Read Works
Read Works: Genre 4th Grade Unit: Historical Fiction
[Free Registration/Login Required] A unit of instruction in which learners use the book Meet Addy: An American Girl by Connie Porter to learn about the characteristics that define historical fiction. Lesson includes direct teaching,...
Read Works
Read Works: Genre 4th Grade Unit: Biography
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which students use the book A Picture Book of Anne Frank by David A. Adler to learn about the characteristics that define boigraphy. Lesson includes direct teaching, guided practice, and...
Read Works
Read Works: Genre Studies: Fairy Tales Kindergarten Unit: Fantasy Details
[Free Registration/Login Required] After introducing the concept of fantasy within fairy tales, teachers lead class in finding examples of fantasy elements in the story Little Red Riding Hood. Following this model, students work...
Other
Anglo Saxon Period: Characteristics of Poetry
This concise survey of Anglo-Saxon poetry is part of a larger site in English for Chinese university students.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Hound of the Baskervilles 1: Meet Sherlock Holmes
Students investigate the iconic and much-beloved character of Sherlock Holmes, as well as the mystery genre, in this excerpt from Masterpiece's 2002 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. As students are introduced to Holmes, they use...
NC State University
Public Media Foundation: Scribbling Women: Understanding the Radio Play
A comprehensive approach to understanding how a literary work is transformed into a radio play. Includes links to featured plays and how to organize them by genre, theme, or historical context. Lesson plans and teacher resources are...
Read Works
Read Works: 3rd Grade Lesson: Science Fiction
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which students 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...
Read Works
Urban Education: Exchange: Read Works: 3rd Grade Lesson: Fantasy
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which young scholars use the book Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg and fantasy texts from the classroom library to learn about the characteristics that define fantasy. Lesson includes direct...
Read Works
Read Works: 3rd Grade Lesson: Realistic Fiction
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which students use the book Allie's Basketball Dream by Barbara E. Barber to learn about the characteristics that define realistic fiction. Lesson includes direct teaching, guided practice,...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Magical Realism
A seven-slide presentation explaining and identifying the characteristics of the fictional genre of magical realism. Examples are provided.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Fable
This is an encyclopedia entry for the word "Fable." It defines the term, explains its characteristics, provides background including Aseop's Fables and those from various countries, and offers a list of fabulists and their works.
Other
What Makes an "Amazing" Fable Captivating?
Students become the authors, producers and actors in their own multimedia fables, after they study fable characteristics for this activity.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Gothic
An eleven-slide presentation that can be viewed online or downloaded. The slideshow explains the characteristics that make up gothic literature and gives several examples of gothic literary texts.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Caracteristicas De Ficcion Y Noficcion
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart was written for a bilingual Grade 2 classroom and reviews the characteristics of fiction and non fiction. It is written in Spanish.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Pourquoi Stories
This video segment from Jakers! features a storyteller who tells a Pourquoi story about Anansi, the spider, a popular character in African folklore.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Fairy Tales Around the World
This collection of activities gives students a chance to discover and compare fairy tales from around the world. It provides a wealth of links to resources, printable diagrams, discussion questions and the like.
Washington State University
Washington State University: Literary Movements: Gothic, Novel, and Romance
This site defines and identifies characteristics for the Romance, the novel, and the Gothic novel. Uses good examples to distinguish between these genres.
University of Victoria (Canada)
The U Vic Writer's Guide: Literary Term: Fable
The University of Victoria's English department gives a comprehensive definition of fables. Example included.
Harold D. Underdown
October 2005 Blog: Defining Historical Fiction
A good resource for understanding the genre of historical fiction, especially when applied to the characteristics of children's literature. From The Purple Crayon: a website devoted to children's literature.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Proverbs
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this flipchart the student identifies the characteristics of various genres and produces evidence of reading that responds to and analyzes the effects of sound, figurative language, and graphics in...