Students explore picture books to identify the characteristics of four types of conflict. They then write about a conflict they have experienced and compare it to a conflict from literature.
Using excerpts from the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, comics, and songs from different musical genres, students examine the characteristics of transcendentalism.
This lesson explores how The Giver addresses issues of personal identity, memory, and the value of reading and education. It also examines how this newer read relates to other famous classics in this genre and books that students may have read on their own.
Pairs of students respond to literature alternately in shared journals. Mini-lessons are presented on responding to prompts, creating dialogue, adding drawings, and asking and answering questions.
Students use art and poetry to explore and understand major characteristics of the Romantic period.
Students make sense of dollars and cents when they study the importance of saving and budgeting in this lesson.
This lesson utilizes the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation (UIT) tale, “The Eye Juggler Coyote” to enhance comprehension skills, provide an introduction to how force affects motion and give information about the UIT. The students will read the tale and then use the story to learn about gravity and balanced forces. The connection of the Ute people to the bison will also be explored. The Ute people tell stories about Coyote and other animals to their children. Based on Coyote’s mistakes, the elders teach children about proper behavior and positive attitudes. The lessons learned help them avoid making the same mistakes Coyote made and suffering the consequences in their own lives.
One of the most famous political speeches on freedom in the twentieth century was delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union message to Congress. This lesson examines the rhetorical use of "freedom" with the objective of encouraging students to glimpse the broad range of hopes and aspirations that are expressed in the call of and for freedom.
As some of the foundational texts for beginning readers, fairy tales are a staple of many classrooms. This lesson allows students to engage with fairy tales from different regions around the world and compare important cultural elements of these stories.
Fairy Tales offer a common theme for early learners. Students are able to follow along with the story and characters and what is happening. Help students identify the main parts of a story (characters, setting, theme, problem, events, solution) in stories that they read. Then have students create their own fairy tale story.Materials: Fairy Tale TemplateBook(s): The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka, The Paperbag Princess by Robert N. Munsch, Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'MalleyLesson Plan:1. After reading familiar fairy tales and storie with students, have them identify characters, setting, theme, problem, events, and solution. 2. Share some "other" fairy tale stories from the books suggested above. 3. Let students brainstorm and come up with ideas they would like to use for their own fairy tale stories. Have them use the Fairy Tale Template to help them organize their storyies and share ideas with others.4. You can have students write with partners or on their own to create their stories. Allow them time to make an illustration as well. Display their stories and allow for time to share their stories outloud with others.
Research project and presentation based on the novel The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom.
This lesson is designed to help middle school students understand the Fantasy Genre in literature. What makes fantasy different than realistic fiction or historical fiction. They will learn the elements of fantasy and then act out a short 5 minute fantasy using those elements.
Caring for the Earth is an important part of responsible decision-making and global citizenship. Our Father Sky and Mother Earth provide for our most basic needs. We need to protect and care for our environment. Through this lesson, students will strengthen thier social and emotional learning skills by reading a Navajo legend - "Father Sky and Mother Earth." Student will explore how they can be good stewards of the Earth and Sky in protecting our natural resources.
William Faulkner's self-proclaimed masterpiece, As I Lay Dying, originally published in 1930, is a fascinating exploration of the many voices found in a Southern family and community. The following curriculum unit examines the novel's use of multiple voices in its narrative.
This is a short video describing what some of the aspects of the Fantasy Genre. It is engaging for upper elementary and lower middle school aged students. It touches on magic, other worlds, magic creatures, quest, good vs evil.
This lesson is for preschool children to showcase their fine motor projects. Students will take photos using the classroom iPad and a college will be made to hang in the fine motor area to showcase student work and to be an inspiration board for other students.This project will be connected to our letter of the day.
Known as both a Southern and a Catholic writer, Flannery O'Connor wrote stories that explore the complexities of these two identities. In this lesson, students will challengethese dichotomieswhile closely reading and analyzing "A Good Man is Hard to Find."
This lesson was created to help elementary-aged students better understand the world around them through the use of Flat Stanley.
Learn how writer Zora Neale Hurston incorporated and transformed black folklife in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. By exploring Hurston's own life history and collection methods, listening to her WPA recordings of folksongs and folktales, and comparing transcribed folk narrative texts with the plot and themes of the novel, students will learn about the crucial role of oral folklore in Hurston's written work.
In 1845, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, and Written by Himself was published. In it, Douglass criticizes directly often with withering irony those who defend slavery and those who prefer a romanticized version of it.