Curated OER
Are you in Denial?
Pupils analyze 4 novels around the theme of projection/denial. They discuss reading material (The Coquette,The Awakening, Huck Finn, & Passing) and play a Talk Show entitled, "Are you in Denial?"
Curated OER
Independent Novel Project
Students complete activities for an independent novel project. In this novel project worksheet, students follow the 13 steps to analyze and complete a comprehensive project about a novel they've read.
Curated OER
Fact and Fiction in Little Women
Learners read excerpts from the novel "Little Women." Students work in groups to research, analyze, and answer the questions included in the lesson. After research, learners write a paper and include a bibliography. The students also...
Curated OER
Lessons From the Lorax
Pupils read and discuss Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. They explore the changes the characters could have made to preserve the environment and relate the plot to real-world places and events.
Curated OER
The Roads Diverge...and the Essence is the Journey
Students examine the diverse and unique journeys of men. After reading various pieces of literature, they identify any rites of passage or change in the characters. They write in their reflective journals sharing their thoughts on the...
Curated OER
Telling the Stories the Past Tells Us
Students create historical stories based on factual evidence. In this Telling the Stories the Past Tells Us lesson, students write historical stories using strategies such as characters, plot, setting, and voice. Students analyze several...
Curated OER
Focus Story: The Mitten
Students explore language arts by analyzing a story with their classmates. In this poetry identification activity, students read the book The Mittens and identify the characters, plot and settings in the story. Students recite poems...
Curated OER
The Magical World of Russian Fairy Tales
Students read several fairy tales of Russian origin. They brainstorm common elements of a fairy tale and identify those elements in several examples. They retell a favorite fairy tale through a skit, oral storytelling, a sketch, or a...
Curated OER
What is a Fable?
Learners read a variety of electronic Aesop's fables to define fable and moral, and write and illustrate an original fable. They then publish their fable using PowerPoint.
Shakespeare Uncovered
Suits of Woe: Grief and Loss in Hamlet
“Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die/Passing through nature to eternity.” Grief, and the response to grief and loss, is the focus of a series of activities that uses Hamlet as a launchpad. Groups examine Act I, scene ii to...
Carnegie Library
Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers.
Curated OER
Focus on Figurative Language
Using the poems "First Snow" by Ted Kooser and "Eating Alone" by Yi-Young Lee (or other suggested poems by Robert Frost or Sara Teasdale), middle schoolers search for examples of figurative language. Guide your learners by discussing...
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,...
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
Ornithology and Real World Science
Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research, art, and...
Curated OER
How To Demystify Mythology for Your Learners
Use visual aids and live performances to help connect ancient myths to human emotions.
Curated OER
Stay Gold, Ponyboy: A Guide to The Outsiders
How to use thematic focus, social context, and creative visuals to teach S. E. Hinton's timeless classic.
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
Shakespeare Uncovered
Women’s Roles in As You Like It
“There is nothing that becommeth a maid better than soberness, silence, shamefastness, and chastity, both of body & mind.” This line, from Thomas Bentley ‘s The Monument of Matrons published in 1582, typifies the way women were...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce’s short story, is used to model how structural moves, the decisions an author makes about setting, point of view, time order, etc., can be examined to reveal an author’s purpose. Groups...
Film Foundation
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: What Is a Movie?
Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...
Dr. Seuss Enterprises
Dr. Seuss in the Classroom
Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Civil War on Sunday
Reading Mary Pope Osborne's Civil War on Sunday? Here's a packet crammed with activities, exercises, reading guides, and project suggestions. A must-have for your curriculum library.
Curated OER
Read Between the Lines
Build comprehension, inference, and conclusion skills by encouraging learners to see the importance of reading between the lines.