Students analyze characterization by creating their own superheroes or super-villains,
complete with related gadgets and settings.
Fantastic Characters: Analyzing and Creating Superheroes and Villains
Grades
|
Language and Power in The Handmaid's Tale and the World
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students work in small groups to examine Margaret Atwood's use of and observations about language in The Handmaid's Tale. Through this activity, students discover and articulate overarching thematic trends in the book and then can extend their observations about official or political language to examples from their own world.
Grades
|
Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction through Paired Readings
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students read science fiction texts and then use nonfiction texts to extrapolate the scientific principles presented as they discuss the "what ifs" within the context of scientific principles.
Grades
|
The Comic Book Show and Tell
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students craft comic scripts using clear, descriptive, and detailed writing that shows (illustrates) and tells (directs). After peers create an artistic interpretation of the script, students revise their original scripts.
Grades
|
Digging Up Details on Worms: Using the Language of Science in an Inquiry Study
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson, in which students research worms in order to create a classroom habitat, incorporates reading and writing across content areas as well as math and science activities.
Grades
|
Focusing Reader Response Through Vocabulary Analysis
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students suggest and categorize words that they associate with a novel they have recently read, ranging from details about the plot to feelings about a character.
Grades
|
"Roused by the Change of Scene": Analyzing a Film Adaptation of Jane Eyre
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
As part of their study of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, students read selected sections of the novel closely and compare their representation in the text to representations in the 2007 Masterpiece adaptation of Jane Eyre. They use the concepts of time/pacing, character, and theme to focus their analysis and to plan an adaptation of a scene of their choice.
Grades
|
Charlotte is Wise, Patient, and Caring: Adjectives and Character Traits
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students find examples of adjectives in a shared reading. Then students "become" major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using powerful adjectives.
Grades
|
Action Is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students must "become" a character in a novel in order to describe themselves and other characters using powerful adjectives.
Grades
|
Become a Character: Adjectives, Character Traits, and Perspective
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using lists of accurate, powerful adjectives.
Grades
|
The Big Green Monster Teaches Phonics in Reading and Writing
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
A big green monster helps students build their reading fluency and word recognition skills through choral reading, literacy center activities, and writing stories.
Grades
|
Fact or Fiction: Learning About Worms Using Diary of a Worm
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students often believe that fiction writers make everything up, seldom realizing how research worms its way into entertaining writing. In this lesson, students read Diary of a Worm to find out how fact merges with fiction.
Grades
|
Going Digital: Using e-Book Readers to Enhance the Reading Experience
2 - 4
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students use various tools and features of digital readers to develop vocabulary, support comprehension, respond to text, improve fluency, and enhance the reading experience.
Grades
|
Shared Poetry Reading: Teaching Print Concepts, Rhyme, and Vocabulary
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
The rhyme and reason behind this lesson is that students will need to develop important reading skills to increase their reading fluency.
Grades
|
Rooting Out Meaning: Morpheme Match-Ups in the Primary Grades
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this lesson, students use morphemesEnglish words that have been formed by combining common word partsto explore word meanings.
Grades
|
Buzz! Whiz! Bang! Using Comic Books to Teach Onomatopoeia
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson is sure to sizzle, not fizzle, as students use comic strips to find onomatopoetic words, develop a vocabulary list from the words, and discuss why writers use onomatopoeia.
Grades
|
What's in a Mystery? Exploring and Identifying Mystery Elements
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students identify the characteristics of mystery writing, outline a mystery story using a graphic organizer, write and revise their own mystery story, edit each other's work, and share their mysteries.
Grades
|
Word Study with Henry and Mudge
K - 3
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Henry and Mudge is used in this lesson to build students' word recognition through rereading, high-frequency word banks, word studies, and writing.
Grades
|
Solving Word Meanings: Engaging Strategies for Vocabulary Development
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Vocabulary gumshoes use context clues and semantics to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Grades
|
Let's Read It Again: Comprehension Strategies for English-Language Learners
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Help Spanish-speaking English-language learners unlock the mysteries of their new language by using a bilingual book to recognize unfamiliar words and construct meaning from the text.