Literacy Design Collaborative
To Be or Not to Be: The Evolution of Hamlet’s Personality
How does Hamlet's state of mind change over the course of Shakespeare's most famous revenge tragedy? After a close reading of Hamlet's soliloquies in Act III, scene 1 and Act IV, scene iv, class members engage in a Paideia/Socratic...
K20 LEARN
That Which We Call a Rose: Connotation and Denotation in Romeo and Juliet
Words carry weight. And some words carry baggage. Scholars learn the difference in a study of connotation and denotation. Individuals sort the cards into three groupings using words from Shakespeare's play. After sharing within groups,...
K20 LEARN
Mood and Tone at Owl Creek Bridge: Mood and Tone
Two versions of movie trailers for the film Mary Poppins launch a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious lesson about how mood and tone impact a reader's experience of work. Using the provided list, readers identify the words that create the...
Novelinks
Maus: Bingo Vacabulary Strategy
The definitions for unfamiliar words drawn from Art Spiegelman graphic novel memoir, Maus, provide the clues for a vocabulary bingo game.
Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...
Curated OER
Twelve Days of Christmas--Prediction, Estimation, Addition, Table and Chart
Scholars explore graphing. They will listen to and sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and estimate how many gifts were mentioned in the song. Then complete a data chart representing each gift given in the song. They also construct...
Curated OER
QAR: Question Answer Relationships with an example from Canyons by Gary Paulsen
As you're reading Gary Paulsen's tale of self discovery and adventure, Canyons, bring this questioning strategy into your classroom. The QAR questioning strategy is meant to encourage a deeper analysis of the text, as some questions are...
Monarch High School
TP-CASTT Practice
Acronyms can help learners remember facts and analyze poetry. This resource includes graphic organizers for TP-CASTT, SOAPS, SOAPSTone, and DIDLS. Class members can try out one or all of these strategies to assist with that difficult job...
EngageNY
Reading for Gist and Analyzing Point of View: Moon Shadow
Character analysis isn't always earth-shattering. Using a graphic organizer, pupils analyze Moon Shadow's point of view following the earthquake in Laurence Yep's Dragonwings. Also, scholars co-create an anchor chart showing the...
EngageNY
Reading for Gist: “Middle Ages” Excerpt 1
Dig deep. Scholars dig deep for meaning while reading Middle Ages Excerpt 1. They begin by finding unfamiliar words and adding them to a word catcher. Pupils then take a close look at adversity in the text and complete an anchor chart.
Curated OER
Finding James Fort
Welcome to Jamestown! Third and fourth graders read and analyze primary source documents about Jamestown or Fort James. They read and analyze descriptions of Fort James from primary sources. They access a website to explore more...
Curated OER
Beach Poetry
Familiarize young analysts with the relationship between words, meaning, and visual images. They consider the relationship between the painting Beach Poetry and the poem Sandpaper. They compose and illustrate an original a beach poem...
Curated OER
Map It Out
Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...
Curated OER
Using Pre-reading Strategies: Infer
Use this resource to support your class practicing inference with poetry and visual art. The plan calls for an examination of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch and the "Mona Lisa" to promote speculation about artist's intent. From there, it...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 8: Treasure Island
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is the focus of the final unit, emphasizing reading, writing, grammar, morphology, and spelling. Fourth graders read and discuss a chapter with every lesson, followed by word work—prefixes,...
Curated OER
Mississippi Trial, 1955: A Request Strategy for Questioning
Knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Class members use Bloom's taxonomy to craft six levels of discussion questions for Chris Crowe's novel, Mississippi Trial, 1955. Model questions from Chapter 3, a...
Curated OER
Fahrenheit 451: Questioning Strategy
After reading Captain Beatty's speech (pg. 54-63) in Fahrenheit 451, provide your class with these analysis questions. Six questions are included here, using Bloom's Taxonomy to focus on knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis,...
Crafting Freedom
Creating Original Historical Fiction Using Henry "Box" Brown's Narrative and Runaway Slave Ads
Young historians discover the experiences of runaway slaves after reading the brief biography and narrative excerpt of Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped slavery by having himself shipped away in a crate and popularized his flight in a...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Small Group Discussion: How Do Modern Poems Portray Modern Adversities?
How is a poem similar to and different from a news article? Pupils use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the two genres. Also, as part of a mid-unit assessment, scholars participate in small-group discussions based on poetry...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 4
Connect with the text using helpful annotation strategies. As your class reads the first section of Karen Russell's short story, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," they note important passages that establish character...
EngageNY
Learning from the Narrator’s Point of View: Introducing Dragonwings
Journey into the past with Laurence Yep's Dragonwings. Scholars complete anchor charts to analyze techniques the author uses to develop the narrator's point of view in his novel. As they read, pupils also complete word catchers to track...
Curated OER
Classroom demographics
Students use strategies to read and comprehend words and material. The use of technology is the backbone of this lesson plan and is essential for implementation.
Curated OER
Exploring Greek Spelling Patterns
Students investigate Greek spelling patterns. In this Greek words lesson, students complete an oral spelling activity with their teacher and then a worksheet to learn about Greek spelling patterns.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Working with Words Teacher Directed Activity by Mark Cogan for Elem. Test Prep
Learners build word families. For this interactive language arts activity, students visit a website where they play a game creating word families. Learners may print out their work when finished.