Curated OER
Read it and Remember it!
Pupils are divided into small groups, read a section from an assigned book, and draw a picture of what they read. They list the main characters, theme, setting, and plot of the book. They share their information/drawings with the rest...
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Charlotte's Web Venn Diagram
Students, together as a class, construct a Venn diagram of characteristics they see in two classmates. Then, they independently create another Venn diagram comparing/contrasting two characters from the story Charlotte's Web. They share...
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Charlotte's Web
Students examine the story, "Charlotte's Web" in the nine lessons of this unit. As the students progress through the book, they will explore the story plot, setting, character, and the value of friendship.
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Anolis Lizards of the Greater Antilles
Students "take a trip" to the Greater Antilles to observethe Anolis lizards. They study the body structures and habitat of different species, then plot this data on a map to look for patterns in their distribution. From the patterns they...
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Freedom Train North
Fourth graders conduct a novel study of the book Freedom Train North. They identify the parts of a story that include beginning, middle, and end. Students also recognize the setting, plot, and theme after reading a part of the book daily.
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Telling the Stories the Past Tells Us
Students create historical stories based on factual evidence. In this Telling the Stories the Past Tells Us lesson, students write historical stories using strategies such as characters, plot, setting, and voice. Students analyze several...
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Focus Story: The Mitten
Students explore language arts by analyzing a story with their classmates. In this poetry identification activity, students read the book The Mittens and identify the characters, plot and settings in the story. Students recite poems...
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Folktales Reflect Daoist and Buddhist Traditions
Tenth graders compare three Chinese folktales for their "messages" and literary techniques to see how they reflect Chinese Confucian and Taoist values. They discuss how folktales share certain subjects, characters, plots and themes.
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Writing a Fictional Narrative
Fourth graders write a fictional narrative using the computer. They can use files to help them focus on including a beginning, middle and end, characters, setting and plot or planning a story by answering questions.
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Comparison and Contrast - D.H. Lawrence
Students explore "The Rocking Horse Winner" and "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" by D. H. Lawrence. In this literature lesson, students read these short stories. Students write an essay comparing the two stories according to themes,...
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Introduce Vocabulary: The Surprise Garden
Students explore English by reading children stories in class. In this tier two vocabulary lesson, students read the book The Surprise Garden and identify the settings, plot and characters. Students define a list of vocabulary words from...
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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...
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To Kill a Mockingbird: Theme
So many themes are expertly woven through Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. On the first page, scholars will read five themes, selecting an incident and a quote to highlight that theme. On page two, they use chapters 29-31 to...
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The Nature of the Antagonist
Students explain the differences between protagonists and antagonists and recognize the fundamental purpose of an antagonist or villain in storytelling. They also explain conflict as used in literature.
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Conflict
Middle schoolers outline the action in their narrative writing assignments by brainstorming about conflict. In this conflict analysis lesson, students define conflict and discuss the different types of conflict. Middle schoolers...
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Investigating Fables
Time for a story! Learners of all ages enjoy listening to stories, so read them some common fables and have them work cooperatively to create a fable. Differentiate for varying ability levels by providing sentence frames, graphic...
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Scary Short Story Writing Lesson
There's nothing like the prospect of writing a scary story to get your middle schoolers' writing juices flowing! In the lesson presented here, pupils listen to scary short stories read to them by the teacher. Then, a discussion ensues...
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Great Expectations: Group Writing
Examine the differences between totalitarianism and democracy in this writing lesson plan. Using the same format and theme from Great Expectations, young writers work in pairs to compose their own short stories. They follow guidelines...
Novelinks
The Tempest: A-Z Book Project
Create a picture dictionary for one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays. After readers finish The Tempest, they assign each letter of the alphabet to a concept or character, and add a description and evidence from the text to the...
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During Reading Strategy: Literary Newspaper
Add some writing to your class's reading of Cold Sassy Tree! With this plan, readers assume the role of journalist and create a segment of a paper with their peers. Suggested segments are included, and a worksheet dividing the text into...
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Create a Book with Student Treasures
You can't publish a story until after it has been revised and edited! Budding authors investigate the writing process while drafting an original story. They select a topic, complete a rough draft, edit it, revise it, and finally publish...
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Heading West
Students study the concept of the westward expansion. In this exploration of the western U.S. lesson, students participate in different activities that explain economic hardships, jobs, and land opportunities. Students describe...
Novelinks
Tuck Everlasting: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Encourage close reading for young learners with a lesson based on Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting. The first part of the resource guides readers through a Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA), prompting them to make predictions...
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Fairy Tales Retold
Students use writing processes effectively to adapt and retell stories. They reread a favorite fairy tale, then adapt and retell in a PowerPoint or other multimedia presentation. They present their rewritten and edited presentations to...