A Directory of Lesson Plan Sites for Teaching Literature in the Library and Classroom

General Literature and Lesson Plan Sites

Read, Write, Think - Lesson plans for language arts from the International Reading Association and the National Council of of English.
Edsitement - Many lesson plans for literature.
Books for Children and Young Adults - Links to literature and reading promotion web sites. A part of the Resources for School Librarians web site.
Video Interviews with Top Children's Book Authors and Illustrators - Online video interviews. This site is by Reading Rockets.
Crayola Lesson Plans - If you wish to incorporate a craft activity into your reading or library research, this is a useful site.
Florida READS - Integrated library media reading guidelines for grades K - 12. This is useful if you are looking for reading skills to teach.
Get the Reel Scoop: Comparing Books and Movies - lesson plan for grades 3-5. Read the book, watch the movie and compare. Adult readers do this all the time. From ReadWriteThink.
E-Books and E-Readers, Tablets and Apps - If you wish to add e-books and apps to your literature program. This page is part of the Resources for School Librarians web site.

Book Reports

Choosing the Right Book - Strategies for beginning readers (grades K - 2). This lesson plan is from ReadWriteThink.
Creative Alternative to Book Reports - From Lexia
Five Alternatives of Book Reports That Students Will Love- This is for middle and high school students. From ReadWriteThink.
Fifty Alternatives to the Book Reports - Diana Mitchell.
Book Cover Creator - A site where students may create book covers for the books which they have read. There are also lesson plans and instructions for use.
Not Your Grandma's Book Report - 30 Ideas for book reports. By Kristen Stull.
Reading Forms - Book report forms including forms specifically for genre books.

Fables, Folktales, Fairy Tales

Exploring World Cultures through Folktales - For grades 3 - 5. This lesson plan is from Read, Write, Think.
Twice Upon A Time: A Multicultural Cinderella Unit - Cindrella stories from many nations. From Ask Asia.
Folktales and Ecology: Animals and Humans in Cooperation and Conflict - From Edsitement
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts - If you are looking for different versions of folktales, this is the place to go.
Thundering Tall Tales - Using Read-Aloud as a Springboard to Writing. This lesson uses a specific book, but it could be adapted to a book you have. From ReadWriteThink.

Genres

Genre Definitions - From the California Department of Education.
Genre Studies: A Collaborative Approach - For gds. 3 - 5. From ReadWriteThink.
Teaching Genre - Lesson plans for grades from K - 8 with a list of books for each. From ReadWorks.Org.
Joe Bright and the Seven Genre Dudes Activity Guide - Help with teaching genres from Upstart.
Elements of Science Fiction - a short (2 minutes) YouTube video.
Fantasy Books: There's a Whole Other World Out There An article on the fantasy genre and a few lesson plans by Karlene McGowen.
What's in a Mystery - Plans for teaching the elements of a mystery novel for grades 3 - 5 from Read Write Think.
Everyone Loves a Mystery - A lesson plans for grades 6 - 8 from Read Write Think.
Thrills! Chills! Using Scary Stories to Motivate Students to Read - for grades 6 - 8
Teaching the Horror Genre - This site has links to lesson plans. a horror handout, and horror discusssion questions. This site is by J. B. Benet.
Teaching Historical Fiction - with reading activities from the Enjoy Teaching web site.
Genre Studies - Teachers report ideas they have used for teaching genres.
YA Genres - Good for definitions.

Nonfiction

How to Read a Nonfiction Text - A good introduction to reading nonfiction from Reading Rockets.
Nonfiction Lesson Plans - From Pinterest.
Adventures in Nonfiction: A Guided Inquiry Journey - An introductory lesson for grades K - 2. From Read Write Think.
Exploring Elements of Biography and Autobiography - Grade level. From the Pennsylvania Standards Aligned System.
Literacy in the Sciences - This page has a great list of links to sites about science books and authors.
Nonfiction Booktalking Tips - by Kathleen Baxter.

Reading Challenges

A Year of Reading Challenges for Kids - You may create your challenges for your class.
A Reading Challenge for Picky Young Readers - Some good ideas for reading categories at this page by Julie Strobel Barricello
Reading Challenges/Resolutions for the New Year - by Joyce Valenza in School Library Journal, December, 2017.

Literature Circles, Book Talks, and Storytelling

Eleven Good Digital Storytelling Resources - by Free Technology for Teachers.
Story Arts - How to tell stories. There are also lesson plans.
Effective Storytelling - A manual for beginners by Barry McWilliams.
Story is King | How to be a Great Story Teller - An article by Judy Freeman in School Library Journal, July, 2016.

Poetry

Poetry Lesson Plans - From the Academy of American Poets.
April is National Poetry Month - Lesson plans that you can use in other months in addition to April. Read, Write, Think
The Poetry Foundation -This site will help you to find poems by subject, title, author, and a number of other criteria.
Acrostic Creator - Online tool and lesson plans to help students create acrostic poems.
Diamante Poems - An online tool for creating diamante poems, and lesson plans which may be used even if you do not want to go online.

Plans for Special Subjects

Six Free Children's ebooks on the Coronavirus - This list is from BookRiot.
At Home Resources for Kids and Families During the Coronavirus 2020 - Lots and lots of suggested resources from HarperCollins
Black History Month - Reading ideas and resouces from Reading Rockets.
Holiday Resources from September to June - a great list by media specialist Julie Grelier.

Elementary Level

Reading Rockets - a project to promote reading by early elementary age students. It is a collaboration between PBS and just about every other group concerned with early literacy.There are also a large number of articles - some with teaching activities.
Basic Guide to Using Puppets - From the Puppets in Libraries blog.

Secondary Level

AdLit - All about adolescent literacy. This site is for teachers and parents of students in grades 4 - 12. There are sections on classroom strategies, and videos so that you can see these strategies in action.
Discovering Literature - this is a fascinating site from the British Library. There are 5 modules covering English literature from the medieval period to the 20th century. In addition to essays on literature, it has pictures of original items in the British Library collection. Your students may see a page from Beowulf, and Virginia Woolf's hand written pages of Mrs. Dalloway.
TeenTober - Use the month of October to celebrate teen reading. From YALSA
Promoting Reading and Reading Diversely in High School Libraries - Reading challenges in the library. This article is from YALSA.
50 DIY Reading Challenges - This will help you or your students come up with Reading Challenges. From BookRiot.

Children's Books and Technology

Biblionasium - An online reading community for children, parents, and teachers. This is a social reading community for young readers. Teachers may submit booklists.
E-Books and E-Readers, Tablets and Apps - If you wish to add e-books and apps to your literature program. This page is part of the Resources for School Librarians web site.

Miscellaneous

Page by Page: Creating a Children's Book - This excellent site takes you step by step through the creation of the book Zoom Upstream, written by Tim Wynn-Jones and illustrated by Eric Beddows. The site visitor will learn how the author got his ideas, how the illustrator drew the pictures, and how the publishing company prepared the manuscript for publication. By the National Library of Canada.

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This site is maintained by Linda Bertland, retired school librarian, Philadelphia, PA. Please address any comments, additions, or corrections to info@sldirectory.com.