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Language Arts: Character Analysis
Fourth graders identify the character traits of Peter in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They find quotations in the story that illlustrate the traits. Students use Kidspiration to write their reports on a template.
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Disease and Culture through Literary Time
Students select books to read that include disease as a plot or theme component. They fill out a matrix for the disease in their novel and write a five-paragraph paper about their book. Students use the rest of the week's classes to...
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Slave Narratives
Students use a database to find and read examples of slave narratives. In groups, they read the various narratives and discuss their feelings about them. They also research the time period in which the narratives were written to end...
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Grappling with Identity in Latino Poetry
Students identify some common themes involving the Latino immigrant experience as conveyed through a variety of media, explore issues of identity in some examples of poetry written by Latinos and learn some basic poetry reading strategies.
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The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
Sixth graders demonstrate the ability to process and evaluate content from a variety of sources and apply comprehension skills to the material read. They organize information for practical use and design and develop an informational...
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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.
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Comparing Fairy Tales
Students read and review common fairy tales and come up with a list of characteristics from them. The Teacher models filling out either a compare & contrast graphic organizer comparing two fairy tales.
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"you Can't Order a Poem Like You Order a Taco": an Introduction To Poetry
Students explore what poetry is and certain aspects within it. They write their own knowledge and perceptions of poetry and the expand that knowledge and experience through listening to, reading, and writing poetry and exploring poetic...
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"Et tu, Brute?" - The Characters, Conflict and Historical context of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Students analyze the Shakespearian play, "Julius Caesar" in this seven lesson unit. Through readings, hands-on projects, and the study of plot development, comparisons are made to the movie and the historical records available.
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Analysis of Character in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine a character from the short story, John Steinbeck's, "Flight." students respond to questions about the story and illustrate the character's journey.
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Write a Myth
Students explore myths in ancient times. In this mythology lesson, students read or view a video production of a myth to determine specific characteristics of myths. Students work in groups to write a myth that explains an occurrence...
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Fantasy Stories
Students create fantasy stories. In this creative writing lesson, students write a fantasy where they can use characters that they have read about in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Using Literary Elements to Compare Fiction Texts
Students explore language arts by reading and reflecting on literary examples. In this fiction writing instructional activity, students read several different cultural versions of the story "Cinderella" and discuss their interaction with...
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Hats
Students listen to a read aloud of "Hats, hats, hats," by Ann Morris focusing on the variety of hats. They play a file folder game categorizing hats from the book.
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Recognizing Similies: Fast as a Whip
Students review what they have already learned about similies and begin to engage with similies on a deeper and more abstract level as they create their own.
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Chocolate and Ice Cream Across the Curriculum
Sixth graders in a special education class discuss excerpts of two stories and read biographical information on the authors. In groups, they read the full text of both stories and try to solve the mystery as they read. They practice...
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Pablo Neruda
Eighth graders explore the life and works of Pablo Neruda. They complete an author map concerning his personal and professional life. Students identify the key components of an ode. They write an ode to a common object around their...
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Exploring Prejudice and Text-to-Text Relationships
Tenth graders use the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to analyze relationships in society. In this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders participate in a shoe activity where they bring in one shoe belonging to someone they know and a...
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Honour killings: What do we need to understand in looking for solutions?
Young scholars prepare a chart with four columns: things we know, things we think we know but need to check, things we wonder about, and new things we have learned. Each group is given a case study and they discuss the three cases of...
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Pigs Don't Wear Pants
Students engage in the writing process and differentiate between what is real versus fantasy. They identify the rhyming words and follow the steps of writing to complete the page for the class book. The prompt is checked looking for...
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Cause and Effect
Students identify cause and effect relationships in a short story. After reading a short story, they participate in a discussion of how one event in a story can lead to several others. Students are then paired for a matching task that...
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What's In A Name
Second graders read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. They then discuss where various names come from. They create a individualized biopoem and publish it on word processing software. Their poems are compiled into a class book and presented...
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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...
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Gettysburg: The Civil War's Costliest Battle
Students research the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg. In this Gettysburg lesson, students analyze journals and letters written by the Gettysburg soldiers. Students define Civil War soldier vocabulary words. Students compare and...