Curated OER
Text Features of Fiction, Poetry, Drama: Story Matrix
How do novels differ from plays? Explore with your class the text features of fiction and drama by reading The Hidden One: Native American Legend and then performing a reader’s theater script based on the story. Class members create a...
Curated OER
Creative Writing Lesson
It's hard to find inspiration; have your learners bring in a slew of magazines and search for inspiring pictures! They look for characters, setting, and possibly even conflict clues. They analyze the pictures they select, turn their...
Curated OER
Little Red Riding Hood
Here is a short, but effective, four-slide presentation on the sequence of events in the story, Little Red Riding Hood. The elements of the story (setting, characters, plot, etc.) are present, then a slide which puts the story in order...
Curated OER
Introduction to Archetypes
Here is a full lesson plan with all the needed materials and PowerPoints attached! Introduce your class to archetypes by showing them the included presentation. The presentation gives definitions and examples of archetypal characters,...
Curated OER
KWHL Questioning Strategy Instructions: Siddhartha
". . . gentlenenss is stronger than severity, water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than force." Prior to beginning Siddhartha, employ a KWHL strategy to provided your class members with the background knowledge of Hinduism,...
National Gallery of Canada
Build Me a Legend
Legends are full of imagery and action. Transfer a scene from a legend to a three-dimensional art piece. Class members first view Inuit art and discuss legends. They then build scenes that include action, setting, and characters.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 3
Just like in real life, characters in short stories show their true personalities through their words and deeds. Decipher the character development in Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with a set of activities...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Hobbit
From dragons to dwarves, from riddles to rings, the great adventure story of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien has captivated generations of readers of all ages. An educator's guide explores the novel's literary elements,...
Southwest Career and Technical Academy
Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story - Compare and Contrast
West Side Story, the modern retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, won ten Academy Awards for its rousing depiction of the tale of star-crossed lovers. But how closely does the plot align to its source material? Compare and...
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Matilda
Chances are, you've got some precocious Matilda fans in your class! Use a thorough set of lesson plans to address Roald Dahl's classic novel about a bright girl who just wants to be understood. Vocabulary exercises,...
Free Library of Philadelphia
Resources for Ghost Boys
Jewell Parker Rhodes, the author of Ghost Boys, wanted to bring the historical legacy of Emmett Till and the current topic of racial prejudice into today's young readers' mindsets. Use a reading guide and set of discussion questions to...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 24
What might viewers notice about the characters, setting, and cinematic choices in the movie version of a play? Pupils view an excerpt from Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. To finish the lesson,...
Curated OER
Questions of Courage
Examine discrimination. In this character education lesson plan, learners read two biographies, Vivien Naki and Hamilton Naki then analyze their personal discrimination experiences. They complete a Venn diagram to compare and...
Curated OER
Wearing Green on St. Patrick's Day: A Social Story
Intended for kids with autism, this set of slides shows different characters wearing different pieces of green clothing for St. Patrick's Day. As suggested, use this to reinforce clothing vocabulary.
Curated OER
Narrative Writing Planning Sheet
"Tell me a story!" Young storytellers use this planning sheet to block out their narrative, identifying the main idea, characters, setting, events, and ending they will incorporate into their tale.
Reading Resource
Cars Puzzles (Basic Code Sentences)
Vroom vroom into reading skills! Bring a set of reading puzzles based on Disney's Cars to your special education or mainstream class. Each strip features a code sentence with the same vowel sound, and when kids put the strips...
Prestwick House
Speak
Speaking your mind and standing up for yourself is the message of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel Speak. Readers review key details about characters, setting, and plot points with a crossword puzzle all about Speak.
Prestwick House
The Giver
The world in Lois Lowry's The Giver is one without pain or suffering. Similiarly, your classroom review of the novel can be painless with a simple and straightforward crossword puzzle that covers characters, details, and setting...
Simon & Schuster
Curriculum Guide to: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
An 18-page curriculum guide for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice consists of five lessons. The first plan asks readers to compare the manners, social behaviors, and class issues in Austen's novel to today's. Next, pupils examine a...
Curated OER
Cinderella
Explore positive and negative character traits and universal themes in the story of Cinderella with primary learners. Story elements are reviewed and discussion questions are listed. Learners practice retelling the story and begin a...
Curated OER
Tuck Everlasting
Seventh graders use literary terms while discussing literature with their peers. They explore literature on a deeper level. Students formulate their opinions regarding response to literature, as this lesson helps students practice...
Curated OER
Create Learning Experiences with The Polar Express
Center content-integrated lessons around the timeless holiday book, The Polar Express.
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
It’s Greek to Me: Greek Mythology
It's no myth: this packet on Greek mythology is an excellent addition to your social studies curriculum. With writing activities, such as short answer responses and biopoems, and reading activities, which include creation stories and...
Curated OER
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...