Curated OER
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Still Teaching Lessons To This Generation
Discuss Laurence Yep's novella, Hiroshima, to inspire future historical fiction writers.
Curated OER
Folktales around the World (Middle, Reading/Writing)
Students analyze, synthesize, and use the elements of various US cultural folk tales to describe the elements of fiction in general and in folk tales specifically.
Curated OER
Would You Like to Become a Millionaire?
Students answer questions written by other teams about literature in an attempt to become "millionaires." In small groups they write a motivational introduction to their teams selected books, publish their questions as a HyperCard...
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson plan focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then discusses how...
Curated OER
Nonfiction Lessons That Motivate
Incorporating nonfiction lessons into literature instruction can be interesting and engaging for all students.
Syracuse City School District
Literary Elements
Address the literary elements in a piece of writing using these materials. The packet includes plenty of resources, and focuses mainly on theme, character, and point of view, with some materials for setting, symbolism, and author's...
Curated OER
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
A thorough lesson introduces learners to Hans Christian Andersen, the nineteenth-century author who created wonderful tales. They read the original texts of several of his stories, including "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid,"...
Curated OER
Cooperative Jigsaw Expert Report of Fables
Pupils research literary elements of fables. In this literature instructional activity, students analyze literary elements of fables. Pupils work collaboratively using a jigsaw strategy to analyze literary elements.
Curated OER
Linking Lines to Landscape
Students evaluate art to enhance their core knowledge of fiction, American folk heroes, and the water cycle. In this art lesson, students complete a unit of activities to use art to study various topics of literature, history, and...
Curated OER
Pizzeria (reading Encouragement)
Students create a pizzeria atmosphere in the classroom with Italian music, pizza menus and checkered table cloths. They compare their different tastes in pizza toppings to different tastes in reading. Then they use a reading menu to...
Curated OER
Personal Experience Narratives
Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...
Curated OER
William Apess and the Mashpee "Revolt" of 1833
Prompt your class with the following question: What was the status of American Indians in Massachusetts during Jackson's presidency? To answer this question, class members will read a series of primary source documents (attached),...
Curated OER
Author In The Spotlight
Complete an in-depth study of the works or a specific author. Working in pairs, students read at least four works by the same author. After completing the reading, they create an essay comparing and contrasting the works and create an...
Curated OER
Rural Voices Through Photography
Students research the history of the Depression particularly in the ways it was documented by photography. Then they take their own pictures in the style of one of the best documentarians, Dorothea Lange.
Curated OER
Using Southeast Asian Folktales to Teach Reading and Writing
Young scholars use maps to locate the countries of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. In groups, they compare and contrast the three countries in regard to their culture, morals and values. They read various examples of folktales and write...
Curated OER
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
Students examine the life and works of Theodor Seuss Geisel. In groups, they compare and contrast the stories, characters and illustrations he used. They complete a book review on one of the books and share them with other students in...
Curated OER
Poetry
Fifth graders preview different poetry selections form different poets to narrow their criteria for a favorite poem. They use the web and written sources to find a favorite poem and then give an oral interpretation of their poem in class...
Curated OER
Most Wanted Villians
Students review the characteristics of various characters in fairytales. As a class, they review the story details and create a concept map using a software program. They create their own wanted poster of the villians in the fairytale to...
Curated OER
Students Information And Interest Survey
In this personal information instructional activity, students fill out this form to give details about their personal history, prior experiences and preferences. This could be used for information gathering or as an icebreaker activity.
Curated OER
Mice Squeak; We Speak
Students create a poster. In this vocabulary lesson, students use vocabulary words such as squeak, creak, squeal, squawk and quack to identify the sounds and noises of each word. Students come up with rhyming words and create a word...
Curated OER
Twenty-one Balloons
Fifth graders determine what the Newbery Award is and why it is importance. They examine a number of Newbery Award winning books and listen to a book talk about William Pene DuBois', Twenty-One Balloons while watching a PowerPoint...
Curated OER
Autobiographical Postage Stamp
Students design a postage stamp that communicates to the world who they are, what they hope to be, what they are good at, and factual information. They use, "My Great Aunt Arizona" by Gloria Houston as a model for a biography.
Read Works
Read Works: 3rd Grade Lesson: Science Fiction
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which learners use the book Commander Toad and the Intergalactic Spy by Jane Yolen to learn about the characteristics that define science fiction. Lesson includes direct teaching, guided...
Other
Database of Award Winning Children's Literature
This is a phenomenal resource. It allows the user to create a reading list of quality children's literature based of choices such as reading level, type of book, genre, ethnicity, gender, etc. In addition, one can determine if a book won...