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Building Up Books
Students participate in a book club in which they share the setting, characters and plot of the book they read. Individually, they make a list of the most important or appealing features of the book on construction paper to try to...
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Understanding the Elements of Fiction
Inform your class on the elements of fiction: themes, settings, characters, plots, dialogue, narration, flashback, clues, climax, resolution. They write the definitions of the terms on the worksheet provided.l Tip: Have them write a...
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Tall Tales and Urban Legends
In this creative writing worksheet, students sort through old pictures and discuss the characterization in each. Students create characters, a setting, and their own tall tale or urban legend based on the pictures.
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Flipped: After Reading Strategy
Everyone can be an expert! After finishing Wendelin Van Draanen's book Flipped, divide your class into small groups. Then, assign each group a topic to become experts on. The resource suggests topics such as characters, themes, setting,...
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Against the Odds
What factors help people achieve goals? What factors prevent people from achieving goals? What are the elements that need to be in place to make a team function well? Using Damien Lewis’ Desert Claw and John Francome’s Winner Takes All,...
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Introduction to Victorian London and A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley
Immerse your class in Dickens's London and classic story of A Christmas Carol. Here, a SMARTboard presentation and WebQuest build background of the setting for the novel (or the play A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley.) Learning about...
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The Paths of Literature: The Family Today
Use the internet to research the differences between families in the past and today. In groups, they identify the reponsibilities and roles of each member of the family. As a class, they compare and contrast non-fiction and fiction and...
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Writing Drama-Trying Your Hand at being a Playwright
Fifth graders chart the elements of drama. For this performing arts lesson, 5th graders discuss the role of a playwrite, practice doing some Reader's Theatre scripts, write a paragraph about a problem between two people, and perform...
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Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" in Graphical Representation
Students analyze graphical forms of Eudora Welty and interpret the shorts stories in the representations. In this graphical representations lesson, students analyze the short story genre in comic strips. Students then create their own...
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Comprehension Skills: Picture, Question and Summarize Using Fiction Stories
Students build a variety of comprehension skills through the nine lessons of this unit. Picturing events, monitoring understanding during reading, forming questions, and summarizing stories form the core of the lessons being taught...
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Letters of Advice and Encouragement
Students review the format for a letter. They discuss advice and encouragement and generate examples of each. Students write a letter to Despereaux. They proofread their work and a partner's work. Students discuss symbols and make a...
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Philadelphia Museum of Art
Students study paintings and use their knowledge of story elements to analyze the art. In this art analysis lesson, students review a novel for its elements. Students study the image At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance and discuss the story...
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Popcorn Literacy
Second graders participate in a book share that facilitates mastery of literary elements (in a delicious way). At the conclusion of a book, 2nd graders are required to discuss setting, plot, character, problem, and solution/resolution in...
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Checkmate: The Play's The Thing
Students investigate the Middle Ages and it's relation to the theater. In this acting lesson, students read Arthurian stories form the Middle Ages and practice using vocabulary words from the Medieval Times. Students write a...
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Book Report Activity
Students analyze language arts by reading a book in class. In this book report activity, students must read one of five selected books including 1984 and Lord of the Flies. Students prepare a two page report and create a poster...
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Literary Analysis - Young Goodman Brown
Why is literary analysis so important? Readers explore writing a literary analysis by reviewing literary elements such as character, metaphor, plot, setting, simile, personification, and style. They read "Young Goodman Brown" by...
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Creating A Story
Second graders practice the necessary steps that should be taken in order to create a story from scratch. They brainstorm as a class in order to come up with different ideas. Students write a story that includes a plot, characters, and...
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"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
Young scholars explore nature by reading stories in class. For this animal characteristics lesson, students read the story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," by Rudyard Kipling and identify the different animals mentioned in the book. Young scholars...
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Read Us a Story
Students take turns reading a story using a book on tape/cd. Special education students are encouraged to control the story telling by using the buttons on the tape/cd player. The instructor should interject with various questions about...
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Freedom Train North
Fourth graders conduct a novel study of the book Freedom Train North. They identify the parts of a story that include beginning, middle, and end. Students also recognize the setting, plot, and theme after reading a part of the book daily.
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Story Outline
Students examine the qualities of a piece of writing. In this language arts lesson, students begin writing by following an outline for what goes into a story. Students illustrate their story when it is finished and share their stories...
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Lesson One: How Change Affects Our Lives
Sixth graders discuss fears and how their lives change as they grow up. In this change lesson, 6th graders read the poem "Whatif" by Shel Silverstein. They discuss things they are afraid of or what they used to be afraid of.
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Connecting Characters and Themes in Julius Caesar
Fourth graders prepare for the literary analysis. They locate, interpret, evaluate and analyze the relationship between a character and the theme. After a lecture/demo, 4th graders write topic and detail sentences, then correctly put...
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How to Write Really Good Dialogue
How do you create (and punctuate) really good dialogue so that it moves your story forward and provides strong characterization? Use this literary worksheet loaded with examples, clearly stated directions, and fun exercises. Fifth...