This detailed overview of a curriculum unit suggests using travel literature to engage and stimulate your third graders’ interest in reading. The suggested reading list includes fiction and non-fiction materials and offers urban children...

Begin reading The Crucible and form a foundation for your study with this presentation. Arthur Miller and the historical background of McCarthyism are covered at the beginning, followed by short descriptions of all the characters in...

Students observe how color creates the mood of a place, and generate sketches and drawings that capture their observations.

Students identify the elements of a story. In this reading and writing lesson plan, pupils read the book, Tyrone the Horrible by Hans Wihelm and then identify the characters, setting, and plot of the story.This lesson plan includes...

Your class will create a four section flip book and write titles for characters, setting, problem, and solution. They will also draw a picture to show what they wrote about.

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...

After reading each chunk of two chapters of Carl Hiaasen's novel Hoot, ask learners to respond to related study questions. The instructions at the top of the questions suggest that individuals should read the questions first, read the...

Students collect temperatures using a probe and examine data.  In this temperature lesson students complete an activity using a graphing calculator. 

Individuals examine a book's components, including key events, characters, and vocabulary and develop "chain book reports" with their peers. Strips of paper containing the book's important events are staples together and hung.

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...

Middle schoolers gather leaves and trace them on graph paper. They plot coordinates that approximate the shape of the leaves and share those coordinates as "worksheets" for other students to complete.

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...

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...

Who would you like to see at your luncheon table? After selecting a character from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, young writers re-imagine The Great Gatsby and how it would be different if told from their character’s point of view....

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...

Before a writer can create a well-composed piece, he/she needs to know the ropes. Review parts of speech, plot, and elements of poetry with this set of questions presented as a PowerPoint. The text, being white, is kind of difficult 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...

Young readers discuss how they would deal with problems faced by the main character in Maniac Magee. They write down their own problems and exchange them with others to analyze and provide possible solutions. They establish a "Dear Abby"...

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...

Comparing the more modern film Ten Things I Hate About You to The Taming of the Shrew leads to an understanding of how Shakespearean plots can be applied to modern-day situations and characters. As a culminating activity, groups select a...

See how carefully your pupils are doing their assigned reading. This challenging 15-question quiz on Charles Dickens' classic novel A Tale of Two Cities, tests the reader's ability to recall important information about the plot and...

Students examine the importance of the environment including the setting, lights, sound, costumes, and props for a play or story. They visualize the appropriate environments and practice applying the techniques.