Natalie Babbitt's award winning fantasy, Tuck Everlasting, is the anchor text in a unit plan that focuses on identifying similes, metaphors, imagery, and personification in the text and analyzing how these elements effect the...

Record the plot elements of The Cay on this worksheet. Pupils note basic information about the book and answer questions about the introduction, point of view, character, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of...

Ask your class to lend their ears, and eyes, to a short video that defines and offers examples of synecdoche and metonymy. Whether it be brand names like Kleenex® and Band-aids® that have come to stand for all the products in a category,...

Clichés, paradoxes, and equivocations are detailed in a short, animated video that defines and illustrates these writing traps. The resource also includes a quiz and the transcript for the video. Users can register to access free course...

Isn’t it ironic that many situations labeled ironic aren’t? Properly labeled examples of verbal, dramatic, and situation irony are defined and illustrated in a short, animated video that uses passages from literary works as models. The...

Middle schoolers read a poem and complete a TPCASTT chart. They make a prediction about the title (T) , paraphrase each line (P), identify poetic devices and nuances (C-connotation), explore mood and tone (A-attitude), point out shifts...

Learners, in groups, read and analyze the short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor. They present their findings tot he rest of the class and then connect the various themes discussed to outside material, events...

Students compare aspects of children's books that teach diversity and respect. They examine universal values such as courage and bravery, respect and apathy. They create a final project based on their ability to recognize the values in...

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,...

Provide your class with this reading guide for chapter two of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. They grapple with new vocabulary words like swamper, cesspool, and mollified before checking out literary terms and answering a list of questions...

Students read a book, noting the characters, setting, plot, and events. They gather, synthesize, and then select the most important data from their book to prepare a book report by decorating a charm bracelet with pertinent information...

Young readers explore reading comprehension by creating a class presentation. In this storytelling instructional activity, puils read an assigned text in class and analyze the characters, settings and story. They create an illustrated...

How is a story like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Use making a sandwich as a metaphor to remind your writers that a good, solid beginning, a rich and rewarding middle, and an ending that brings everything together spices up a...

Incorporate this online interactive reading comprehension learning exercise into your curriculum. Learners respond to five multiple choice questions based on the themes found in All Quiet on the Western Front. They may...

A Venn diagram is a great tool. Middle schoolers research specific authors from different time periods, cultures, and genres. In groups, they create a Venn Diagram in order to compare and contrast two pieces of literature by the same...

Arm your writers with an arsenal of literary terms. With definitions of everything from plot structure and figurative language to point-of-view and types of irony, learners will gain an understanding of elements in stories and be able to...

Story elements such as conflict, character analysis, resolution, and moral are discussed and charted as elementary children read folktales involving animals. An element of science is also introduced as learners discover what a keystone...

Read Ira Sleeps Over, then identify elements of plays that are also common to books. Learners analyze character and setting, consider how these elements relate to a play, then write a one-paragraph skit using the characters from Ira...

Where the Red Fern Grows provides the text for a study of the literary elements of plot, character, and setting. Discussion questions and vocabulary lists are referenced but not included.

Secondary learners respond to 4 short-answer and essay questions based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. They may also complete their choice of 3 reading activities.

Offer your learners some extra review with an online interactive reading comprehension exercise. They may respond to 5 multiple-choice questions based on the themes of Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass....

Learners respond to 4 short-answer and essay questions based on themes in Alice’s Adventures Through the Looking Glass. They may also complete their choice of 3 suggested reading activities.

Study story elements with your young learners. Read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and discuss the order of events by making a story panel out of butcher paper. Sentences are given as suggestions for the panel, though you may...

Help readers recognize elements in a story. They will use pictures and text to gain meaning from written material. Have learners listen to the story A Plump and Perky Turkey and participate in a discussion. They recognize the...