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Take an Imaginary Shopping Trip With Your Students
Take your students on an imaginary shopping trip to practice math and other skills.
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Personify This
Eighth graders study personification in published works of poetry, then create their own through the use of diamante or cinquain poetry. They read and discuss poetry by Shel Silverstein, William Jay Smith, and Elinor Wylie.
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Literary Data Collection Chart
Here’s a matrix that could be used with any literary work. For each assigned passage, readers are asked to record information about characters, setting, vocabulary, literary devices, symbols, tone, mood, etc. In addition, they are asked...
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Who am I? Bookmaking
Students explore the process of bookmaking that has its origins from many different international cultures. The multicultural symbolism represented by the medium is utilized by students to expres their identity.
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Short Stories Through Multimedia Presentations
Ninth graders summarize and paraphrase a short story read in class. They identify the six story elements of character, setting, plot, conflict, solution, and tone/mood. Students create a PowePoint presentation that illustrates the...
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Urban Concentration and Racial Violence
Students research one of the many urban race riots in U.S. history, from the New York City riots during the Civil War to the "Red Summer of 1919" or the hate-strikes of 1943. They present their findings in the form of a newspaper's front...
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Come On, Rain!
Learners read and analyze the story. In this language arts lesson, students read Come on, Rain! and examine how mood and tone are created, the use of figurative language and the characteristics of the genre. Learners research the...
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A Song By Any Other Name Would Be a Poem
Students examine the poetic elements of a piece of music. They discuss favorite songs, select a song, and write a persuasive essay identifying the poetic qualities of the song lyrics.
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Colors, Characters, & Clues
Students investigate inferences. They define inference, view a Powerpoint presentation, answer questions about a picture book, and identify clues throughout the story as examples of inferences.
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Writing Catchy Introductions
In this introductory paragraph learning exercise, students learn techniques for writing an attention-catching introductory paragraph. Students then read several introductory paragraphs and determine which strategies were used.
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Colors, Characters, & Clues: White Socks
Students examine the process of making inferences. They define inference, view a Powerpoint presentation, and as a whole group locate clues in the pictures of a short story, locating written clues to reinforce their conclusions.
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Creative Autobiography
Students brainstorm and outline ideas for their autobiography. They begin composition of it as well. Students create a timeline of important events to help them get started and discuss the elements of a what makes a good story.
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Crafting Poetry: A Sensory Journey
Tenth graders experiment with poetry devices to write poems. In this poetry lesson, 10th graders participate in learning stations. Students create a word pool and select a word from the list to create a line of poetry. Students complete...
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A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
Students examine historical photographs and discuss what the photograph reveals and how they can contribute to writing. In this response to literature students choose a photograph and develop a paragraph around it.
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Finding Buck Henry
Students read and demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process via the novel "Finding Buck Henry." They recognize complex elements of plot. Students analyze devices used to develop characters in...
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The Thrill of Big-Wave Surfing
Students view a PBS Nature program about big-wave surfing and participate in a class discussion about their experiences with surfing, body boarding, or body surfing. Students create a drawing based on a reading and post their art around...
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Model Lesson Plans
Ninth graders study how to identify and analyze the use of figurative language used in selected poems, short stories or other pieces of prose chosen by the teacher. These pieces of literature represent at least two pieces by one writer...
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Expression, Expression, Expression
Students read orally with expression in this lesson. They read sentences stressing different emotions with appropriate expression. The teacher models expressive vs. non-expressive reading, and they practice with a partner. Their...
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Japanese Tanka Poetry
High schoolers discover the techniques of creating Japanese Tanka poetry through in-class discussions and a fun group competition. This instructional activity is an excellent introduction to Japanese literature and/or poetry.
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Promoting the South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominees
Sixth graders recongize and analyze different components of a piece of literature. They must also practice their oral communcation skills by reading a book to an audience.
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Literature Through Silent Movies
Middle schoolers participate in an engaging, alternative assessment activity: making a silent film of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This project offers them an additional way to demonstrate their mastery of the topic.
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Sound/Story
Students combine creativity with the rigor of careful editing by adding music to their story. It forces them to focus on how they communicate the meaning of their story to the listener.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Literary Elements and Techniques Collection
These animated shorts introduce or review literary elements and techniques like theme, setting, figurative language, characterization, and conflict. They can be used when students are just learning how to identify the most commonly used...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Make 'Em Laugh or Cry Or
After sharing chapter 19 of Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls as an example of emotion-evoking writing, the learners will write their own detailed and emotional paragraphs. Students can draw from background knowledge of a real...