Seventh graders explore the various elements found in the advertisement of a dramatic experience. Playbills are created that reflect the plot without revealing the climax of the play. Costumes, set construction, and character description...

A creative spin occurs when one pupil acts as author Ann M. Martin. Using a Q & A at the back of her book A Dog's Life, other classmates ask the "author" questions. They discuss the reasons why they know the book is from a...

Prompt your class to interact with Jack London's Call of the Wild. By analyzing the events in the novel, middle schoolers discover how human experiences create who a person becomes. They critique and analyze the reading, focusing on...

Now these are learning activities full of fun, art, and cultural exploration. Kids consider the art of storytelling through comic book images. They then look at the Tale of Genji as it was written in the 11th century. They discuss...

High schoolers analyze environmental science data using Math. They do research about renewable energy, gather data, create graphs and interpret their findings. Then the group presents their arguments persuasively using their findings to...

Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...

Students discuss their favorite book. In this book discussion lesson, students name the title and tell what makes the book special. Students also review the setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Students make a book that tells all of...

Explore language arts by reading two similar stories in order to compare and contrast them in class. Young readers read two Aunt Isabel books, by Kate Duke, and discuss the main characters, plot, and setting. They complete a graphic...

Through a series of activities, learners are exposed to how artists use symbolic imagery to create the narrative of a subject’s life. They study The Birth of Alexander and some manuscripts kept at J. Paul Getty Museum. They then draft...

Young writers generate descriptive words. They use pictures of various landscapes (from books, magazines, or the Internet) and complete a story pyramid. The pyramid (included here) asks to describe the main character, the setting, and...

The best way to be a good writer is to read good writing. Learners read and discuss an excerpt from a book that will help them comprehend the relationship between setting and character. They will use what they've gleaned from discussion...

Students create charts for story elements. They read two selections that share a common theme and discuss the story elements. They create a chart for the characters, plot, and setting and complete it while reading the selections.

Students create a scatter plot for bivariate data and find the trend  line to describe the correlation for the sports teams. In this scatter plot lesson plan, students analyze data, make predictions,and use observations about sports...

Learners review the terms plot, setting, and characters and examine how all of these elements are needed to make a story. They are given parts of stories and they try to identify all of those parts of the story.

Explore the fascinating ways in which authors use specific literary devices to create interesting and realistic texts. Using non-fiction articles with the subject of rogue waves, an excerpt from The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger,...

Students select a short story and apply various literary elements they have used throughout the year. They deconstruct a short story according to plot, setting, characterization, and theme. Students create a PowerPoint.

Upper grade and middle schoolers explore mathematics by participating in a measuring activity. They hypothesize on what the average height of a male or female 6th grader is and identify ways to find the average mathematically. Learners...

Fourth graders review a fictional book in which they give an overview of the characters and storyline. Microsoft Word is used to type a final draft of their review and to create a cover page with a picture.

Decipher the danger of natural disasters. Using researched data, scholars work in groups to create data displays on the number of deaths from different types of natural disasters. They share their graphical representations with the class...

Examine the lives of four women—Blanche Stuart Scott, Madeleine L'Engle, Margaret Evans Price, and Sybil Ludington—in a 23-page activity packet. Each profile comes with a set of vocabulary and reading comprehension questions. Further...

Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...

Fifth graders recall the major plot points of a chapter book. After reading the chapter book "Stone Fox," they students describe the plot framework through use of a worksheet. Students are then divided into group to act out selected...

Students explore seven basic story lines and apply these story lines to news articles in the New York Times. They write reports comparing the plot of a news article to novels, plays and movies with which they are familiar.

Students summarize a story, identify the plot structure, and create a symbol that represents the essence of the story.