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Animals attributes
First graders analyze different animals in fiction and nonfiction stories. In this animal lesson, 1st graders choose an animal and read a fiction story with that animal as a character. They describe how the animal acted in the story and...
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After Hamelin
Middle schoolers discuss the story The Pied Piper. In this reading comprehension instructional activity, students participate in a variety of activities designed to enhance and further their understanding of the story. Middle...
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Learning About Honesty
Students read a short story about honesty, a character skill. They then answer comprehension questions and discuss the story with their classmates as well as study about the consequences of not telling the truth.
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Picturing People
Pupils look at the varied ways the human body is portrayed in contemporary media. They discuss what a character is and how it plays a role in telling stories. Students look at examples of objects like dolls, puppets and toys that stand...
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Robin Hood: England's Man of Mystery
Students study the tale of Robin Hood to further their knowledge of character traits, improve their vocabularies, and increase their knowledge of the Medieval Ages. In this Robin Hood lesson, students complete 14 lessons that help them...
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Come On, Rain!
Students read and analyze the story. In this language arts lesson, students read Come on, Rain! and examine how mood and tone are created, the use of figurative language and the characteristics of the genre. Students research the...
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Fact and Opinion Detectives
Third graders see how to distinguish facts from opinions in a child's news magazine. After a lecture/demo, 3rd graders utilize a sample story and a worksheet which gives them practice in distinguishing fact from opinion.
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Create An Ending
Students create a new ending for a familiar story that stand alone with a clear beginning, middle and end. As a class, students review a familiar text focusing on plot and character development. In small groups, students work...
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Goldilock and the Three Bears
Students explore folktales. They create artwork that represents the setting, charactes, and key events of the story. Working collaboratively, students assemble their own artwork to create a class mural. Working collaboratively,...
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Shadow Puppetry in South India
Students read a variety of literature from India, including folktales and fables. They then select a scene or story to script, work together to design and craft shadow puppets of characters and scenery, narrate a story, manipulate the...
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Design a Book Cover
Class members take on the role of graphic designer and craft a cover for a book they are reading. Individuals formulate a proposal outlining the images they will use to not only grab the interest of readers, but hint at the mood and...
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Writing Like an Artist Paints Using "Chasing Vermeer"
Pupils use artistic words when writing about an object moving quickly past a character who is standing still. In this writing and art lesson plan, students read the passage Chasing Vermeer and base their writing off of it.
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The Joke is on You
Learners discuss catacombs, casks, and Amontillado. The class reads the first two pages of the short story, The Cask of Amontillado, and discuss the situation of the story and the mental state of the narrator. Then they predict what...
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Me, Plain and Tall
Second graders read and discuss Patricia MacLaclan's book Sarah, Plain and Tall. They write a narrative putting themselves in the setting of the story.
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Message in a Bottle
Sixth graders write a short story about being stranded on a deserted island. After a brief geography review of locations at various latitudes and longitudes, 6th graders draft their story about being stranded. They use sensory and...
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Ask the Oracle
Students invent an imaginary character that has the ability to time travel to China and create stories in the tradition of a traveler's tale, whereas their characters visit China's capital city, Beijing, and go to the Great Wall of China...
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Things Aren't Always What They Seem
Students use video and the Internet to make predictions, draw conclusions, determine conflict and point of view while reading a short story. For this short story analysis lesson, students watch a related video and complete a prediction...
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Colors, Characters, & Clues: White Socks
Learners examine the process of making inferences. They define inference, view a Powerpoint presentation, and as a whole group locate clues in the pictures of a short story, locating written clues to reinforce their conclusions.
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Night of the Twister
Pupils use reading strategies for Night of the Twister. In this reading strategies lesson, students name five major catastrophes and books about each. Pupils complete a vocabulary section, make inferences and predictions, read the story...
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Text Under the Microscope
Students explore plot, setting, point of view, and theme. In this literary elements lesson plan, students read "The Cask of Amontillado," by Poe and the War of the World script by H.G. Wells. Students identify and define...
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Norman Rockwell Paints America
Students examine paintings by Norman Rockwell. They discuss what stories they believe he was trying to tell in his paintings. They work together to describe the different paintings.
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Clay Animation
Eighth graders create a visual story without using words. A study of the history and process of clay animation is explored and discussed. Students storyboard a plot of a story and students divide up into groups designing characters and...
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Writing Application: The Canterbury Tales
Students read stories from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and create their own tale. In this writing applications instructional activity, students read the tales and analyze the specific details that Chaucer use. Students work...
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Tantalizing Tangrams
Students construct a set of tangrams. In this geometry activity, students read the book, Grandfather Tang's Story and retell the story using tangrams. Students construct their own set of tangrams using the included worksheets.