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Organizer
Curated OER

Mirrors & Windows: Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”

For Students 8th - 10th
“Mirrors” or aspects from a story that reflect a personal text-to-self connection, and “windows,” an aspect that gives insight into a different way of being, are the focus of an activity designed for Alice Walker’s story. Readers select...
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Writing
Curated OER

Did You Know?

For Students 1st - 3rd Standards
What would happen if you woke up one day and had become a housefly? What kinds of things would you do? Use the facts at the top of a worksheet to write a paragraph or short story about being a housefly.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Story Stew

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students identify the elements of a story. In this reading and writing lesson, pupils read the book, Tyrone the Horrible by Hans Wihelm and then identify the characters, setting, and plot of the story.This lesson includes adaptations and...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

"Guermo's Surprise"

For Students 6th - 8th
Have you ever thrown a surprise party? Use this question to engage your intermediate English language learners. After a brief discussion, read the passage "Guermo's Surprise," and have learners answer the 10 multiple-choice questions...
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Lesson Plan
Film English

Theo’s Story

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Encourage your class to consider a beautiful short film about a boy named Theo who happens to be visually impaired. Over the course of the instructional activity, pupils work in pairs, discuss their ideas and the film as a class,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Noisy Nora, Studious Students: Story Elements

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Alliterative adjective nicknames generate stories inspired by Rosemary Wells' book Noisy Nora (also a thematic complement to any class with children who make a ruckus to get attention). Class members explore basic story elements --...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing a Short Story

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students complete a short story writing activity using the text of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of Baskervilles. In this short story lesson, students write a short story from the perspective of the assistant from the text. Students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Rest of the Story

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders make predictions about the story "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" based on background knowledge. They read the story, stopping to verify or reject predictions. They write their own opinionated fairytales.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Imagining Your Science Fiction Short Story

For Teachers 12th
Twelfth graders brainstorm ideas for their own science fiction story. Using worksheets, they sketch the plot and setting for their story. They create appropriate characters and develop their interactions among each other. They share...
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PPT
Curated OER

Tone and Style: The Subtleties of the Short Story

For Teachers 11th - 12th
The elements of good writing are the focus of a presentation designed for short story writers. Included is advice from famous writers on how to develop a style, emphasize the tone of a story, utilize the predictable, and maintain interest.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Traditional “Mother Goose” Nursery Rhyme

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
There may be some little lambs, itsy bitsy spiders, and pumpkin eaters in your language arts class! An online poetry lesson takes learners through the steps of writing a nursery rhyme with easy-to-follow steps and explanatory examples.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adventures in Toyland

For Teachers K - 5th
There are many ways to tell a story; Richard Patterson's three-dimensional painting If serves as the inspiration for some creative storytelling for elementary school writers. They watch a clip from Toy Story (you'll need to...
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Lesson Plan
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PBS

Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Commitment to Recovery

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Recovery from substance addiction is an ongoing process. The final lesson in a series about painkiller abuse and addiction prompts learners to research various recovery options before writing a short story about a character who is going...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Possible Perspectives

For Teachers K - 5th
Visual art is the inspiration for a creative writing activity focused on having learners write from different perspectives. They analyze the image Yellow Rain Jacket, picking out details to help their storytelling. They use the details...
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Activity
Fabius-Pompey School District

Paired Passage Practice and the Extended Response Question

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
How do pupils relate paired passages to each other? Here's a resource that helps! The lesson includes a short story and a poem as a set of paired reading passages, followed by some analysis questions. It also includes an essay template...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: All in the Family

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Who was the Radcliffe family? Young learners find out about the life and times of a family from long ago. They analyze the family portrait, write a story about the family, and then use their story to create thought or word bubbles which...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: While You Were Sleeping....

For Teachers K - 5th
Imagine you are a bug living on a leaf in the painting, Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase by Maria van Oosterwyck. This is what you'll tell your class as they analyze the lovely image. They list details in the painting, find two insects...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Poems carved into the wooden walls of the Asian immigrant prisons on Angel Island provide upper elementary graders an opportunity to study not only the story behind the poems but to also focus on the figurative language employed by the...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Going on a Paper Hunt: Nouns, Adjectives, Letter Writing and Science - Properties of Paper

For Teachers Pre-K - 2nd Standards
A lesson introduces scholars to nouns and adjectives. After listening to a short story and practicing creating adjectives with a card sort, pupils go on a paper hunt to locate different types of paper, complete a chart with adjectives,...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

A Fantasy Story: Baby Bear's Space Journey

For Students K - 1st Standards
Give this literacy worksheet to your beginning readers to help them draw out key details and retell in their own words. They read a short fantasy story about a bear in space which includes dialogue, onomatopoeia, and a simple story line....
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Do You Prefer Your Children's Book Characters Obedient or Contrary? Opinion Writing

For Students 9th - 12th
With this New York Times "Learning Network" exercise, high schoolers read an article about the death of Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are and then respond to several prompts that require them to shape their own opinions...
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Unit Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

How to Write a Memoir

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...
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Lesson Plan
Digital Writing and Research Lab's – Lesson Plans

Teaching Close Reading through Short Composition/Revision

For Teachers 9th - 12th
This activity may have writers evaluate short compositions, but their subjects are quite tall: great Americans. Pupils read one another's compositions and closely examine how specific phrases and diction contribute to shaping American...

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