Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Book Review Writing: a Guide for Young Reviewers

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Encourage scholars to share their love of reading with informative and engaging book reviews. Here, you'll find a series of guides that walk learners through the review writing process. Included in the collection is information about...
Handout
Vanier College

Analyzing Short Stories/Novels

For Students 9th - 12th
Good questions can help focus readers' attention on the elements writers use to add depth to their stories. The questions on this worksheet do just that and encourage readers to think critically about a story and author's purpose.
Activity
Scholastic

A Reading Guide to Sarah, Plain and Tall

For Teachers 1st - 5th Standards
Eliminate the hard work of creating an entire literature unit with this reading guide for the novel Sarah, Plain and Tall. From background information about the author and her motivation for writing the story to...
Lesson Plan
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IPDAE

Themes in Short Stories

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
"What is the theme of this story?" The very question can spark fear in the minds of readers and incinerate confidence. Here you will discover an exercise that shows how writers use the tools of setting, plot, conflict, and...
Handout
Curated OER

A P Literary Terms

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Is a list of literary terms found frequently on AP English exams of value to test takers? Now there's a rhetorical question. Here's a list that provides definitions for everything from allegory to vernacular. To say the list is...
Handout
Mrs. Mann

Mice and Beans

For Teachers 1st - 4th Standards
A great addition to a multicultural unit or curriculum study, use the set of questions based on Pam Muñoz Ryan's Mice and Beans to engage learners and enhance their reading experience. As youngsters read, they...
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Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program

Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics

For Teachers 1st - 4th Standards
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
Handout
Charleston School District

Increasing, Decreasing, Max, and Min

For Students 8th Standards
Roller coaster cars traveling along a graph create quite a story! The lesson analyzes both linear and non-linear graphs. Learners determine the intervals that a graph is increasing and/or decreasing and to locate maximum and/or...
Lesson Plan
Book Units Teacher

Skill Lessons – Prefixes and Suffixes

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Sometimes the best way to understand a concept is to break it down. Young vocabulary pupils work with word parts in a hands-on activity that prompts them to connect flash cards with affixes to their root and base words....
Handout
Odell Education

Photo Cartoons: How To Give A Compliment

For Students 1st - 4th
Help learners develop the ability to offer appropriate, meaningful compliments to others—an essential social skill. Here you'll find a quick photo cartoon illustrating a right and wrong way to give a compliment, as well as a brief...
Lesson Plan
Gateways

Teaching the Easter Story

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
If you are looking for a secular approach to teaching about Easter, this may just be the resource for you. Pupils read a paraphrased text depicting the last supper, arrest, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ as told in the Bible,...
Handout
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Core Analysis Frame: Fiction

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Dig into any piece of fiction with a series of analysis questions. There are two levels of questions provided: basic and in-depth. The basic questions can be copied double-sided onto a single piece of paper, while the in-depth questions...
Handout
Charleston School District

Analyzing Scatter Plots

For Students 8th - 9th Standards
Scatter plots tell a story about the data — you just need to be able to read it! Building from the previous lesson in the series where learners created scatter plots, they now learn how to find associations in those scatter plots....
Lesson Plan
Institute for the Professional Development of Adult Educators

Using Context Clues with Signal Words

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed Standards
When you come across an unfamiliar word in a text, do you skip it and move on? Practice using context clues to identify words you don't know with a thorough set of language arts lessons. The resource reinforces close reading and critical...
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Curated OER

Summarizing with Somebody Wanted But So

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Teach your young readers how to summarize a text using a strategy called Somebody Wanted But So. Kids identify the character (Somebody), the motivation (Wanted), the conflict (But), and the resolution (So). The resource comes with...
Handout
Curated OER

The Old Man and the Sea: Concept Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Use a helpful concept analysis guide when planning your unit on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. The resource covers plot elements, literary themes, and possible issues to address in order to make the work accessible...
Activity
Lesson Plansos

Guided Reading Activities with Pizzazz

For Teachers 1st - 4th Standards
Get the most out of your guided reading lessons with this collection of literacy materials. Offering a system for using color-coded tags to mark pages while reading books, as well as an assortment of comprehension and grammar...
Activity
Novelinks

The Lightning Thief: Concept/Vocabulary Analysis

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Before you begin reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, read over this comprehensive handout that gives you a plethora of information regarding the story's summary, organizational structure, central...
Lesson Plan
Public Schools of North Carolina

Democratic Republic of Congo - Map Skills

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Work on your map skills with a packet of activities about the river basins in the Democratic Republic on Congo. Learners study the maps provided before answering the geography questions and writing an acrostic poem about the region.
Lesson Plan
Civil War Trust

Civil War Personalities Lesson Plan

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Caring, trustworthiness, and responsibility—these are only a few character traits in focus of a lesson based on stories from the Civil War era. Class members explore several influential lives while reading biographies that highlight...
Handout
Novelinks

The View From Saturday: Concept/Vocabulary Analysis

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Design your unit on The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg with a concept and vocabulary analysis resource. It outlines the plot, literary elements, vocabulary issues, and any possible considerations for planning a differentiated...
Handout
Curated OER

The Martian Chronicles: Concept Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
If you're planning on including Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles in your science fiction unit, use a concept analysis guide to frame your instruction. It covers literary elements such as setting, narrative voice, and theme, as...
Handout
Get Set for School

Number Formation Chart

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
Help young learners write their numbers with a number formation chart. It illustrates the way their pencils should move when they make each number, along with a cute story about what each number is doing and thinking as it is being written.
Handout
Novelinks

Tunes for Bears to Dance to: Concept Analysis

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Considering using Robert Cormier's young adult novel, Tunes for Bears to Dance to for book circles or as a whole-class anchor text? Check out this overview of the key concepts and issues raised by the novel.