Dreams, Stars, and Beaches

Connect Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech, "I Have a Dream," to The Cay by Theodore Taylor. Taylor refers to the speech in his dedication, which creates a natural segue into talking about the speech and how it relates to the novel....

Students explore story quilts. In this cross curriculum literacy and art lesson plan, students listen to the story Tar Beachand discuss the art form of story quilts as used by Faith Ringgold. Students sketch their own "Where Would You...

Have your class explore the life of Roberto Clemente using this lesson. After reading the story Roberto Clemente by Jonah Winter, learners answer cause and effect questions, classify ideas, make comparisons, and write a news article.

Once the class learns about the hero's journey, they'll find it in every story and movie they see! Take characters from their humble beginnings to their atonement and apotheosis with a set of lessons about the hero's journey...

Fifth graders brainstorm a list of characteristics people have when they are happy with their career. In groups, they review their material from the previous lesson plan and share their information with the class in the form of...

A 10-page guide to John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men includes a brief plot summary, information about preparing readers for the language in the novel, pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading questions, essay prompts, and project...

Author Faith Ringgold uses quilts to illustrate her books Tar Beach and Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad. In this integrated trio of activities, young scholars read stories, identify and create patterns, and design quilt squares of...

Students write dream speeches and record them as Mp3's. In this speech lesson, students watch Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have Dream Speech." They use the writing process to develop a dream speech which they rehearse. They record their...

Explore the islands of Hawaii. Investigate Hawaiian culture and compare their personal traditions to Hawaiian traditions. They locate Hawaii on a map and research the history of Hawaii.

Students discuss the qualities of a good book club. They explore the behaviors that contribute to a good book club discussion. Also, they compare/contrast a response type that could be used any time in their reading logs.