Pennsylvania Department of Education
Analyzing Literary Elements in Fiction
Students analyze the characters and events in fictional writing. In this literary elements lesson, students study the meaning of the words characterization and fiction. They listen to the story Pigsty by Mark Teague, or any other book...
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A Little Mystery and Intrigue in Writing Short Detective Stories
Students read and analyze the twelve short stories in the novel "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." They create their own detective that has to solve a new kind of crime, and write and edit a short story with their original detective as...
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Senior Scrapbook Assignment
Twelfth graders write creatively and reflectively on 20 different events or memories that shaped their senior year. They organize memorabilia into a scrapbook with 20 entries and create a cover that represents their senior year. They...
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More Choices
Fourth graders create onomatopoeia for a variety of things such as a mean dog, a crying baby or a doorbell ringing after exploring word choice as used by authors in selected books. They complete a Word Choice worksheet that is attached.
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Friday and Friends: A Prospectus of the Mexican Family through Children's Literature
Students use literature to examine how the structure of families in Mexico has changed over time. In groups, they examine how their life now relates to their ancestors and the Spanish conquest of the area. As a class, they are read...
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Chocolate Chaos
Second graders demonstrate the ability to examine the elements of a story (theme, plot, setting, mood) and characters, by discussing and writing about each. They have fun with chocolate related activities and enjoy reading about some...
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Critic's Choice
Third graders read three to five genres and choose one as a favorite. They write an essay persuading the class to read the genre. This lesson serves as a nice introduction to different styles of literature.
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Citizens For the New Zoo
Third graders complete Internet research to find information about an animal and its basic needs. They design a model of a zoo habitat that would accommodate their animal. They write a letter of recommendation to a Zoo board of directors...
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My Deaf American Hero
High schoolers study and discuss famous deaf people that are role models for students who are deaf. They research a famous deaf American and create a ten frame multimedia presentation to showcase the information.
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Greeting Card to A Character
Students create a greeting card from one character to another after finishing a novel. Individually, they use their imagination to write the paragraph using the text to support their ideas. They share their greeting card with the class...
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Persuasive Advertisement For A Novel
Sixth graders engage in a project to persuade classmates to read a certain novel. They create a poster using persuasive advertising language. Media can be included in the form of pictures and other graphics to make the visual...
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Fourth graders research and write an author report on Roald Dahl, including books written by him, birthplace, family life, and other information on his writing. Students read aloud chapters in the book. Students create a newspaper...
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Jean Fritz's American History Series
Students explore children's literature by reading biographies in class. In this history analysis lesson, students read books written by Jean Fritz about the Revolutionary War and discuss the events that led up to the critical moment....
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Urban Concentration and Racial Violence
Students research one of the many urban race riots in U.S. history, from the New York City riots during the Civil War to the "Red Summer of 1919" or the hate-strikes of 1943. They present their findings in the form of a newspaper's front...
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Interpreting a Story from a News Article
Students read and retell a story form out of the newspaper. They write to communicate ideas, stories, letters, simple explanations, and short reports. They edit and perfect their projects for homework, and they share their work with the...
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Creative Writing Inspired by Paintings
Third graders view a PowerPoint presentation of the images by Maxfield Parrish. They wirte a short story based on one image and create drawings of an imagined character.
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Pictorial Portfolio
Students develop a pictorial portfolio of important assignments, projects and activities through their high school years. They use a camera and decide what makes a good photograph. Students organize their photographs into a portfolio...
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Persuasion
Students explore the characteristics of a persuasive letter. They label each characteristic and they create a persuasive letter using the correct business letter format. Students recommend a school rule or change of a rule and justify...
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Remarkable Trees of Virginia
Students draw a picture of their favorite tree from memory, and then add detail as they learn more about leaf characteristics of Virginia trees. They will use their writing skills to nominate one or more of their favorite trees to the...
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Geography: I Spy Environments
Fourth graders examine nature paintings from a Utah museum for their physical characteristics. In small groups, they observe museum postcards and discuss the season, precipitation, temperature, and geometric shapes pictured. Focusing...
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Find Your Style
Students read a story and demonstrate their fluency and comprehension by retelling it to a partner. In this reading lesson plan, students follow a note taking sheet provided.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement:narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost
Using Frost's famous poem, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" as an example of narrative poetry, students explore the artistry and significance of the narrative poem. In addition, this lesson plan provides suggestions for writing...