Curated OER
The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain, the famous American author, is often studied in the school system. Use "The Prince and the Pauper" to analyze the differences between the text and its video version. This lesson includes several culminating project ideas for...
Curated OER
Suspense-Around
Students participate in round-robin cooperative writing groups to develop a variety of possible stories around a single prompt.
Curated OER
"Kookie Kitties" - Paul Klee: Finger Puppets
Students examine and discuss the painting, Cat and Bird, by Paul Klee. They identify the various types of lines, shapes, and colors in the painting, and design and create finger puppet versions of the animals from the painting.
Curated OER
Tales to Live By
Students explore the concept of theme. In this fairy tales lesson, students read several tales and complete hands-on activities, art projects, and dramatic play that lead to an awareness of the themes of the tales.
Curated OER
Plot and Conflict
Students review the literary elements of plot and conflict. In this plot and conflict lesson plan, students read a story and answer questions about the plot and conflict within. Students create a concept map for the novel to identify the...
Curated OER
If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...
Fourth graders take three different photographs representing the beginning, middle and end of their story. They use the Tool Factor program Fresco to add elements to enhance their creativity and make their writing come alive. They then...
Curated OER
Horse and Toad
First graders identify key elements of folktales and the countries in which they are told. They compare and contrast folktales they have previously heard with the Haitian folktale Horse and Toad. Reading materials and maps are included.
Curated OER
Do a Ditty
Fourth graders work in cooperative groups to create a ditty to teach the characteristics that distinguish literary forms to younger students. The ditty is performed before the class.
Curated OER
Book Report Database and Author E-mail Project
Students read a number of books by a given author and input information into a database. They e-mail information about their favorite author to other students. They focus on story elements and ask questions or make suggestions for future...
Curated OER
Photo Talk!
Students communicate with Epals. They write letters with photo exchanges
and create a website for presentations of 3,000 words or less and one photo. They
tell their life stories and illustrate with photos in the target language.
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Curated OER
Picturing Shakespeare: Creating Illuminated Texts
Learners experiment with illuminating important text. In this fictional literature lesson plan, students research Shakespearean sonnets. Learners identify key elements of the sonnets, and examine the relationship between illuminated...
Curated OER
Introduction to the Blues
Students learn the basic elements of blues and different lyric structures.
Curated OER
A Cultural Study of Arkansas and Saline County for Eleventh Grade Non-College American Literature
Eleventh graders divide into research groups and select a topic to pursue from a list that ranged from historical sites to local ghost stories to the nearby aluminum plant.
Curated OER
Small Group Shared Writing
Learners discuss elements of effective writing in small groups. They work together to critique individual and group writing focusing on including supporting details.
Curated OER
Cubby Bear's Big Responsibility
Students continue their examination of character by being introduced to the concept of responsibility. As a class, they are read a story and identify when the main character was being responsible. They share wha they are responsible...
Curated OER
Sea Turtle
Students listen to a story about a sea turtle sanctuary. They participate in a discussion about the sea turtles. They analyze some of the hazards that can hurt sea turtles and brainstorm ways to help the problem. They write and...
Curated OER
Journal of Time: A Historical Perspective
Analyze the setting behind the Great Depression in California with Pam Munoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Middle schoolers assess the protagonist during her coming-of-age moments, while migrant workers manage the hardships of the era. Each...
Curated OER
Lesson Mystery: The Game is Afoot
Learners enter and experience the world of Sherlock Holmes and hard-boiled detectives in this unit on mysteries. They review and analyze the ""Whodunit Requirements" and the "Mystery Contract" that accompany this activity. Each student...
Curated OER
Looking Back - An Art/English/History Interdisciplinary Unit
High schoolers research historical events of the past century to recognize that society impacts the themes within art and literature. They then interview an individual to develop a biographical narrative, a collage and finally an oral...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre
Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its own...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: Oral and Literary Strategies
Readers are first introduced to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart by making a map of Africa. They will better understand the novel's historical and literary contexts, European and African literary traditions, and how historical events...
Curated OER
Literature: Mapping the Mockingbird
Students read Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, focusing on setting. They list items that create mental images of the novel's setting along with location references to characters and events. Using posterboard, they construct physical...
Curated OER
Because of Winn-Dixie
Students complete a variety of activities related to the book "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo. They create a scrapbook of the characters in the book, play a reading comprehension maze game, and participate in an online...
Curated OER
Once Upon a Genre
Students examine fractured fairy tales before responding by writing in many different genres including a persuasive essay, a personal narrative, a letter, an advertisement, and a resume'. They create a pop-up book with their written...