Curated OER
Photographic Memories
Explore how photographs can represent a whole story to a viewer. Middle schoolers work on narrative writing techniques in this lesson, focusing on photographs from the New York Times to write first-person descriptive narratives....
Curated OER
Born on a Mountaintop? Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History
Young scholars compare and contrast the details from the life of the real David Crockett and the legendary folk hero he later became. They identify the characteristics of a tall tale and follow a rubric to create a tall tale of their own.
Curated OER
Community Helpers
The book, Doctor Ted is used to kick off this lesson on Community Helpers. Young learners make connections to their own life by dictating a story of their own, and inventing other jobs that Ted can do.
Curated OER
Describe a Journey
Learners describe the sensory experience of a character's journey in an essay. In this precise details writing lesson, students explain the effects on the senses of weather, time of day, landscape, and other experiences. Learners use...
Curated OER
Similes and Metaphors
This fantastic presentation on similes and metaphors would be ideal for blossoming writers. Learners receive excellent instruction on these terms and are given a meaningful activity to do in their workbooks at the end of the PowerPoint....
C.S. Lewis Foundation
Study Guide to The Great Divorce
Break the content and theological barriers of C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce with the ideas and suggestions available for analysis and discussion using an easy-to-understand study guide. This stupendous resource introduces Lewis’s...
Scholastic
The Class Election from the Black Lagoon Storia Teaching Guide
One of my favorite things about this resource is that they use a standardized lexile to help you determine who should be reading what book. I also love this great teacher's guide for the book, The Class Election from the Black Lagoon. In...
Curated OER
Revive, Contemplate, Integrate
Students recognize flags as a symbol through writing and imagery. In this artifact lesson plan, students investigate Tibetan prayer flags and their significance. Students create personal prayer flags and write about their life experience...
Curated OER
Labyrinths
Whether studying metaphors or Greek mythology, this labyrinth project is a fantastic lesson plan to add to your unit. It includes two versions of the labyrinth; making it with yarn or stone. If your materials are limited, you can even...
Curated OER
A BIOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY: USING THE LITTLE PRINCE TO EXPLORE BIOGRAPHY & CREAIVE WRITING
Learners integrate Author and Biography study with Students personal perspective. They make connections between research and creative writing. Learners enrich research and critical thinking skills. They encourage students to think about...
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....
Louisiana Department of Education
Fahrenheit 451
In his 2013 introduction to Fahrenheit 451, Neil Gaiman states, “Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” In this extraordinary unit plan, readers "explore the power of written language to educate and influence...
Curated OER
Pennies of My Life Part II
Youngsters write and construct their own autobiographies based on The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis. They engage in pre-writing steps, narrative writing, and peer editing. This is the second part of a two-part project lesson.
Curated OER
Capturing the Reader With Vivid Images
Students examine the use of imagery to hold a reader's attention in an excerpt from John Deever's memoir "Mr. John and the Day of Knowledge". They are introduced to background information about the Ukraine and create original imagery.
Curated OER
Analyzing Folklore: Redwall
Brian Jacques’ novel Redwall provides the focus for a series of lessons involving the analysis of folklore. Adopting the persona of a character, groups write letters in the voice of their character, assemble a collage using Microsoft...
Curated OER
What a Character! Comparing Literary Adaptations
What do Robert Downey Jr., Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Fritz Weaver, Roger Moore, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Daffy Duck have in common? Why, it’s elementary, my dear Watson! They all have portrayed Sherlock Holmes. Literary detectives...
Curated OER
"You're Probably Tired, Dear Diary" - Children's Diaries during the Holocaust
As part of the study of WWII and the Holocaust, class members read a series of diary entries written by children during the onslaught of Nazi occupation. Each entry is accompanied by biographical information and discussion questions. The...
Project Noah
Writing Goes Wild
Young scientists develop their observation and writing skills as they craft and then post a detailed description of a plant or animal they have spotted and photographed.
The New York Times
Big Brother vs. Little Brother: Updating Orwell's 1984
Government surveillance is an enduring conflict that has become increasingly complex with our nation's use of technology. Add to the understanding of Orwell’s 1984 by using the resources here that display the contemporary actions of Big...
Shakespeare Uncovered
All the Globe’s a Stage: Shakespeare’s Theatre
“All the world’s a stage,” exclaims Jaques in As You Like It, but it is the structure of the Globe stage and how that structure influenced Shakespeare’s plays that is the focus of an on-line research project. Class members visit a series...
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...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Incredible Stories: Challenge Activities (Theme 3)
Real or fantasy? Dogzilla, the Giant of Barletta, the Garden of Abdul Gassazi. To enrich their understanding of incredible stories, teams create a mouse newspaper and report on the invasion of Dogzilla, craft folktales, and draft a story...
Curated OER
Twisted Tales
Experience how a story can drastically change when the point of view is altered. Young scholars first read a review of Disney's film Tarzan, focusing on how the point of view in the classic story is important. They then select another...
Curated OER
Interpreting the Evidence
Young scholars find out about the social changes that caused the collapse of important ancient civilizations in Central America, Mesopotamia, the southwestern United States, and western Africa.