Students interview family members, and then create graphic family timelines based on important and memorable family events.
Creating Family Timelines: Graphing Family Memories and Significant Events
Grades
|
Graphing Plot and Character in a Novel
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this graphical mapping project, students assign a value to the events, characters, and themes in a novel and think about how the elements of the story are all interconnected.
Grades
|
Characters in Because of Winn-Dixie: Making Lists of Ten
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
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.
Grades
|
On a Musical Note: Exploring Reading Strategies by Creating a Soundtrack
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students create a soundtrack for a novel that they have read, as they engage in such traditional reading strategies as predicting, visualizing, and questioning.
Grades
|
Star-Crossed Lovers Online: Romeo and Juliet for a Digital Age
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Explore the modern significance of an older text, such as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, by asking students to create their own modern interpretation of specific events from the drama.
Grades
|
Copyright Infringement or Not? The Debate over Downloading Music
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Unit
This lesson takes advantage of students' interest in music and audio sharing. Students investigate multiple perspectives in the music downloading debate and develop a persuasive argument for a classroom debate.
Grades
|
You Know the Movie is ComingNow What?
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this lesson, students read a literary text with the eye of a director, selecting scenes from the text and putting a cinematic spin on them.
Grades
|
Once Upon a Time Rethought: Writing Fractured Fairy Tales
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students read and analyze fairy tales, identifying their common elements. They then write their own "fractured" fairy tales by changing one of the literary elements found in the original.
Grades
|
Opening the Door for Reading: Sharing Favorite Texts to Build Community
3 - 6
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this lesson, students build classroom community by exploring environmental print and a teacher-created display that focuses on a favorite book. They then create and share their own presentations.
Grades
|
Naming in a Digital World: Creating a Safe Persona on the Internet
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students explore naming conventions in digital and non-digital settings then choose and explain specific names and profiles to represent themselves online.
Grades
|
Literary Parodies: Exploring a Writer's Style through Imitation
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson asks students to analyze the features of a poet's work then create their own poems based on the original model.
Grades
|
Paying Attention to Technology: Reviewing a Technology
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students read and analyze technology reviews to establish the characteristics of the genre. They then compose their own reviews on a technology of their choice.
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
|
Focus on First Lines: Increasing Comprehension through Prediction Strategies
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Students examine opening sentences of texts they will read during a unit or course and make predictions. They return to their predictions throughout the course as they read the texts.
Grades
|
Analyzing Symbolism, Plot, and Theme in Death and the Miser
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students apply the analytical skills that they use when reading literature to an exploration of the underlying meaning and symbolism in Hieronymous Bosch's early Renaissance painting Death and the Miser.
Grades
|
Connotation, Character, and Color Imagery in The Great Gatsby
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students explore the connotations of the colors associated with the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
Grades
|
Discovering Traditional Sonnet Forms
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students read sonnets, charting the poems' characteristics and using their observations to deduce traditional sonnet forms. They then write original sonnets, using a poem they have analyzed as a model.
Grades
|
Argument, Persuasion, or Propaganda? Analyzing World War II Posters
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students analyze World War II posters, as a group and then independently, to explore how argument, persuasion and propaganda differ.
Grades
|
Ferocious Fighting Fish: An Ocean Unit Exploring Beginning Word Sounds
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Focus students' attention on alliteration in this ocean-themed unit. Students explore alliteration in framing texts then compose their own class book to explore figurative language in their own writing.
Grades
|
Completing the Circle: The Craft of Circular Plot Structure
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
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.