Young writers can contemplate a cartoon zombie's brain while they write a creative story. The theme is Halloween and the issue is that the writer invited real monsters to his or her party. Big mistake! Or was it?

Get your ghouls and gals writing on Halloween! Learners write about what their jack o' lantern said when it suddenly came to life. A cute pumpkin graphic and a fun font spices up the resource.

Learners explore West Virginia history with regard to Mountain and Appalachian Culture. They compare and contrast life now with life 100-150 years ago. They write and illustrate a short story about the life of children 100-150 years ago....

Students explore world literature through completing several varied exercises. In this compare and contrast instructional activity students compare and contrast stories and how time and culture impacts the stories.

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is famous, in part, because it established a uniquely American form of humor. For this famous story, Mark Twain combines the tall-tale, the dialect story, and satire. Here is a resource...

Use the Peace Corps to explore a different place and different perspectives. Your class reads the personal narrative "Cross-Cultural Dialogue" by Roz Wollmering, completing an attached story frame sheet in preparation for a class...

Small groups learn about a present-day nomadic culture in Mongolia and the threats to its existence by exploring a photo essay. The resource includes thoughtful discussion and writing prompts about cultural sustainability, the...

Students learn how slaves communicated with each other.  In this slavery and freedom lesson plan, students learn how slaves used quilts as maps, learn what different quilt patterns meant, draw a picture for their class freedom quilt...

Make sure your class spends some time paying attention to the news by asking individuals to report on a current event. Using this sheet, pupils write down the title, source, and date before composing a brief summary and a personal...

Through character trait graphic organizers, a vocabulary sorting activity, class discussion, and a civil rights movement slide show, your young historians will be introduced to the amazing story of Ruby Bridges and her experiences as the...

Use Nathanial Hawthorne's immortal text on the influence of religion on the early American settlements, as well as its continued impact on American culture, with a unit that focuses on The Scarlet Letter. In addition to Hawthorne's...

Students create portraits, short stories, hugging hands, and more crafts for Mother's Day. In this Mother's Day lesson plan, students also create flower pots and answer short answer questions.

In this writing prompt worksheet, students practice filling out a framed character/plot chart that narrows the students focus on an historical event or a story.

Fifth graders review the basic story of the Cinderella fairy tale. In groups, they read various stories of Cinderella from different cultures. They use a compare and contrast chart to examine the differences between the American...

Fifth graders are read a variety of Cinderella stories from around the world. In groups, they complete a comparison chart for each story and how it compares to the American version. To end the lesson plan, they participate in a fairy...

Students explore "The Story of Ruby Bridges," by Robert Coles to uncover examples of courage in the lives of others and in themselves. This search into the story is meant to help students form connections with others and to foster the...

Map out the conflicts throughout history with a graphic organizer. It includes a section for kids to list the participants in an event, the problems or goals, and the theme or lesson learned.

Students examine literary elements in non-fiction literature. In this problem solving lesson, students read Rosa Parks, My Story and Beyond the Limits. Students make oral presentations based on the causes and effects, conflicts, and...

The artistic choices Art Spiegelman made in his graphic novel, Maus, are the focus of an exercise that asks class members to compare classic comic book forms with Spiegelman’s panels and frames. Directed to specific pages and guided by a...

Learners participate in a variety of emergent and early-literacy activities based on a "friendship" theme. Learners listen to the book Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle, then echo read, choral read, and independently read...

What stories can a desk paperweight and picture frame possibly tell us about the president of the United States? Pupils are transported to the desk of President John F. Kennedy through an engaging interactive site. The guide offers...

"The Hare and the Water," a Tanzanian folk tale, lends a global perspective to literary analysis. Learners spend the first two days reading and storyboarding. On day three, they examine folk tale elements (worksheet included), and design...

Challenge your class with this lesson focusing on the fifty states. Learners use ArcMap to show the route the main character in the story Journey of Oliver K. Woodman took across the United States. Then, they write journal...

Learners examine how sand is formed by erosion and that it can be moved by streams, rivers, and ocean currents in this unit of lessons. They study waves and currents, and structures that change how sand moves by creating story charts,...