Curated OER
Can You Find It?
Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...
Curated OER
Finding the Main Idea
The carnival is in town! After reading a short excerpt about a day at the carnival, learners use details to determine the story's main idea. They must differentiate the details from the big picture, as there are multiple options they can...
Curated OER
Mixed Bags: Fiction and Nonfiction
The second in a series of three lessons from Scholastic comparing and contrasting fiction and nonfiction, this activity requires learners to read, write, and compare two books independently. After briefly reviewing the features of...
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Through the Eyes of the Big Bad Wolf
Imagine how the wolf would tell the tale of Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs. Young writers re-imagine classic tales by adopting the point of view of another character in the story. After reading models like The True Story...
Curated OER
ReQuest Strategy: Reciprocal Questioning
Explore reciprocal questioning with this ReQuest comprehension strategy. After reading a passage, learners first question the teacher, trying to "stump" her. Then it is the teacher's turn to ask the pupils questions. All correct answers...
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Authors and Illustrators: What do they do?
Help readers understand the roles of authors and illustrators and why they have been recognized by medals of excellence. Your class will discuss and then create illustrations for a book. When they have finished, you can hold your own...
Curated OER
Identifying Main Events
Help kindergartners learn to identify the main events in fiction. They will review elements of fiction, retell information found in the text, and discuss their real-life daily experiences. All the while, they will be asking themselves...
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We Are All Authors
Read and discuss a variety of books by different authors and have your class create their own book. They will identify the different parts of a book, then using a story they have already written, they enter their story and information...
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Learning to Ask Questions
First graders analyze historical materials and create questions about Dwight D. Eisenhower. In this question writing lesson, 1st graders ask and answer questions about the life of Eisenhower. Students write about photographs they view.
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Hanging Out with Stories
Help your class listen and respond to a fictional story by creating a story structure mobile illustrating the main characters, setting, plot, problem, story events, and solution. Using a coat hanger, they will create an artistic element...
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Analyzing Literary Devices
Eighth graders identify figurative language and poetry in this literary analysis lesson. Using Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and a YouTube video for "The Walrus and the Carpenter," young readers complete a literary device...
Read In English
White Fang
White Fang gets into the mind of a wild wolfdog as people domesticate him. The story tells of trials with violent animals and humans alike. White Fang captures readers' hearts as the pup separates from his family.
Syracuse City School District
Reading Comprehension Unit Plan
A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...
Harper Collins
Narnia Trivia Challenge
C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series transports readers to a magical land. An interactive trivia game tests their knowledge of the series through multiple-choice questions. The game features one question per book.
Have Fun Teaching
Compare and Contrast (3)
Sometimes the way a topic is presented in fiction can be very different from how it is in reality. Compare and contrast a topic from both a fiction and nonfiction source with a graphic organizer that prepares kids to write about what...
Curated OER
Peter and the Starcatchers: Concept Analysis
Are you preparing to teach Peter and the Starcatchers? If so, you'll want to take a look at this analysis of the text, which describes plot and literary elements in-depth and explores potential implications related to diversity and...
Curriculum Corner
Fiction Organizer
Teach your youngsters about the elements of plot with this handy graphic organizer. Pupils note down the main character, the setting, the problem, and the solution of any fictional story they read.
Curated OER
Questions for The Book The Giving Tree
Are you studying Shel Silverstein? Focus on The Giving Tree and talk about selflessness in your class. In this online interactive quiz, pupils respond to eleven multiple-choice reading comprehension questions on this particular story....
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Fiction Stories
Students complete writing activities for fiction. In this fiction writing lesson, students complete four sets of activities in a writer's workshop format to practice reading and writing in a fiction style. Students develop plot outlines,...
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Muffins for a Moose
Young scholars research all the information they can about moose. After reading a book about the animal, they compare and contrast nonfiction and fiction books. To end the lesson, they use Crayola markets to draw their favorite scene...
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Disney's Pocahontas: Fact or Fiction?
Did you know that Pocahontas was 12 when Jamestown was established? Did you know that she later married John Rolfe? Did you know that she lived in London for two years? Did you know that she died of small pox? Class members study the...
Curated OER
Reading Fiction - Character
The goal of this lesson is to have learners understand how character is created through a combination of what they say and do, and what others say about them. In pairs, learners construct a short dialogue between a parent and child after...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Three Little Pigs (Plus Wolf: Javalinas)
Guide your class through reading various versions of The Three Little Pigs. Talk about the traditional story line and then discuss a different point of view: Maybe the wolf was just an innocent bystander! This lesson plan, which has...
Curated OER
Build Mastery: Making Inferences
Do your youngsters realize that they are constantly making inferences? Expose this inner process by bringing out the book they will be reading. Ask scholars what they think the plan is, and explain that their answers are the product of...