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We're Booked
Students share their all-time favorite books with peers. They read and discuss the article Notable Children's Books of 2007. Afterward, they create book webs and compose reviews based on their book selections.
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Narrative Writing
Binoculars are used as a metaphor for good descriptive writing. Class members first view a small picture and then an enlarged view of the same image in which the details come into focus. Next, learners examine a paragraph lacking sensory...
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Vivid Verbs
Spice up your writing! Your amateur writers will benefit from concentrating on understanding and improving verb use in writing. An introductory activity addresses weak verbs. A second exercise helps them see the importance of strong...
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Holes Comprehension Companion
Here is a one-stop planning resource for Louis Sachar's Newbery Award-winning book Holes. You'll find 21 links to worksheets and various activities designed to span the entire book. Learners draw to help analyze settings and make...
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Adapting a Musical
Learners transform literature into musical productions. In this integrated arts lesson, students discuss how musicals are written and produced. Learners then select literature they are familiar with to adapt into musical productions.
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Masks and Aesop's Fables
Students study and perform Aesop's fables. In this Aesop's fables lesson, students read and/or listen to a number of the famous fables. They make masks based on the characters and perform a fable using the masks. They write about the...
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Mississippi River
Learners study scanning and skimming techniques. In this research skills lesson, students use the research techniques on print literature about the Mississippi River. Learners prepare book talks on the literature they read.
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Writing Myths
Students read and write myths. In this world mythology lesson, students read and analyze myths from various cultures and then recognize their attributes as they write their own myths that explain natural phenomena.
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Intro to Witch on Blackbird Pond
Fourth graders read Witch on Blackbird Pond and understand the difficulties of traveling to America during the colonial period. In this Witch on Blackbird Pond lesson, 4th graders compare the choices we have in traveling to America...
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Charlotte's Web
Fourth graders focus on fluency by reading the book Charlotte's Web. For this reading strategies lesson, 4th graders partner read, do guided reading, and independent reading to increase fluency. Students use Venn Diagrams, discuss cause...
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Creating Characters
Students examine the methods of effective characterization. In this writing skills lesson, students discuss how emotions, dialogue, actions, and physical descriptions build believable characters. Students then use the methods of...
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The Wave Essay Assessment
In this language arts worksheet, high schoolers look over The Wave and go through the book with the corresponding page number found on this page.
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Oedipus Wrecks
Students explore the concept of the 'tragic hero' and how such characters are relevant in theatre, literature, and history.
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The Memory Play in American Drama
Students take a closer look at a memory play. In this American drama lesson, students read Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie and analyze it as a memory play. Students discuss the linear and non-linear aspects of the play prior to...
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Myth Connections
Ninth graders present tales and myths in the oral tradition. They discuss the African method of telling a story where each member of the group tells a part of the story. They make up a composite hero and write a story that describes...
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Frog Principal Lesson Plan
Students read the fractured fairy tale, The Frog Principal by Stephanie Calmenson and compare it to the original version in order to gain deeper understanding of the fairy tale genre. In this fairy tale lesson, students identify and...
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Magical Creatures
Students investigate entertaining characters within stories. In this writing lesson, students review nouns and adjectives and discuss magical characters. Students ask themselves questions about their selected characters and write a...