Curated OER
Story Web
Use a graphic organizer or story web to show the relationship between plot and character. They note the setting, characters, title, author, conflict, and solution regarding short story or novel they have read.
Curated OER
The Rest of the Story
Third graders make predictions about the story "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" based on background knowledge. They read the story, stopping to verify or reject predictions. They write their own opinionated fairytales.
Curated OER
Imagining Your Science Fiction Short Story
Twelfth graders brainstorm ideas for their own science fiction story. Using worksheets, they sketch the plot and setting for their story. They create appropriate characters and develop their interactions among each other. They share...
For the Teachers
Sequence Plot Chart
Your kids can identify the plot sequence of a short story, but what about an informational article? Have them examine the chronological order of events in informational texts with a activity on the sequence of events.
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Jan Brett
Prepare to teach Jan Brett stories by taking a look at this teacher resource, which includes text-based questions, writing assignments, discussion ideas, and vocabulary practice for 18 different stories.
Curated OER
Literary Elements Worksheets and Graphic Organizers
Using graphic organizers can be an effective way to teach literary elements.
Federal Reserve Bank
The Story of the Federal Reserve: Middle School Lesson Plan
After reading the charming cartoon about the United States Federal Reserve, pupils often need to complete activities to retain their learning. The resource does a wonderful job of using class discussion and various written exercises to...
Scholastic
Story Map
Simplify a short story or novel in your language arts class with a story map. The graphic organizer includes fields such as title and author, main characters, and problem and solution.
Curated OER
Unit Plan: Short Stories
Tenth graders complete a unit of lessons on the story elements of Sherlock Holmes short stories. They analyze the plot elements, complete graphic organizers, read and discuss the plots, observe a person and take notes, and analyze an...
Novelinks
Lord of the Flies: Themes and Notetaking
William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a treasure trove of symbolism and literary themes. Help your kids note the richest passages in the book with a lesson and graphic organizer. The lesson prepares kids to come up with a thesis...
Curated OER
Retelling
Explore language arts by completing a story worksheet in class. Readers will identify the importance of plot, setting, and character while they write their own short story. They also retell their story to a classmate and participate in a...
Curated OER
Summer Shorts
Want to use sequence maps in your narrative writing unit? Young writers work to create personal narratives about their summer vacation. They write a narrative of their vacation and create a display using summer clothing shapes made from...
Curated OER
Mini-Lesson Planning for Inferences
Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...
Curated OER
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: Graphic Organizer: Venn Diagram
Compare and contrast the characters in John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Using a Venn diagram, kids write in different traits to describe each person, and note their shared characteristics in the middle section.
CPALMS
Analyzing Vonnegut's View of the Future and His Commentary on the Present in Harrison Bergeron
Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" engages adolescents with its theme about the dangers of complete societal equality. Learners complete a graphic organizer to track literary elements in the story, as well as an inference...
Curated OER
Military Families
Tenth graders recognize and define vocabulary words. In this Military families instructional activity, 10th graders participate in a shoot n spell game. Students write the vocabulary in sentences, read words in text, and...
Curated OER
Story of Self
What a great beginning-of-the-year activity! Get your class to identify their values through a three-page worksheet (included). Each speaker will craft a two-minute description that includes their story and how they can help their...
abcteach
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Looking for materials to accompany your study of Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes? Look no further! Included here is everything you need to go alongside your unit: worksheets, graphic organizers, writing assignments, an assessment,...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 3 Assessment Part 1: Researching the Destruction Caused by the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fires
How do you interpret that? Scholars work on their mid-unit assessments by interpreting resources pertaining to the 1906 San
Francisco Earthquake and Fires. Readers use the text in their research folders and complete graphic organizers,...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 5
Finding the central idea in a text is equally important in fiction and nonfiction. Work on analyzing a piece of writing for the central idea with Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," complete with supporting...
English Worksheets Land
Party!
What could be more fun than two birthday parties in one day? Compare and contrast two parties with a short reading passage and a graphic organizer that focuses on character, setting, and events from the story.
California Education Partners
Eleven
It is difficult to articulate how growing up feels as accurately and beautifully as Sandra Cisneros does in her short story "Eleven." After seventh graders read the story and note the author's use of figurative language, they respond to...
Literacy Design Collaborative
The Power of Language
There is power in words. Readers take a close look at three text to determine how language structures affect meaning, including include poems and recipes. Scholars analyze the language authors use by circling important words, underlining...
Syracuse City School District
Reading Comprehension Unit Plan
A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...