Bantam Books
The Tempest: Linked Text Set (Pre-Reading)
Before you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, introduce the themes of the play with a lesson based on the biblical story of Joseph. Taking your high schoolers through selected text from Genesis 17-44,...
Novelinks
Wildwood Dancing: Rewriting a Fairytale
After completing Juliet Marillier's young adult novel Wildwood Dancing, class members rewrite a traditional fairy tale, making three significant changes to illustrate a theme of their choosing.
Smithsonian Institution
Stamp Stories of Westward Expansion
What a fantastic project idea for discussing not only the history of America's expansion into the West, but for reviewing any major unit of history in your class. Pupils build stamp collections to visually represent themes of the...
Reed Novel Studies
James and the Giant Peach: Novel Study
Everyone wants to feel like they belong. James, in James and the Giant Peach, finds a feeling of belonging in a very odd place—inside a peach! Scholars read the story of James and the Peach and work through vocabulary, language, and...
Reed Novel Studies
The Search for Delicious: Novel Study
Have you ever gone looking for one thing but ended up discovering something else? That is exactly what happened to Gaylen, a character in The Search for Delicious. Gaylen begins looking for a food to label as delicious, but...
Reed Novel Studies
Old Wolf: Novel Study
Do wolves ever attack humans? An informative novel study for Old Wolf helps pupils conduct research to answer the question. They also decode anagrams, learn about onomatopoeia, and write quatrain poems about themes from the novel.
Reed Novel Studies
To Kill a Mockingbird: Novel Study
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American fiction writer whose biggest claim to fame was the creation of Tarzan. Using the novel study for Harper Lee's beloved novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, pupils research and list facts about him or another...
Reed Novel Studies
Surviving the Applewhites: Novel Study
The Bradys, the Flintstones, and the Simpsons are some of pop culture's most memorable families. So how do the Applewhites stack up? Using a novel study for Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, scholars answer text-based...
Reed Novel Studies
Stella By Starlight: Novel Study
Who were the Ku Klux Klan, and what role did they play in the United States during the Great Depression? Using the Stella by Starlight novel study, scholars research the organization and answer questions relating to Sharon M. Draper's...
Reed Novel Studies
Skink No Surrender: Novel Study
The oldest turtle ever recorded lived to the age of 188! As it turns out, two characters from Carl Hiaasen's Skink No Surrender are fascinated by these shelled creatures. Using the novel study, scholars research three types of...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Oceans
Flotsam by David Wiesner and The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruce Degen, begin a reading adventure pack focusing on oceans. With story listening and thoughtful discussion, scholars complete several...
Google
Create Your Own Google Logo
You'll have oodles of Google Doodles. Scholars create their own Google logos using the Scratch coding program. After watching videos on how to add blocks of code in Scratch, they use their newfound knowledge to design a logo based on a...
Positively Autism
Trace the Train Track!
Learners with autism develop their fine motor skills with an activity that asks them to trace Travis the Train's track
Reed Novel Studies
The Hobbit: Novel Study
All it takes is a little adventure to interrupt a quiet, simple life. A study guide for The Hobbit explores the adventures that disrupt Bilbo Baggins' quiet life. Questions discuss key events found within J.R.R....
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Archaeology
Readings of fiction and nonfiction texts followed by a series of activities put scholars in an archaeologist's shoes. Learners read two texts, Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke and The Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale with...
Curated OER
Daughters Come of Age in Women's Fiction
Introduce your young readers to fiction written by women authors. For each story, they explore the way these daughters discover and claim their own identities. Individually, class members use the literature to examine their role in their...
Curated OER
Using Drama to Examine Communities: Walking in Others' Shoes
Encourage your readers to make connections between texts with this resource. After compiling notes for each text read (you choose the texts), groups craft skits in which major characters from each text meet. There is a rubric for the...
Film English
We've All Been There
What does empathy look like? Encourage your pupils to put themselves in another person's shoes with several writing and discussion activities that relate to a featured short film. Over the course of the lesson, individuals collaborate...
Curated OER
A Multi-Media Approach to Teaching The Grapes of Wrath
Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...
Reed Novel Studies
Homeless Bird: Novel Study
Many people face the struggle between tradition and desire to forget their own paths. A study guide for the novel Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan discusses the issue of adhering to tradition from the perspective of a protagonist who...
Reed Novel Studies
The Invention of Hugo Cabret: Novel Study
If the walls could talk, you might hear Hugo from The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Hugo lives in the walls of a train stations in Paris. Scholars read and complete worksheet activities as they discover Hugo's secrets. They show their...
Reed Novel Studies
The Lightning Thief: Novel Study
Maybe dark clouds do have a silver lining. Just when Percy from The Lightning Thief thought of his life as doomed, he learned that his father is a Greek god. Scholars work through activities as they read how his life took a drastic...
Reed Novel Studies
Lawn Boy: Novel Study
A mountain of grass becomes a mountain of cash in the case of a young entrepreneur in the novel Lawn Boy. Arnold, a main character, begins a lawn mowing business and meets a stockbroker client that helps me manage his money....
Reed Novel Studies
Lassie Come-Home: Novel Study
If only all best friends could be like Lassie! Lassie Come-Home offers a glimpse of the special relationship between man's best friend and a beloved owner. Scholars complete worksheet activities while reading about Lassie's...