First graders discover predicting and clarifying skills while reading "The Old Woman and Her Pig." During the reading, they check their predictions while evaluating the characters, setting, problems, and solution. On the second day,...

Students explore the elements of film to analyze character, action, and the themes in the movie, "Quiz Show." The lesson encourages students to make personal connections and real life applications as they view the movie, critically.

Pupils explore problems and solutions in literature. In this literature lesson, students identify problems and solutions in short guided and independent reading samples. Pupils also discuss characterization techniques used to develop...

Students read a variety of short stories that focus on teenage protagonists. In groups, they answer comprehension questions and discuss the characters and setting for each story. Individually, they choose one writing assignment to...

Students explore writing science fiction books. In this creative writing lesson, students become familiar with science fiction and write their own science fiction story. Students use correct sentences and paragraph structure to write...

"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," from The Jungle Book, offers young readers a chance to examine how Rudyard Kipling uses setting and personification to bring to life the brave mongoose who battles cobras to protect his family. Class members...

Turn your 6th graders into detectives while growing their love of reading. Using critical thinking skills, they will be able to describe the five basic elements of detective fiction, read detective novels, make predictions, use the...

Stuck for a journal topic? Download CAHSEE’s 21 “Expository Journal Prompts” as a pdf handout for yourself or class. A great resource for your writing program, print it up and add it your curriculum library.

Third graders demonstrate locomotor movements and define non-locomotor movement. They discuss a story and perform a "name" movement.

Middle and high schoolers work in groups to research tales of King Arthur, using primary sources. They present the major themes and symbols from these stories, and discuss how they still relevant in today's world. Use this lesson to...

Explore the world through literature! With push pins to mark where each story came from, learners examine cultural differences, geographical location, and how those elements affect story content. This lesson could use deeper development,...

Students read and discuss the literary elements of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis. They explore the elements of dramatic performance and create a TV news program based on life in Narnia. They videotape their...

Students discuss elements of word problems: key words, data, computation clues, and unnecessary information and use the four steps of problem solving to find a solution and check for reasonableness.

Second graders listen to the story, Bruno the Baker, where some parts seem real and some seem fake. They must identify the parts of the story as realism or fantasy. An interesting way to teach young readers these two concepts.

There is nothing more frustrating than discussing theme in literature, and now the Common Core requires that your learners determine two or more, and discuss the development of it throughout the text. This is crazy, but manageable with...

What are the three types of irony? High schoolers engage in a lesson about the use of irony while reading O.Henry's short story "Gift of the Magi." They'll discuss rising action, climax, and resolution in the text before highlighting the...

C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength provides the model for using dreams in narrative writing. After a discussion of the purpose of dreams in Lewis’s tale, class members craft a story in which their dreams play an essential role.

First, next, and last, the elements of chronological order. In every story or text one can find a series of events that occur one after the other. To help learners with visual impairments conceptualize chronological order, this...

Students discover how setting, props, and character-action communicate information about the characters and the story. Access to videos and a video camera are important to make this lesson a success.

Learners investigate the various architectural styles of Arkansas. They read a handout, complete a worksheet, view images of architectural styles, and take photos and write descriptions of five style elements they observe in their...

Students research the new Foreign Language Academy and other free summer programs at colleges for teens. They write features stories about the opportunities and interview deans and university officials. Students also interview school...

Here's a fun way to incorporate technology into your curriculum. E-mail each of your class members a picture and 10 questions about the photo. Individuals then imagine the story behind the image and e-mail back their responses. Although...

Expose your class to a variety of excerpts of poetry with a reading practice activity. There are four excerpts from different poems included in this resource; there are three to five related questions for each poem. Learners read each...

Provide some group brainstorming and story-planning time with the fifth lesson in a series on examining and creating documentaries. After you've explained the purpose of each section of a documentary, groups meet to plan the beginning,...