Thor, Loki, Iron Man, and Captain America. As part of their study of Greek and Roman gods and heroes, middle schoolers compare the characters in The Avengers to Greek counterparts. Individuals then create their own superhero,...

What is a proverb? This is the leading question of this resource. First, explore proverbs and their meanings. Then, read aloud The Hidden Feast: A Folktale from the American South by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss and partake...

Introduce Nancy Farmer's award-winning science fiction novel, The House of the Scorpion, with an anticipation guide that asks readers to agree or disagree with a series of statements that reflect the major concepts in the story. Follow...

What would the characters of Pride and Prejudice say to each other in a letter? Draft unsent correspondence between characters from Jane Austen's novel. A great way to explore characterization and plot structure in a creative...

Conduct a close reading of George G. Toudouze's well-known horror story "Three Skeleton Key." This plan breaks up the reading into several steps and provides text-dependent questions to ask along the way. Learners will have the chance to...

Turning 11 comes with a range of emotions. Explore those emotions by reading the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. Readers analyze the main character's reactions to the events of her day. Then, they write an essay describing what...

Look deeper into the text with a reading strategy based on asking critical thinking questions. While reading Reading the Fountain by Kate Klise, learners think of questions that help them describe, compare, associate, analyze,...

To conclude their study of Ethan Canin’s short story “The Palace Thief,” class members use their notes and annotations to craft an expository essay response to the prompt, "Analyze how the interactions between Hundert and the Bells...

The complex relationship between a teacher and his student takes center stage in an instructional activity that asks readers to pay close attention to how author Ethan Canin introduces his characters and how he develops the character of...

Tenth graders recognize and define vocabulary words.  In this Military families lesson plan, 10th graders participate in a shoot n spell game.  Students write the vocabulary in sentences, read words in text, and complete a...

Learners 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...

Third graders identify the three major parts of a story. After reading the book "Stellaluna," students discuss the beginning, middle and end of the story. They write a short story depicting the events that would happen if the story...

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

Students read and analyze the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe. They take notes while reading the story, select an element to analyze, and write an essay about the characters, theme, or the setting.

Sixth graders read the short story "Eleven". They write a narrative composition focusing on the use of voice. Students use a computer to create a pre-writing graphic organizer and type their final draft.

Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...

Discuss the concept of main idea in a story or other reading material. Middle schoolers identify the main idea in a passage using a technique that eliminates unnecessary words not relevant to the main idea.

Students read and discuss the literary elements of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis. They explore the elements of dramatic performance and create a TV news program based on life in Narnia. They videotape their...

Fifth through eighth graders engage in a lesson in which they study working class people during the Great Depression. They work to develop an understanding of the economic developments in Arkansas during the 1930's. Learners access...

Students read a short story, The Tell-Tale Heart and create a story map identifying the elements of a short story included in the selection. Students complete an Accelerated Reader test on the selection.

Middle schoolers do further research on a time period they have studied. For this history research lesson, students choose a time period to write about. Middle schoolers gather information about the weather, environment, food and...

Young writers examine the writings of Raymond Carver to investigate editing skills. They will develop original sentences. Then read the work of Raymond Carver to edit and analyze the ending. They revise and ending of their original...

Students examine and discuss animal adaptation. They read an article about snakes, conduct research on ways animals adapt, develop a diagram, and write a short story written from the perspective of the animal they researched.

Combine math, creative writing, and leprechauns in a fun St. Patrick's Day activity! Using a bag of gold coins and marshmallows, kids write a math story about a leprechaun that includes a multi-step equation to solve.