Students examine story elements through teacher read-alouds and independent reading and then use reader-response journals and graphic organizers to prepare for the creation of their own scary stories.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Unit of Study
The list of ten things about Opal's absent mother that her father shares in "Because of Winn-Dixie" serves as inspiration for students to create their own lists describing literary characters.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students compare and analyze novels and the movies adapted from them. They design new DVD covers and a related insert for the movies, reflecting their response to the movie version.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study
Students compare attending a performance at The Globe Theater with attending a modern theater production or movie. They then create a commercial for an Elizabethan audience promoting a modern product.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students explore the theme of love of war through texts on camaraderie among soldiers. They then compose a visual collage depicting their beliefs about the relationship between love and war.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Unit of Study
Draft letters ask students to think critically about their writing on a specific assignment before submitting their work to a reader. This lesson explains and provides models for the strategy.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students track the elements of mystery stories through Directed Learning-Thinking Activities, story maps, and puzzles. Then they offer clues for other readers as they plan and write original mystery stories.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study
Students apply and build their knowledge of letters and letter sounds as they play games and interact with letters online, creating their own ABC book as a final activity.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper from a selected fictional character's perspective, focusing on a specific issue or situation explored in the novel.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Each small group of students researches one aspect of the same big topic, such as the Gold Rush, and teaches what they have learned to the rest of the class.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Unit of Study
Students explore book covers of a variety of books then create a new cover for a book they have read.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students get the big picture of the Middle East when they read and analyze Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel "Persepolis".
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students present monologues in the "voice" of someone involved in child labor in England, respond to questions, and then discuss contemporary child laborers and compare them to the past.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study
Students will have a blast as they use descriptive language to write about an explosive and dramatic moment in their lives.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students identify, explore and apply the elements of circle plot structures to their own stories by using graphic organizers, reading and writing stories, and using checklists to assess their work.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
This lesson uses clips from "The Matrix" and other dystopian movies to introduce students to the characteristics found in dystopian works, such as "Brave New World", "Fahrenheit 451", and "1984".
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students thoroughly explore identifying synonyms and adjectives before using them to add variety and interest to their own writing.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Students will have a roaring good time when they watch a scene from "The Lion King" as a way to compare standard and described programming media.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
This assignment will go viral with students as they think about the meanings of words and images in public service announcements from YouTube before creating a PSA of their own.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Unit of Study
Student pairs aim to be the first team to call out "bingo" in this lesson in which they use skimming and scanning to locate information about ancient Greece and Rome.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
