Reed Novel Studies
Rules: Novel Study
Have you ever been so focused on others, that a look in the mirror surprises you? It seems that Catherine, a character in Rules, does just that when she focuses so much on her autistic brother's behaviors that she is surprised by her own...
Curated OER
Goals and Perseverance
Define the word perseverance to have learners understand why it is important in reaching goals. Young scholars research how Martin Luther King needed perseverance to accomplish his goals. They write acrostic poems using the word...
Curated OER
Respect
Investigate "respect" with your class. They will participate in a think/share activity in which they complete sentence starters about their personal experience with "respect." Then they view a video clip in which Holocaust survivors...
Curated OER
Cause Célèbre
In this exercise, learners identify characters from an "Archie" comic and discuss the relevance of "Archie" to today's youth. They create public service advertisements featuring celebrities to address common concerns among teenagers in...
The Kennedy Center
Fairy Tale Variations
Here are two great lessons that work together and are inspired by the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Young writers and actors will retell the story of "The Frog Prince" through games, improvisational script writing, and song....
Royal Shakespeare Company
RSC Activity Toolkit: Hamlet
There is a method in a 28-page Hamlet toolkit. Rogues, peasant slaves, and young actors have an opportunity to engage in 11 activities that enable them to experience Hamlet in a whole new way. What a piece of work!
Curated OER
Storytelling in the Classroom
What makes story telling special? Young readers demonstrate how to tell a story to others. Kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders read biographies of "Building Blocks" characters and tell a story about a character to their...
Curated OER
True Champions Practice Points-Responsibility
Learners explore personal responsibility. In this character development lesson, students discuss and analyze a quote from Mia Hamm, a U.S. soccer player. Learners brainstorm short and long term personal and team member responsibilities...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Creating Character Maps
Third graders select characters from books they have read to create character maps. After drawing the maps, they add the characteristics around a sketch of their chosen character. In groups, 3rd graders who have read the same book,...
Curated OER
Respectful Interview
Students interview elderly people in a senior citizen community center. In this character counts lesson, students interview the elderly about how society can be more respectful. They videotape and watch the interviews together.
Curated OER
Picture (More) Perfect
Students help their community. In this character counts lesson, students discuss problems facing the world and their community. They come up with solutions to some of these problems.
Curated OER
Creating a Character
For this creating a character worksheet, students identify an interesting person from their written sources. Students will create details to describe their character's physical characteristics, clothing, speech, and personality traits.
Curated OER
Character Worksheet Three
In this character worksheet, students answer questions about themselves in relation to their family, relationships, and day to day life. Students complete 29 questions.
Curated OER
Monkey Business
Students practice reading with expression, decoding and word recognition to become fluent readers. They read the book, "Not me!" Said the Monkey," by Cohn West and view drawings of a lion, snake, rhino, elephant and a monkey from the art...
Curated OER
Jay Gatsby's Souvenir Scrapbook
Learners create a Power Point scrapbook that compiles memorabilia representing the life of Jay Gatsby. They read the novel, "The Great Gatsby" and conduct internet research using the "American Twenties" website. In small groups, they...
Curated OER
Long-Term Goals
Middle schoolers set long-term and short-term goals. In this character education lesson, students determine whether goals that they write for themselves are long-term or short-term.
Curated OER
The Lost Art of Letter Writing
Students discover the art of writing letters. In this writing instructional activity, students read letters written by President Harry Truman and then write a series of their own letters that would give insight into the times in which...
Curated OER
Playing by the Rules
Learners discuss honesty and the common good. In this character education lesson, students observe a role play demonstrating inappropriate classroom behaviors. Learners evaluate consequences of actions and draw a t-chart comparing...
Curated OER
Dishonesty: Clues and Consequences
Learners explore trustworthiness and dishonesty. In this character development lesson, students discuss dishonest behavior. Learners develop scenarios about dishonesty and decide what consequences the person should have.
Curated OER
Narrative Writing-10 Strategies for Engaging the Reader
Fifth graders discuss what narrative writing represents. For this language arts lesson, 5th graders review the ten strategies for engaging reader. Students listen to and read good examples of each strategyand write engaging beginnings in...
Curated OER
Tales From Around the World
Students read stories. In this culture lesson, students read stories from different regions around the world. Students look for each region on the map and listen for interesting cultural details in the story. Students then discuss the...
Polk Bros Foundation
American Presidents
Emanuel Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. Alexander Gardner's photograph of Abraham Lincoln. What do these works of art tell us about the character of these American Presidents? After examining the techniques the...
Missouri Department of Elementary
What Color is Your Apple?
Build your classroom community with an activity that uses apples to examine oneself and their classmates. Participants draw four large apples on blank paper then exchange them within a small group. Group members write a character trait...
Missouri Department of Elementary
How I Act Is Who I Am
A lesson centers itself around the topic of family roles. A whole-class discussion uses puppets and posters to go in-depth into the following character traits; caring, responsibility, respect, and cooperation. The discussion closes with...