Curated OER
The Teacher from the Black Lagoon
Read and analyze the book, The Teacher From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler with your class. They will compare/contrast the two Mrs. Greens with a Venn diagram, design a new book cover, create a paper mache mask, and complete a story...
Curated OER
Adjective? What's an Adjective?
Mount a variety of pictures (fantasy, rustic, portraits, action) on large sheets of paper and post them around the classroom. Groups rotate from poster to poster, adding adjectives to describe each of the pictures. Writers use these word...
Curated OER
Lesson: Nikhil Chopra: Performing Memory
Film imitates life; that's what they say. Using performance theory to tie the activity together, learners attempt to understand memory and daily rituals as seen in art, film, and life. They read two chapters from the book, watch the...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 1: Introducing NaNo and Novels
Did you know that November is Novel Writing Month? In the first of a series of lessons, class members are introduced to the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project.
Curated OER
Literacy Lesson: Guided Reading
Here is a wonderful instructional activity designed for students with special needs. This well-thought-out instructional activity uses Big Books, familiar stories, and has a lot of review learning built into it. The book, The Keeping...
Curated OER
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Lesson Plan 3
Ninth graders read the story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," and create a characterization chart to define the stock characters in the main story. They predict whether Walter Mitty will be a static character or a dynamic character....
Curated OER
Discovering Language Arts-Intermediate Fiction
Explore the elements of science fiction. Students investigate the literary elements present in science fiction and write their own science fiction stories.
Curated OER
"Spelldown" by Becky Mushko
Learners read Spelldown, by Becky Mushko and consider how it portrays the Appalachian community. They define and discuss vocabulary presented in the story and write a comparison/contrast paper analyzing two of the story's characters. The...
Curated OER
Wildwood Dancing: Anticipation Guide
Themes in Wildwood Dancing, Juliet Marillier's young adult fantasy novel, are the focus of an anticipation guide that asks individuals to agree or disagree with a series of statements.
Curated OER
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Nonsense Poetry and Whimsy
Primary learners are introduced to Lewis Carroll's whimsical poetry. They read "The Nursery Alice" Carroll's adaptation for younger readers, view story illustrations, listen to poetry and write whimsical verses of their own about food.
Curated OER
Writing a Tall Tale
Students study the various aspects of tall tales. They read various tall tales and discuss the characteristics and literature aspects of tall tales. Students write their own unique tall tales.
Curated OER
Standing Woman
Students explore a Japanese science fiction story that deals with the dangers of technology, failed attempts at utopia, mind control, and loss of loved ones through the reading of Yasutaka Tsutaka's "Standing Woman."
Curated OER
The Marvelous World of OZ
Students investigate the major themes in fantasy maps, expand basic map reading skills, write imaginative narrative essays based on the OZ map, and create their own fantasy map detail based on a core map.
Curated OER
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Students familiarize themselves with science fiction/fantasy literature. They create an awareness of the different types of literature, develop an appreciation for them and be able to tell them apart. Students realize that science...
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Drawing Into the Imagination
Sixth graders create a non linear story with multiple possibilities and endings. In this non linear story lesson plan, 6th graders research non linear stories, create their own, and illustrate it.
Curated OER
Flat Stanley Travels to U.S. Regions
Fourth Graders read the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. In the story a bulletin board flattens the main character. He is then sent in an envelope to a friend in California. During a fantasy genre language arts unit, groups of students...
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The Magic School bus Inside A Hurricane
Young scholars investigate the concept of a hurricane by using the cartoon series "The Magic Schoolbus" to simulate the fantasy of traveling through a hurricane. The lesson uses a KWL graphic organizer in order to guide student inquiry...
Curated OER
Lots of Lessons from Aesop
Aesop’s Fables offer young learners an opportunity to study figurative language. After reviewing theme, simile, alliteration, and metaphor, model for your pupils how to identify examples of these devices in the fable. Class members then...
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
In this story structure lesson, students read the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and identify the characters, setting and main themes of the book. They answer a list of study questions about the book.
Curated OER
Take a Leap!
Eighth graders discuss the flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. They study artwork of various sculptors showing the concept of flight. They write a paragraph and design a papier-mache' sculpture that shows movement.
Curated OER
Learning About Writers
Students explore how authors write stories. In this careers lesson, students invite an author into the classroom and ask him/her questions about writing as a career.
Curated OER
Adding Snap to Language Arts
Young scholars take photographs of themselves, animals, and objects and used these photos as springboards for writing stories, plays, photo captions, comic strips, ads for products, and greeting card messages.
EngageNY
Making a Claim: Moon Shadow’s Point of View of the Immediate Aftermath
Body paragraphs are the building blocks of every essay. Pupils view and discuss a model essay using a rubric to evaluate one of its supporting paragraphs. Next, scholars use what they've learned to continue drafting their own literary...
Curated OER
Drawing Into the Imagination
Sixth graders examine the work of artist Saul Steinberg by visiting online galleries of his work and looking at photo reproductions. After viewing and interpreting Steinberg's work, they write and illustrate fantasy stories which are...