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Little Engine That Could
Students dramatize traditional literature. In this retelling lesson, students practice retelling The Little Engine That Could and take on roles of the trains in the story. Students create and display train props to use during their...
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Sequencing: Pictures Tell a Story
Students listen to a story and observe five illustrations of the main events drawn by the teacher. They arrange the illustrations in sequential order. Then, working in groups of five, they read stories and select five events, one for...
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Through the Looking Glass: Eudora Welty's Photography and The Ponder Heart
Young scholars study the context of The Ponder Heart through Welty's photographs.
They analyze how illustrations and photographs interact with written text and
create their own images to illustrate a well-known Welty short story....
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Different! Diverse! Dynamic! What Do Stories Share?
Students compare and contrast the stories, "Leo, the Late Bloomer," and "Thank You, Mr. Falker." They develop a Venn diagram, and write and illustrate the central theme of the stories.
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Mythical Beasts
Students explore literature and art forms containing creatures that are part human and part animal, such as the Greek Sphinx, Neptune, or the Green Centaur. Individually, students write a poem or short story to create a character with...
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Paper Bag Book Report
Young scholars read books and write a unique kind of book report. In this literature lesson, students use paper bags to construct projects about the books they read. Young scholars present their projects to the class.
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Gatsby and the American Twenties Newspaper
High schoolers research 1920's US History. In this historical literature lesson, students use the novel The Great Gatsby as a tool to examine the era. They work in individually to create newspaper articles based on different historical...
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Diversity: Origin Myths
Fifth graders analyze origin myths and the diversity of First Nations groups. In this history lesson, 5th graders review the geography of Canada and read various origin myths. Students illustrate one of the myths and research others in...
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Family Origins and American Cultural Pluralism
Young scholars explore, analyze and discuss family origins, special legacies, and racial/cultural groups in literature and art that exposes them to positive examples in African-American history and culture. They encounter examples from...
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The Lorax
Third graders identify environmental problems. In this natural resources lesson plan students participate in several activities that support critical thinking about the environment and natural resources. The students write, list, and...
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Mini-Unit: Natural Resources
Students explore how their choices affect others. In this character development and ecology lesson, students debate choice-making issues. Students listen to The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and identify choices the characters made about tree...
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Music of the Civil War
Students gain insight into the Civil War era by exploring the art, music, and literature of the time.
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Native American Heritage Month
An exploration of Native American culture can lead to art, literature, and poetry activities.
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Behind the Cover
Students develop questions they would have liked to ask an author about their written works. They read an article about their forefathers and research a back story to a written work of their choice. They create posters to illustrate the...
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Frederick Lesson Plan
Students enjoy Leo Lionni's illustrations in Frederick and watching how Frederick uses his imagination. In this Frederick lesson plan, students practice dramatic techniques as they retell traditional literature.
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Doo-Wop Pop
Doo-Wop Pop, by Roni Schotter is story that focuses on music and performing arts. Language arts activities include phonics, music, writing about dreams, poetry, and writing a letter are included in this literature guide. Furthermore...
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Can We Switch Genders of Story Characters?
Students read and review the main elements of a story. In this language arts lesson, students predict what the story read to them would have been like if the genders of the characters had been different. Students write a new story in...
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A Journey To Japan Through Poetry
Third graders gain an appreciation for writing, analyzing, reading and listening to poetry, viewing poems as a motivation for studying Japanese culture and tradition. They study and create their own haiku and tanka poems with illustrations.
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Visualizing Jazz Scenes From the Harlem Renaissance
Students identify themes of selected nonfiction, fiction, poetry and art to Harlem Renaissance jazz and describe the impact of jazz on African-American literature of the Harlem Renaissance
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The Book of Life
Students discuss the factors that make a good children's book. After reading an article, they explore the prevalence of science in children's literature. In groups, they research a topic and translate it into easy language for a child...
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Egg to Butterfly
Students examine the life cycle of the butterfly through literature. In this butterfly life cycle lesson, students listen to a read aloud of Eric Carle's, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and discuss the life cycle shown in the story. They...
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It's in the Elements - Lesson Four
Young scholars compare and contrast story elements in two versions of Cinderella. In this literature elements instructional activity, students are read two different versions of Cinderella, they identify the characters, plot, and...
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Early Settlements
Students embark on a journey through colonial times. For this early settlement lesson, students come to understand what life was like for the settlers in the early colonies. Students research and create projects illustrating their new...
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Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction
Fifth graders compare and contrast an informational article with a fictional story. They read the story "The Contest" as a class, and discuss the different types of literature genres. Next, they complete a vocabulary worksheet and a...