Middle grades teachers should create meaningful learning activities involving stimulating literature and interesting composition prompts. This article describes a unit in which eighth graders read short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Using multiple learning and teaching approaches, they expanded their vocabularies, responded artistically to "The…

This Action Research Project Report was conducted at one elementary school and two different high schools from August 20, 2007 to December 14, 2007. The purpose of this research was to decrease student off-task behavior in the classroom. There were four teacher researchers and 94 students at the beginning of the research, but during the action…

Provides lesson plans for a music lesson on operas, operettas, and musicals; a reading/language arts lesson on using newspapers; and social studies lessons on Chinese folk tales and African American history. Lists print and nonprint resources; and discusses instructional roles, activities, procedures, evaluation, and follow-up. (PEN)

Fairy tales are stories either created or strongly influenced by oral traditions. Their plots feature stark conflicts between good and evil, with magic and luck determining the usually happy endings. While each culture and geographic region of the world has its own body of folk tales and fairy tales, certain themes and motifs tend to be repeated…

This unit is designed as a planning guide for a literature-based approach to teaching reading, writing, vocabulary, and reasoning. It serves as a model to reinforce the important aspects of literacy through a literature-based approach in which children read authentic literature and engage in authentic tasks relative to that literature. The unit…

The achievements and fictional exploits of Davy (or David) Crockett have entered the American imagination--it is difficult to distinguish what he did and said from what has been attributed to him. And it is also difficult to discuss the influence of the frontier on the American temperament without reference to David Crockett. This lesson plan…

The Cinderella story resonates with its audience--500 versions of the tale have been told in Europe alone, and related stories are told in cultures all over the globe. In America too, the classic tale, re-envisioned in print and other media, continues to be popular. What changes does the Cinderella tale undergo when it is transported from one…

This report describes an intervention to improve American kindergarten children's understanding of Japanese culture. The intervention consisted of a curriculum unit presented in a kindergarten class of 14 American and 7 Japanese children in Brookline, Massachusetts. Before and after the intervention, the American children's knowledge of Japanese…

Something about the Cinderella story resonates with its audience. Related tales are told in cultures all over the globe--500 versions of the tale have been found in Europe alone. In America too, the classic tale, re-envisioned in print and other media, continues to be popular. What changes does the Cinderella story undergo when it is translated…

Provides lesson plans for library media activities for grades 3-4 reading/language arts, grades 3-5 art/social studies, grades 4-5 physical education/social studies, grades 4-6 science, grades 4-8 reading/language arts, and grades 6-7 social studies. Lists print and nonprint resources and discusses library media skills and subject area objectives,…

This companion volume to "Folktale Themes Volume 1: Pourquoi Tales," shows educators how to use folktales to provide meaningful, educational experiences for children. This book provides a complete package using folktales in the classroom--activity pages, teaching ideas, story themes, and an annotated bibliography of further reading for a…

Designed for a third-grade literature curriculum, this unit integrates language arts with visual arts, music, and social studies. In the unit, third graders use elements of exaggeration to create folktales, work with sixth graders to edit the tale, and create 3-dimensional representations of their main characters. The following lessons are part of…

This curriculum unit for middle school students explores the art of folklore and story telling. In the unit, students will explore the nature of various types of stories and tales and will identify the characteristics and motifs of subgenres such as tall tales, fairy tales, and fables. The following lessons are part of the unit: Folktales: A…

This report describes a family literacy program for adult students with mild learning challenges including mental retardation. The program's objective was to upgrade the reading skills of parents and introduce them to a wide variety of enjoyable children's literature. During each of 20 weekly sessions, a class of no more than 15 parents was…