Curated OER
In a Nutshell....
Young scholars examine how to summarize the most important details in a reading passage in order to increase their comprehension. They design a story web using the summarization skills. Before class, they complete a reading assignment...
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Summarizing Puts the Pieces Together
Pupils summarize a piece of fiction. After reviewing the correct way to read and summarize, students work in groups to summarize a piece of text assigned by the instructor. They write a summary paragraph by creating a story map and using...
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Theatre
Students identify and create flashcards of important key terms as related to theatre. Students observe and write a 1-page summary of events seen at the High School Musical production using at least 8 vocabulary words in your summary....
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Community Map of The Giver
Middle schoolers read "The Giver" after finishing the unit on inventions and inventors. Using the information in the novel, they develop a geographic map illustrating the community in the story. They identify human and physical features...
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Writing Business Letters of Request
Tenth graders model proper format and elements of business letters. They review effective writing styles and write a request letter. Students also read a short story that includes conflict irony and symbolism They create a chart...
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Dr. Seuss Book Report
In this literature response learning exercise, students choose a Dr. Seuss book to report on. Students discuss the setting, plot, characters, and then summarize the book.
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An American Tragedy Study Help Quiz
For this An American Tragedy study help worksheet, students answer 15 questions about the plot, setting, and characters in An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.
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Hamlet
In this Hamlet instructional activity, students watch a summary video about Hamlet and then fill in the blanks to paragraphs about it. Students fill in the blanks and complete multiple choice questions for 34 blanks.
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Reading Response Journal Lit Logs
Here is a worksheet presenting many ways to create topics and start sentences. The writing prompts are best used for young writers who are creating reading response journals or literature logs. Sometimes, all a writer needs is a good...
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,...
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Narrative Literature Response Letters: Original Lesson Plan
Readers write a formal letter to an author offering an alternative ending to a story the author has written. First, the class reads a story or novel. Upon finishing the reading, they are introduced to the format of a formal letter. They...
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Introduction to Greek Theatre and Antigone
Students compare and contrast a website layout and the layout of a Greek theatre. In this Greek theatre lesson, students research the Greek theatre and produce a bulleted list of five facts about the Greek theatre. Students complete a...
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Tales of Edgar Allen Poe
Analyze the writing of Edgar Allen Poe by reading and then writing in a similar style. Budding authors learn about the life of Poe and read one or more of his famous works online. Partner groups create an original piece of writing using...
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Connotation and Denotation:
Eighth graders investigate the effect that connotations can have on writing. They are shown examples to build background knowledge before attempting the exercise. They finish by writing a paragraph to practice what they have learned.
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Johnny Appleseed
Students engage in a study of apples using children's literature. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Student list facts about apples and compare them while answering some guided questions. They plant some apple seeds and...
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Summarizing Key Information
Imagine the surprise when small groups present their Evidence Charts to the class and discover that each group has studied a different version of the Cinderella story. Irish, Ojibwa, Egyptian, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Mexican, and...
Curated OER
Writing a Literary Analysis
What makes writing literary? What comprises analysis? A 15-slide PowerPoint presentation, created by the Purdue University Writing Lab, tackles these questions. The explanations of what makes writing literary and what comprises analysis...
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Finding the Story Setting
Second graders discuss important things to know when reading stories, identify setting in variety of stories, create story map to record information as they are reading, state setting in their own words, discuss whether they thought...
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Multimedia Book Reports
Students read a chapter book of 100-200 pages in length. They create a story map and multimedia book report. Pupils review the elements of a story map such as: characters, setting, problem, important events, solution, etc.) Students...
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Verdi
Third graders explore language arts by answering study questions about a book they read. In this reading summary instructional activity, 3rd graders read the book Verdi by Janell Cannon and identify the plot, characters and sequence of...
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STORY GRAMMAR
In this story grammar worksheet, students are asked to describe the setting, main characters and events from their book in short-answer form.
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We're Booked
Students share their all-time favorite books with peers. They read and discuss the article Notable Children's Books of 2007. Afterward, they create book webs and compose reviews based on their book selections.
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Creating Comic Strips
Students create comic strips to communicate ideas that cannot be expressed through words alone.
Orange County Department of Education
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses
Fifth graders read the selection Black Cowboy, Wild Horses and identify characteristics of self-discipline shown by story's main character, Bob Lemmons. Students then identify some of their own traits of self-discipline and reflect upon...