Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of Beowulf
Beowulf, the Old English epic hero, comes alive again in the activities found in a teacher's guide designed to accompany a reading of the classic poem.
Reed Novel Studies
Ella Enchanted: Novel Study
Ella in Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted receives the gift of obedience and must do what others tell her, but her strong personality struggles with this gift. Scholars review how Ella handles her fate by completing vocabulary...
Curated OER
An Incredible Journey: Exploring Brave New Worlds
Students, after reading the novel, Brave New World, research in depth topics like the production and consumption of Henry Ford, Pavlov's and Skinner's behavioral science work, as well as the existence of Utopian and dystopian societies....
Curated OER
When Things Fall Apart
Students examine the impact of colonialism on African nations, researching and analyzing post-colonial literature from those countries. They develop and present a creative display of their novel and its historic parallels.
Curated OER
Holocaust Theme
Students complete a unit of lessons on the events of the Holocaust during WWII. They write daily journal entries, create a collage, view and discuss videos, read and analyze novels and poetry, and complete a novel project.
Curated OER
Hope In The Hard Times - A Unit on the Great Depression
Students examine the Great Depression through the analysis of the novel, 'Bud, Not Buddy.' They analyze photos from the National Archives website, complete a character analysis, and conduct research and summarize a topic from the Great...
Curated OER
The Clock Tower on Grand Avenue: A Cultural Reading Adventure
Sixth graders read three novels to practice their reading and comprehension skills. Using each novel, they create a list of the characteristics of each culture represented. In groups, they also identify the setting, characters and plot...
Curated OER
Magnificent Mexico
Students complete a variety of activities in a unit about the art, culture, and traditions of Mexico. They read books about the Day of the Dead, create a skeleton puppet, and create a traditional Mexican tissue paper cutting. Students...
Curated OER
Songs of Native Americans
Students listen to chapter from novel When Legends Die by Hal Borland, listen to traditional Lakota song, discuss feeling song induces and in what circumstance it may be used, and examine connection between cultural music and family...
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Philanthropy in A Christmas Carol
Students explore philanthropy in literature. In this cross curriculum literacy and character development instructional activity, students read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and note charitable acts described in the story. Students...
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James Welch's Fools Crow
Learners explore the history of Montana's Native Americans by reading James Welch's Fools Crow. Set shortly after the Civil War, the novel focuses on a young Blackfoot Indian and his tribe. Over the course of several weeks, class members...
Curated OER
Cartoons for the Classroom: Unconventional Approach
In this current events activity, students analyze political cartoons that feature campaign information. Students collect political cartoons from their own newspapers and respond to discussion questions.
Curated OER
Language Arts: Novel Guides
Students discuss the Revolution and consider the causes of the war, the attitudes of the colonists, and the position of the British. Then students explore American involvement in wars since the country's inception.
Curated OER
Wuthering Heights: Questioning Strategy
Readers of Wuthering Heights use the DRTA strategy to formulate predictions about the actions of characters in Bronte's novel.
Curated OER
KWHL Jacob Have I Loved
Your class has just begun reading Jacob Have I Loved, and they're coming upon the fifth chapter. Pause their reading and have them complete a KWHL chart (not included) to detail what they've learned from the novel's beginning. An example...
Curated OER
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: K-W-H-L Strategy
Ah, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer! Before your class reads this classic novel, encourage them to activate prior knowledge and build interest in the book with the KWHL strategy. Directions for walking your class through this strategy are...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Strategy: Call of the Wild
Here is a strategy for groups to contribute to whole class vocabulary development. Teams (based on seating rows) work together to look up dictionary definitions of words from upcoming sections of the book (though previous sections seem...
Curated OER
Pairing with Picture Books: Chasing Lincoln's Killer
Readers of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, James L Swanson’s young adult novel, use a Venn diagram to compare information about Abraham Lincoln and the events surrounding his assassination, with the images and information presented in picture...
Curated OER
The Great Gatsby: Gonnegtions
Skip to the second page of this resource for the worksheet itself. Listed here are nine vocabulary words used in The Great Gatsby. Pupils use a dictionary to select a new word to pair with the vocabulary word provided from the novel....
Curated OER
Freak The Mighty: KWHL Instructions for Generating Student Research
Readers of Freak the Mighty employ a KWHL strategy to explore the topics of bullying and friendship prior to reading Rodman Philbrick’s story that is “like truth serum. . . whether it really happened or not.” Research could be extended...
Teach With Movies
Title: "The Time Machine" - Topics: Science-Technology
Director George Pal’s film The Time Machine, based on H. G. Wells’ 1895 science fiction novella and starring Rod Taylor, Alan Young, and Yvette Mimieux, is the focus of a instructional activity that considers the consequences of time...
Curated OER
Maus: A KWHL Approach
After reading the introduction to Maus I, class members use A KWHL approach to determine what they know, what they want to know, and where they can find information about World War II, the Holocaust, and other topics associated with Art...
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The Catcher in the Rye Vocabulary: Magic Square
Here’s a vocabulary activity that will really knock you out. Readers of J.D. Salinger’s classic novel match terms drawn from The Catcher in the Rye with their definitions, and then complete a magic square activity. It’s really grand.
Curated OER
Romeo and Juliet & Shakespearean Theater
The Bard? Folly? Tragedy? How familiar are your pupils with terms associated with Romeo and Juliet? Class members rate their knowledge of a list of words and then share what they know with the class. The worksheet, discussion questions,...