Group items tagged

Short Story Unit: Ray Bradbury's sci-fi story about a robotic house after a nuclear war

"Meet the Author Introduce teens to the creators of their favorite books with our exclusive interviews with top young adult authors. Our interviews explore each author's life, writing process, and the back stories behind their most popular books. Meet the characters behind the characters!"

Figurative language is a tool that an author employs (or uses) to help the reader visualize (or see) what is happening in a story or poem. Some common types of figurative language are: simile, metaphor, alliteration, onomatopoeia, idiom, puns, and sensory language. Below are some ways to introduce these concepts to your class and some activities. There are also links to other sites for more help.

Lesson Plan for book Because of Winn Dixie, a high-interest text at the grade 4 reading level

Reading Level 4.0: Because of Winn Dixie tells the story of ten-year old Opal. She has just moved to Naomi, Florida with her preacher father. On an errand to the grocery store Opal finds a large, ugly, homeless dog. Opal is immediately attached to the dog whom she names Winn Dixie after the grocery store where she finds him. Together they make friends with Otis, an ex-convict who runs the local pet store; Miss Fanny, the librarian who has a desk full of "Litmus Lozenges" a type of candy which her great grandfather invented; and Gloria Dump, the lady the local children think of as a witch because of her jungle-like yard. This book will make you laugh as Opal and Winn Dixie make friends with these very likable characters in this small southern town.

Digital Story Telling

"Scholastic Scope® is a timely teen-oriented magazine that is packed with engaging Readers Theater plays, classic and contemporary literature, as well as nonfiction and the ever-popular, first-person true teen stories! "

Feature Article Unit

"Write a report for Newsround If you've got a story - send it to Newsround. Use the white box on this page, you only need to write about ten sentences, which is around 150 words. It's best to do it in this way: 1. Write it in a word-processing package first. 2. Save it. 3. Copy and paste it into this box. That way you're less likely to lose what you've written if there's a problem."

Feature Articles Unit: publishing student work

"Totally Like Whatever" Audio clip of Taylor Mali reciting his poem "Totally Like Whatever"

You will be writing about yourself, about something that happened to you. It doesn't have to be about something big. Often the most interesting stories are about little things-fishing one afternoon with your cousin, getting ready for your first dance, meeting your new stepfather for the first time, meeting your best friend, making a little mistake but learning a big lesson. Everyone has little moments that stick out in his or her mind. You will be writing about one of those moments and learning how to make your writing interesting.

Model for writing a short story: good for use on the Smart Board

"Flash Fiction: a complete story in one thousand or fewer words." One of the sites recommended by Stevi Quate for use in unit 3: Realistic Fiction

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson: Inspired by both William Carlos Williams and the main character in Sharon Creech's Love That Dog, the writer will create four original 16-word poems that capture interesting images. The writer will then choose a favorite 16-word poem and ask, "Why would so much depend upon that image to someone else?" The writer can then create a short story about an original character who might have written the 16-word poem.

Grade 7 Poetry Unit

"Teacher Ideas This page features all the lesson plans and classroom ideas I've collected. They're organized by topic, with general education and Dahl resources first, books next, and shortstories last"

Short Story unit

"Lights, Camera, Action: Interviewing a Book Character"

"Plot Structure Scenarios"