Curated OER
The Catcher in the Rye: Found Poem Activity
After concluding The Catcher in the Rye class members create a found poem using words drawn from J.D. Salinger’s “Both Parties Concerned.” The story, and directions for crafting a found poem, are included with the resource.
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
The Backpack Travel Journals
Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...
Curated OER
Using Drama to Examine Communities: Walking in Others' Shoes
Encourage your readers to make connections between texts with this resource. After compiling notes for each text read (you choose the texts), groups craft skits in which major characters from each text meet. There is a rubric for the...
Curated OER
Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
Need a musical lesson for your drama or performing arts class? VH1 has put together a really neat lesson, in which learners use biographical information about Alicia Keys to write and perform a one-act musical related to her life. This...
Curated OER
A River Runs Through It; Writing Assignment
While reading A River Runs Through It, have your high schoolers work on their final project, a multi-genre research paper. There are 10 clear steps for completion but not much additional help. For early high schoolers (or...
Curated OER
Collaborative Tall Tale Lesson Plan
Using Keynote, pupils will collaborate with their peers to create a tall tale. Each person in the group will participate by creating slides, adding text, and recording their voice. Tip: Have each group present their tall tales to the...
Curated OER
Shared Reading Book Trailer Creation
Scholars summarize sections of a book and compile them to create a book trailer. They are assigned sections of a book to read and summarize before recording as short video segments. The segments are put together in order to create a book...
John F. Kennedy Center
Acting Up, A Melodrama: Performing Like Jo March and Her Sisters in Little Women
Lights, Camera, Action! Pupils read Little Women and create, act, and direct a melodrama that Jo March and her sisters would enjoy. The lesson plan comes complete with resources for the educator on melodrama as well as examples...
Curated OER
First Day of School
Primary learners complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book First Day of School. They will complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions, and much...
Curated OER
In Cold Blood: A During Reading Activity
Following the method used by Truman Capote, class members research a major character from his novel, In Cold Blood, and then conduct an interview with that character. The resulting research is used to craft a newspaper article about the...
Curated OER
Cinderella Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting
Young scholars examine plot and setting of Cinderella, and how it changes as it is translated into different cultures, discuss universal literary elements of the Cinderella story, and write narratives with original settings and plots...
Curated OER
A Year in Review: The Memoir
If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...
Curated OER
Genre Jeopardy
Learners play a Jeopardy game in which the questions are about different genres. They can use this activity as a review before a test.
Curated OER
Reading Literacy- Books on CD
Students explore the importance of learning to read. They work with other students to create audiobooks to share with younger students, or classes.
Curated OER
Creative Writing - Getting Ideas
Learners examine the procedures that writers utilize to obtain and develop ideas for writing. Journal writing is fostered as a primary step in the writing process. Learners are encouraged to pay careful attention to using complete...
Curated OER
Write with Writers
Write and work with authors on the Scholastic Website to promote the recognition of various genres. Young writers will participate in activities based on the type of writing such as biography, descriptive, folktales, mystery, news,...
Curated OER
Monster and Myths: Scripts
Students explore characteristics of the myth genre. In this myth lesson, students become familiar with various myths and the cultures they were derived from. Students compare in a graphic organizer. Students write...
Curated OER
Once Upon a Genre
Students examine fractured fairy tales before responding by writing in many different genres including a persuasive essay, a personal narrative, a letter, an advertisement, and a resume'. They create a pop-up book with their written...
Curated OER
Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" in Graphical Representation
Students analyze graphical forms of Eudora Welty and interpret the shorts stories in the representations. In this graphical representations lesson, students analyze the short story genre in comic strips. Students then create their own...
Water
Global Water Supply Middle School Curriculum
We take a steady shower stream and clean drinking water for granted, but in many countries around the world, the lack of water or a clean water supply is responsible for higher sickness and death rates. Taking a closer look at the water...
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 instructional activity focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then...
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
Modesto City Schools Library Lesson Plan
Students read and understand a variety of genres in a library setting. For this library activity lesson, students act as detectives and use clues in text and pictures to hypothesize the title of the missing book for the library reading...
Curated OER
Library Curriculum: What Would a Wonderful Library Be Like?
Second graders complete a KWL chart about libraries. They create a book using writing patterns of a particular author. Students decide criteria for awarding the Second Grade Librarian Award to books in the classroom library, and use a...