“What is the theme of this story?” Now there’s a question all pupils dread. Rather than encountering a sea of faces that look like they were painted by Edward Munch, face a classroom filled with smiles and confidence. Show your readers...

Explore the theme of release and death in Lois Lowry's The Giver with a K-W-H-L chart. After noting what they already know, kids come up with a list of questions about topics that they would like to know about, as well as how they...

Explore identity and community through an expository essay based on The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. This two-week unit on writing an essay provides a brief description of each day and all of the worksheets and...

As your class reads Act III of Macbeth, give them this two-page instructional activity. Focusing on themes and motifs, they record quotes from the act that represent each of the topics provided such as ambition or manhood. 

How do themes and motifs build and develop through Act Five of Macbeth? With this two-page worksheet, readers record quotations that represent themes like ambition, conscience, and manhood. In addition, they speak to symbols like blood,...

Sixth graders examine a writing desk. They each make decorative drawers to scale for assembly into a class desk. They use repetitive motifs in their designs.

Sixth graders examine and identify classic Greek and Roman motifs on spice containers. They analyze the process of casting and chiseling silver, and design and create a spice container using classic Greek and Roman design elements.

As students become more aware of text complexity, an understanding of the formal properties of literature becomes more important. This is an excellent examination of the kinds of choices writers make that change the way readers receive...