State University of New York
Going Back in Time Using “George Washington’s Socks”
After reading Elvira Woodruff's George Washington's Socks, young readers and writers embark upon writing their own historically based story, with a focus on developing ideas and details throughout the piece. In small groups, class...
John F. Kennedy Center
Writing a Myth
Tap into the imaginative minds of young learners with a creative writing activity. After reading the myth Giants and Mosquitoes, this student guide supports young writers as they brainstorm and develop their very own creation myths....
Common Sense Media
Super Digital Citizen
Teach your charges how to become responsible digital citizens with superheroes! Start out with a brief class discussion about what acting safely, responsibly, and respectfully looks like. Next, have each pupil create their own digital...
Curated OER
Make Up Your Story
Putting together an interesting story can be hard, but this set of worksheets will guide your writers into the depths of their own creativity as they characterize both their main character and villain. Using humor to keep learners...
Listening Library
The Sign of the Beaver
Extend a class reading of the novel The Sign of the Beaver across all subject areas with this literature unit guide. From basic discussion questions and writing prompts, to a research project about tracking animals, this resource offers...
John F. Kennedy Center
Jazz music, Dance and Poetry
Learners view video and become familiar with the type of movement in jazz dance. In this jazz dance lesson, students write a cinquain about jazz dance. Learners recognize the elements of jazz dance and the type of music associated with...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Newscast on the Battles of the Ironclad Ships
Fifth graders create multi-media newscasts based on their knowledge of Civil War battles of the ironclad ships.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How to Write Descriptively
The point of fiction is to cast a spell, a momentary illusion that you are living in the world of the story. But how do writers suck readers into stories in this way? Nalo Hopkinson shares some tips for how to use language to make your...
University of South Florida
Fcat Express: Story Mapping
Site provides extensive assistance in preparing 4th grade students for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. This section focuses on story mapping, which helps students put events of a story in sequential order.
Other
National Writing Project: Collaborating to Write Dialogue
In this lesson, writing partners work together to develop a plot and characters. The lesson emphasizes the use of dialogue to develop the characters and plot of the story.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Blending Fiction and Nonfiction
Contains plans for four class periods that ask students to blend narrative and expository writing after reading fiction and nonfiction selections. In addition to student objectives and standards, these instructional plans contains links...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Leading to Great Places in the Classroom
We all know that the most effective way to teach reading is to start with reading. This lesson uses that approach with writing story leads.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Metamorphosis Stories of Change
The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp. Students realize that the narrative impulse underlies even...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Story Elements Using Cinderella
Listen to an explanation of the story elements in Cinderella including exposition, characters, setting, sequence, conflict, climax, and resolution.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Elements of a Story Interactive
Explore different ingredients, or elements, that go into stories and make them so much fun. Read the story, "Cinderella," and look at all the different pieces of the tale to see how they all fit together.
Other
Storyboard That
Create your own storyboard with this interactive tool. The storyboard framework is a graphic organizer that helps structure students work into a linear and concise story. Although it feels easy at first, breaking down ones thoughts into...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Explain Influence of Setting on Plot Development in Literary Text
In this lesson, students will review two elements of fiction, setting and plot, and learn how the setting influences the plot in stories.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Analyze Development of Plot Through Characters in Literary Text
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Often characters are a driving force behind the plot. In this lesson, students will learn how complex, multilayered characters contribute to the development of a story's plot...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Choosing Clear and Varied Dialogue Tags: A Minilesson
Contains plans for one 50-minute lesson that teaches about using dialogue tags like "he said" or "she answered." In addition to student objectives and standards, these instructional plans contain links to PDF handouts and links to sites...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Storytelling With Words and Pictures
In this interactive lesson plan, students learn the basics of how stories are structured, gain vocabulary about storytelling elements, and explore how the arts, specifically drawing, can be a valuable way for students to tell stories.By...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Storytelling: Writers' Workshop
Students draw on their understanding of different types of narratives to inspire and enrich their own storytelling. This is one of four storytelling lessons.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Teaching Personal Narrative Texts: Drafting a Personal Narrative
This resource presents instructional practices for modeling and teaching students how to draft a personal narrative.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Teaching Elements of Personal Narrative Texts
This resource presents instructional writing practices that support content-area learning, with specific strategies for teaching the thinking skills, processes, and knowledge needed to effectively write personal narrative texts. Some of...
University of Oregon
Pizzaz, Creative Writing & Storytelling: Chain Stories
This PIZZAZ (People Interested in Zippy and ZAny Zcribbling) lesson plan will engage students in writing chain stories. A variation of the lesson is provided as an extension during the publishing phase of writing.