After retelling a familiar fable, students discover the differences in one of Morrison's retellings of a fable.
In 1931, Toni Morrison was born.
Grades
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Black Beauty author Anna Sewell was born in 1820.
3 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Through Sewell's novel, students explore the cruelty to animals and extend the discussion to current events, eventually presenting the information.
Grades
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Poet Robert Frost was born in 1874.
9 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Students celebrate Frost's birthday by exploring his innovation in the sonnet form by studying poems and presenting them to the class.
Grades
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Today is Native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko's birthday.
3 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Students revive elements of the oral tradition by writing about something funny that happened to them recently, sharing with classmates, and discussing the changes that occur during the retelling of the stories.
Grades
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Poet Robert Burns was born in 1759.
7 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Students read examples of traditional Scottish ballads and use this information to write and perform their own ballads.
Grades
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Jacob Grimm, one of the Brothers Grimm, was born today.
7 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Students compare different versions of the fairy tale Cinderella and then rewrite a lesser-known Grimm story and explain the changes they made.
Grades
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Author Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944.
9 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
After students read the novel The Color Purple, dialect is discussed and students write a short piece of fiction or poetry using the dialect of their peer group.
Grades
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Author Lois Duncan was born on this date in 1934.
3 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Mysteries are shared with students for them to solve and brainstorm the attributes of a good mystery. Small groups then compose short mysteries using the Mystery Cube.
Grades
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Author Joel Chandler Harris was born in 1848.
9 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Students study how regional dialect is written phonetically by reading a segment of Harris' story, as well as two others, and compare them using the Interactive Venn Diagram.
Grades
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Time Magazine launches its "Tom Swifty" contest today in 1963.
5 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Students have fun with language by creating a special kind of pun with its origin in a literary source.