Pennsylvania Department of Education
Analyzing Literary Elements in Literary Nonfiction
Fourth graders identify the literary elements of a nonfiction text. In this literary elements lesson, 4th graders read the text Piano Starts Here--The Young Art Tatum and fill in a chart that includes the events from the book....
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Movie Analysis
Fourth graders discuss main concept, supporting details, plot, setting, major events, problems, conflicts, and resolution in two short stories. They apply these terms to a movie of their choice. They compare analysis of movies to...
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Cooperative Learning Groups Cooperate
Students apply Bloom's Taxonomy to reading selections. They prepare questions for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy and exchange them with other groups to answer. They answer another group's questions and report to one another.
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Life Size Characters
Sixth graders analyze character traits and create a life size character outline. For this character analysis lesson, 6th graders analyze character traits of a character using character webs and poems. Students then create a life size...
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Language Arts: Predicting and Clarifying Techniques
First graders discover predicting and clarifying skills while reading "The Old Woman and Her Pig." During the reading, they check their predictions while evaluating the characters, setting, problems, and solution. On the second day,...
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Writing A Thanksgiving Day Story
Students write a Thanksgiving Day Story using some or all of the words included in the worksheet. These stories can be fiction or non-fiction (Personal Essays). They are graded on sentence structure, paragraph structure, grammar,...
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Native American Legends
Second graders will engage in an in-depth study of Michigan Native American culture comparing and contrasting the culture of today with that of the past. They will also read a variety of Native American literature focusing on the story...
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Short Story Group PowerPoint Project
Students choose a short story from the class literature book. They find information about the author. They read the short story from the literature textbook. They create a PowerPoint to retell the short story.
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It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
Using Alpha Smarts, 3rd graders write a "Story-in-the-Round". The end result of this project is one story for every student in the class that has been written by the entire class. Students create a PowerPoint presentation with a...
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Understanding Character
Young scholars are introduced to literary elements and definitions in the worksheet Understanding Character but reading through each of the elements and definitions aloud. They read the story, "La Bamba" and identify examples of the...
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Fairy Tales
Students explore fairy tales. In this fairy tales lesson, students analyze the main idea of a fairy tale and interpret it. Students then re-write the story from the point of view of another character or object in the story.
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Literature Analysis
Students examine the attributes of stories. In this literary elements lesson, students discuss the characters, plots, and settings of books they read in class.
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Transportation Math
Students recognize math problems within stories. In this consumer math lesson, students discover clues to solve math problems within written story problems. Students complete the story problems on a worksheet.
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Alchemy and Chemical Symbols
In this alchemy worksheet, students read about how alchemists kept their experiment notes in secret code. Students design their own secret code for the given elements. This worksheet has 2 problems to solve.
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Getting Ready to Write
Students watch an online slideshow that shows Cornelia Funke's transition from an illustrator to a writer. They discuss her writing process from the way she gathers ideas to how and where she writes. Next, they work in groups to choose a...
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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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Interpreting Dramatic Works
Action! Delve into character development in the play Fences by August Wilson, setting the stage for learners to analyze character nuances. Thespians choose a scene from the script, responding with a written account of the...
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Write a Story 2
In this creative writing activity, students use the picture to generate ideas for a story. Students also incorporate the elements about the plot and setting for their story.
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Share Stories and Discuss
Students explore literature by examining story elements. In this storytelling lesson, students identify the importance of setting, and characters within a story. Students answer questions about their personal opinions on storytelling and...
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Short Story Framework
The class gets creative after listening to a short story containing a definitive structure. They are required to think about character, relationship, and setting, while attempting to show rather than tell, in their writing. Dialogue,...
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Creative Writing Idea Sheet
In this creative writing ideas instructional activity, students create their own stories as they use the setting, character, and objects listed on the instructional activity to fuel their ideas.
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Short Story Lesson
Students examine short stories and identify setting, characters, points of view, theme and plot. This lesson develops an appreciation and understanding of short stories.
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Writing a Historical Fiction Story
Middle schoolers create a historical fiction story. In this historical fiction lesson, students choose a time period to use as their setting. They create a story with true elements but fictional characters and plot.
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Map It Out
Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...