Included in this resource are a variety of activities to do while reading Willa Cather's My Antonia. The activities, which range from mapping out Nebraska to writing activities about pioneer living, are all designed with one...

Who was Vincent van Gogh? Most of the questions can be answered in two or three sentences; however, there is at least one essay prompt and one personal response question that require longer answers. Questions call for a good mix of...

If you are teaching Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, you can't afford to miss this source. An extensive list of ideas outlines numerous discussion topics, writing prompts, comprehension questions, oral presentations, and projects. Have class...

Introduce your young readers to fiction written by women authors. For each story, they explore the way these daughters discover and claim their own identities. Individually, class members use the literature to examine their role in their...

Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...

Show your class a colorful and eye-catching overview of Nathaniel Hawthorne's life. His somewhat dark and tragic works make more sense once the reader is enlightened as to his history and habits. This brief but intriguing presentation...

This worksheet that accompanies a reading of A Beautiful Mind includes over 20 questions that address theme, fact and opinion, supporting details, characterization, and quote comprehension.

As I Lay Dying is a beautiful book and a wonderful vehicle for understanding, interpreting, and comparing themes. The class reads and analyzes the novel, discusses possible interpretations, and characterizations. They compare the themes...

Drama is ever-present in our daily lives and eloquently depicted on stage. Middle schoolers practice writing scenes based on different prompts and frameworks, and then perform those creative scenes for their classmates. The...

Learners propose a theme for an upcoming program on the History Channel, select a historical theme for the investigation, resarch topics that support the theme, and write a proposal to the producers of a television program.

Discover some of the themes of Dr. Seuss's major books. They see that despite being written for young people, Dr. Seuss' books contain powerful messages and important themes.

Choosing a poet or a theme, eighth graders conduct research in the world of poetry. They conduct Internet research and select five poems that fit their poet or theme, and create a seven slide PowerPoint presentation on their selected...

How do different themes and motifs develop in Shakespeare's Macbeth? As your class begins reading Act Two, have them use the provided document to track themes such as ambition, conscience, and reality (among others). On the second page,...

The ninth in a fourteen-lesson series, this plan marks a sort of midpoint in a unit devoted to the study of short stories. Pupils learn about theme and work on their short story projects by adding to their blogs, checking in with 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,...

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...

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.