Explore word choice in writing. Your class listens to a short story entitled "A Nice Day" (included) and discusses how the story could be improved. Pupils replace the word nice throughout the story with various synonyms, then reread the...

There are so many ways to tell a story! Develop visual storytelling skills while facilitating an understanding of Greek art and culture. Learners design Greek style images to tell a story through art. They add their designs to Styrofoam...

Learning how to craft a cogent argument based on a solid claim, supported with evidence and solid reasoning, is an important life skill. Teach middle schoolers about argumentative writing with a lesson asking them to analyze the claims,...

Students work in small groups and prepare an analysis of a short story to be presented to their peers. They research the story and create a handout or a visual aid that cites sources of information and summarizes the main points of the...

"The Masque of the Red Death" provides readers with an opportunity to research and plan a presentation about a topic related to Edgar Allen Poe's classic short story. 

Students read and write a short story. In this short story lesson plan, students read a short story and answer comprehension questions on it that teaches them about the world around them. Then they write a short story to teach...

Thomas Jefferson is one of the most recognized names and faces in America—but is there more to the third president of the United States? Upper elementary and middle schoolers conduct research on Jefferson, his famous home at Monticello,...

Mark Twain's frame story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" provides an opportunity for a study of this story-within-a-story pattern. Using an illustrated template, class members record a plot summary of the frame story...

Setting goals plays a major role in becoming a self motivated learner. Students will read and discuss a story, set personal goals, and analyze a sacred prayer. This lesson includes: teacher evaluation, goal worksheet, prayers, story, and...

A great way to publish students' stories is by having them create a picture book using Pages. This simple instructional activity has them take a short story they have written and create a book with a title page and dedication. After they...

Bring the fun and creativity of children's stories to your language arts class. Middle schoolers write, revise, and publish an original student book which incorporates the elements of a short story. They put their story in the form of a...

Students experience and practice their writing skills during the holiday season. They express themselves in a variety of ways including writing about a favorite part about the holiday break, what's the best gift you've ever gotten and...

Looking for a great lesson plan on how to write a biography? Here, middle schoolers draw from magazine articles, novels, historical figures, and current events to choose a person, or character to write about in a biography. They follow a...

Young historians discover African stories associated with a royal altar tusk from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, read myths illustrated on the tusk, and write a story about the life of an oba using figures depicted on the tusk.

Students explore Teaching the American Twenties, noting fashion, life styles, Hollywood, key authors, key people, and key events. They explore the sites and note what they can identify from the time period for this collection. They write...

Teach young learners that most drug addictions end in one of three outcomes: treatment, jail, or death. After watching a short video segment on the consequences of drug abuse, class members discuss what they viewed and consider what...

Drama is ever-present in our daily lives and eloquently depicted on stage. Middle schoolers practice writing scenes based on different prompts and frameworks, and then perform those creative scenes for their classmates. The...

Students interpret and analyze a work of art and write a narrative for the piece of art. In this narrative art lesson plan, students analyze a work of art and then write a short story 500-700 words long to narrate the art.

Invite your young writers to take the reins with writing dialogue. Using two characters of their own creation, kids work with partners and then individually to write short conversations.

Learners present the outline of the mystery story they are writing while working in reciprocal teaching groups. They respond to group members writing before they continue to finish revisions.

Students translate an entire Internet page from English into a target language. In small groups, they create a short story or document in their native tongue or find an Internet page in their own tongue that they translate into English.

Young scholars examine the consequences of time travel through the analysis of the short story "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. They watch a PowerPoint presentation, conduct Internet research on endangered ecosystems, and create a...

Learners identify words that can be used to describe Mark Twain's character Tom Sawyer. Students explore stage production of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by reading and discussing "An Older (and Calmer) Tom Sawyer". They develop their...

In these reading and math skills worksheets, learners complete a series of activities for the story Miss Nelson is Missing! Students create a missing poster, a Venn Diagram, a story map, activities for multiplication, addition,...