Livaudais-Baker English Classroom
Literature Circles
Keeping readers focused during literature discussion circles can sometimes be a challenge. Check out this worksheet that ensures accountability by establishing six very specific, very different roles for group members: facilitator,...
Annenberg Foundation
Masculine Heroes
What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...
Annenberg Foundation
Rhythms in Poetry
Rhyme, rhythm, free verse, imagery: Do these words describe poetry, or jazz music? The answer is both! A resource explores these similarities as scholars watch a video, engage in discussion, read author biographies, write poetry and...
Annenberg Foundation
Exploring Borderlands
What motivated Europeans to explore the New World, and what effects did their exploration have on Native American populations? The second installment of a 16-part American Passages series prompts pupils to watch a video and read several...
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine
Imagine being able to travel back and forth in time! H.G. Wells uses that scenario in his novel The Time Machine to comment on what he saw as the flaws in Victorian society and the industrial age. This teacher's guide is one of the best...
Spark Notes
Lord of the Flies by William Golding: Study Guide - Mini Essays
Reinforce themes and devices from William Golding's Lord of the Flies. An online interactive literature learning exercise prompts readers to respond to seven short answer and essay questions about the novel and its characters.
Curated OER
Paradise Lost: Anticipation Guide
To set the stage for reading Paradise Lost, class members compete an anticipation guide containing statements that connect to themes in Milton's epic poem.
Curated OER
Mini Literature Circle
In this literature circle worksheet, students form groups and choose a leader, summarize the book, discuss journal entries, make connections, and write reflections about the novel they are reading. Students provide short answers for...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Harriet Beecher Stowe Sends Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Victoria and Albert, 1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe's plea for abolition is not only laid plain in her acclaimed novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, but in her written correspondence as well. High schoolers read a letter written by Stowe to Prince Albert and Queen Victoria to...
Reed Novel Studies
Homeless Bird: Novel Study
Many people face the struggle between tradition and desire to forget their own paths. A study guide for the novel Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan discusses the issue of adhering to tradition from the perspective of a protagonist who faces...
Curated OER
Hiroshima: Question Answer Response Strategy (QAR)
“The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable. . .” After reading “The Aftermath,” the final chapter of Hiroshima, class members use a Question Answer Response (QAR) strategy to reflect on issues raised...
Reed Novel Studies
What Katy Did: Novel Study
What doesn't break you
makes you stronger. Katy, in What Katy Did, learns this lesson the
hard way. After a terrible accident and a long recovery, Katy becomes what she always wanted to be—good and kind. Scholars learn
about Katy's...
Reed Novel Studies
Third Grade Angels: Novel Study
A million things to do, a ton of homework ... hyperbole sure does help get the point across! With the novel study for Jerry Spinelli's Third Grade Angels, scholars practice writing their own exaggerated sentences. Additionally, they...
Reed Novel Studies
A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Bad Beginning: Novel Study
Scholars read about the unlucky events that continue to fall on the children in A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. A set of worksheet activities include completing sentences with vocabulary words,...
Reed Novel Studies
The War That Saved My Life: Novel Study
Most people think of war when they think of casualities. However, Ada used war to regain her life. A ten-year-old girl in The War That Saved My Life is a prisoner in her own home. However. when her brother goes to war, she takes the...
Curated OER
Gary Paulsen's Canyons: Question the Author (QtA) Strategy
Gary Paulsen’s Canyons is the focus of an exercise that models how to read closely using a Questioning the Author (QtA) strategy. Complete directions for the strategy, which can be used with any text, are included in the richly-detailed...
Scholastic
Reading Symbols
Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass serves as the anchor text for a lesson on symbolism. Readers use the provided worksheets to examine the symbols in the novel as well as in the world around them.
Reed Novel Studies
The Fourteenth Goldfish: Novel Study
Change is not always easy. That becomes evident in the story Fourteenth Goldfish. Ellie, the main character, does not like change and struggles with new things in her life. Scholars learn how Ellie deals with change as they complete...
Reed Novel Studies
The Phantom Tollbooth: Novel Study
Milo, a character in Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, was bored. When a tollbooth showed up in his room, he went through it simply because he has nothing else to do. Scholars read about his adventures and complete worksheets...
Reed Novel Studies
Pictures of Hollis Woods: Novel Study
Scholars read about Hollis, an orphan in Pictures of Hollis Woods, and complete worksheet activities. Activities include using vocabulary words to complete sentences, answering comprehension questions, and writing poetry.
Reed Novel Studies
The Tiger Rising: Novel Study
Tiger, puma, lynx, jackal: which does not belong? Using the novel study for The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo, scholars complete a similar vocabulary exercise. Next, they write sentences explaining why their chosen words don't fit. They...
Reed Novel Studies
Walk Two Moons: Novel Study
Enjoy solving riddles? Perhaps Sal, a character in Walk Two Moons, is the only one capable of understanding a mysterious message left on her doorstep. On a road trip with her grandparent, Sal tries to make sense of the bizarre world...
Novelinks
The Giver: Concept Analysis
Cover the vocabulary and thematic concepts from Lois Lowry's The Giver with an extended reference guide. It includes relevant plot elements, discussions on themes and motifs, and any possible issues arising from your class's background...
State Library of Ohio
Tuck Everlasting
A great toolbox of ideas for any teacher preparing to teach the novel Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, this resource includes a short biography of Natalie Babbitt, several discussion questions that could double as writing prompts,...