Recorded Books
Teacher's Guide: The Pinballs
Dive your class into the novel The Pinballs by Betsy Byars with the support of this reading guide. Including short answer questions, a multiple choice comprehension quiz, and extension activities, a variety of materials are...
Curated OER
Where the Red Fern Grows Chapter 8-9 Worksheet
Find out how much your learners picked up from a couple of chapters of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Pupils answer six plot and character analysis questions and tackle similes. The worksheet is adaptable; assign it in class...
Curated OER
Oklahoma Stone Soup
Class members complete activities related to the story "Oklahoma Stone Soup." First, pupils read, discuss, and answer questions about the story. Next, to incorporate math into the instructional activity, learners make stone soup using a...
Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)
Whales, Whales, Whales!
The title says it all! Help your pupils learn all about whales. Class members research different species of whales and share the information via video conferences with kids from another school. They conduct research on a selected species...
Curated OER
Mighty Earth Movers
Note that although the publisher lists almost all of the Common Core standards for both math and language arts, you will most likely want to take the general topic and choose which area to focus on. Regarding math, pupils measure worms...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Animal Fables and Trickster Tales
Animals and tricksters appear in folk tales from a wide variety of cultures, especially those with strong oral storytelling traditions. Use this lesson plan to introduce students to these characters and the lessons they were used to...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Variations in Plot and Setting
Although Disney's version of Cinderella is most popular in America, hundreds of versions exist across many cultures. This resource provides lessons, which examine the similarities and differences in literary elements among many versions...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Writing With Writers: Descriptive Writing
This page gives students specific guidelines & tips for a descriptive writing assignment. Students can publish descriptive writing here, as well. A thorough teacher's guide to descriptive writing is also provided.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Writing With Writers: Descriptive Writing
Need help with doing a descriptive paper or personal narrative? Need a writing lesson plan? Meet Virginia Hamilton and follow her step-by-step guide to writing. When done, you are eligible for a certificate signed by this author.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Examining Plot Conflict Through a Comparison/contrast Essay
Contains plans for six lessons that ask students to examine types of conflict (character vs. character, character vs. self, character vs. nature, and character vs. society) before writing essays that compare and contrast two conflicts....
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Exploring Art Through Descriptive Writing
Contains plans for two lessons that use the book "Anna's Art Adventure" by Bjorn Sortland to teach students to write about art descriptively. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Conversations in Literature
A research based workshop by Judith Langer on bringing the joy of reading literature to your class. An excellent professional development resource, with eight videos on demand. Topics include Responding as Readers, Objectifying the Text,...
Education.com
Education.com: Compare and Contrast Non Fiction Stories: Extinct Birds
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will compare two informational texts about two extinct birds, the Great Auk and the Dodo. A Venn Diagram is provided to be used when comparing an contrasting tests.
Utah Education Network
Uen: One True Story, Told Two Ways
Analyze the different perspectives presented by two authors telling the same story.
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Descriptive Writing
This is a comprehensive article about what descriptive writing including what it is, why to teach it and strategies to teach it. It also features two videos Five Senses Graphic Organizer and Writing Poems as well as an annotated list of...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Comparison/contrast Feet [Pdf]
A graphic organizer where students write similarities on one foot and differences on the other.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: 3 Voice Storyboard: Feeling [Pdf]
In this PDF instructional activity, students study topics on which people might have differing feelings; they then create three dialogue bubbles that represent three different viewpoints: one that loves the topic, one that dislikes it,...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: Compare/contrast Essay [Pdf]
This PDF lesson focuses on writing a comparison/contrast essay, which is a great format for helping students think deeply about two ideas or concepts with multiple similarities and differences. This type of essay has four-parts -1) an...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Picture Book Writing Lesson: Start With What Isn't There
In this lesson, students will describe a setting, attempting to set a mood for their readers in two paragraphs. Borrowing a technique from Stephen Kramer's two-page introduction to Caves, they will begin with a paragraph that explains...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Fracturing Tales Through Titles
Students read The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman and then write their own fractured fairy tales using first-person point of view and dialogue. Teacher and student instructions are provided along with student writing samples, an...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Three Voice Important Book Passages
A lesson plan made for students to write from various perspectives regarding the same topic. The mentor text entitled The Important Book is used, as students become more familiar with voice, point of view, persuasive techniques and the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Compare & Contrast as an Idea Springboard
In this Writers Workshop lesson, young scholars read Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel to learn about writing that compares and contrasts to things. This format can be used to write about many different topics in curricular areas and...
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Part 1 Reading Literature: Folktale
Understand how to read and find the message the exist in a story. Learn how folktales include messages in their stories.
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Part 2 Reading: Informational Text: Compare Perspectives
Learn about the difference between a firsthand and secondhand accounts in a text on this site.