character development in fiction. They read a list of Greek word parts and create words on a worksheet. Students then read and discuss an informational handout about character...

Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. They apply knowledge of language structure,...

Students explore myths in ancient times.  In this mythology lesson, students read or view a video production of a myth to determine specific characteristics of myths. Students work in groups to write a myth that explains an...

Students create fantasy stories. In this creative writing lesson, students write a fantasy where they can use characters that they have read about in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Twelfth graders rewrite a story in a different format to understand the effects of the author's style. In this writing style lesson, 12th graders read Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and rewrite the...

Students explore journalism by reading a book in class. In this factual research lesson, students read a portion of a Magic School Bus book and identify parts that seem to be factual and fictional. Students view an episode of the Magic...

Seventh graders analyze grammatical structures and identify literary elements in a variety of texts. Through the genre of folktales, ancient or indigenous cultures are studied.

Students read "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In groups, they research the events and spirit of the 1920s and relate events in the novel to actual historical events. They compare the characteristics of various genres and...

Students identify the elements of fiction, and work on compare and contrast skills.. In this comprehension activity, students read different versions of Cinderella. Students use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the literary...

Young scholars study and interpret a classical tragedy and role play a character from the play.  For this tragedy lesson, students discuss a specific work to discover the form, structure, and characteristics of the genre and...

Students read the story The Story of Babar and have a class discussion about his travels, discuss their families, design a map, pick music, and more. In this cross curricular musical lesson plan, students create a music map for each of...

Pupils explore language arts by reading and reflecting on literary examples. In this fiction writing lesson, students read several different cultural versions of the story "Cinderella" and discuss their interaction with the story and...

Sixth graders demonstrate the ability to process and evaluate content from a variety of sources and apply comprehension skills to the material read. They organize information for practical use and design and develop an informational...

Young scholars revise writing to improve style, word choice, sentence variety and subtlety of meaning after rethinking how questions of purpose, audience and genre have been addressed. They recognize the importance of details in writing.

Learners explore the structure of folktales. In this coyote and Anansi lesson, students discuss the attributes of folktales as they read versions of tales featuring coyote and Anansi. Learners collaborate to write and perform their own...

Eighth graders analyze lyrics from songs from a variety of genres. In this musical analysis lesson, 8th graders write an essay about their life plans in which they discuss the lyrics of U2's song, "One." They tell how the writings of Dr....

Fourth graders investigate the style of diary writing as its own genre of literature. They read Harriet The Spy in order to have a text for this literature study. Students use the skill of prediction to preview the story, and then...

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...

Learners compare two pieces of literature. In this literary comparisons instructional activity, students read 2 books that they personally select and then compare and contrast the literary elements of each in a comparative essay.

Students read the English folktale, "Tattercoats," identify basic literary terms, and respond to writing prompts. They compare and contrast with another Cinderella story version and create a graphic response to the story.

Ninth graders listen to a read aloud of two short stories focusing on literary devices. The write about the settings and realism of the stories, and decide each main character handles the conflict he faces with nature.