Young learners discover kamishibai, a popular Japanese storytelling art, and explore how these Japanese folktales illustrate the country's cultural themes and values through discussion and storyboarding. 

A video leads off this activity on fables, introducing the class to this important form of traditional storytelling. The group defines fable and hears an explanation of the origin of this type of folk tale. They summarize the story they...

Students learn about personification and how to use it to when writing about abstract nouns. Finally, students write poems using the nouns they have chosen and personifications they have developed. Teacher and student instructions are...

Explore the elements of a story using the well-known Cinderella story as source material. Learn about setting, character, sequence, exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution.

Learn how to infer the implicit theme in a work of fiction, distinguish theme from topic, and make complex inferences using textual evidence.

Discover how literary techniques like figurative language, imagery, and symbolism contribute to the overall meaning of a poem. Explore how a poet establishes and builds on a theme and the difference between tone and mood. Through a close...

Comparing and contrasting works and looking for underlying themes and messages are at the heart of this multicultural lesson plan. Provides links to several background resources, and suggestions for assessment.

Explore the difference between tone and mood in this animated video [2:28] from WNET through definitions and examples from poetry and prose. Discussion questions below help students to further apply their understanding before analyzing a...

Fifth graders will use non-fiction books to identify and explain how text features help them as individual readers.

This is a book of poetry written by a 6th grade class. They worked with their English teacher and their visual art teacher to create watercolors on which they superimposed their poems to create this book.