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Arizona ELA Standard: 5.W.3.b

Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue and description, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.

Characters’ Faults Can Also Be Strengths

Characters’ Faults Can Also Be Strengths

Strength and weakness are often two sides of the same coin. Students will explore how a character’s flaw can be a benefit.

St. Patrick and Other Legends

St. Patrick and Other Legends

How would real people feel about the legends that have been created about them?

Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms

Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms

What item’s in a character’s bedroom would reflect their deepest desires? And what if they toured a similar character’s room?

Change A Story’s Genre

Change A Story’s Genre

What if we rewrote a story’s climax into a totally different genre?

Emoji Stories 🏟️

Emoji Stories 🏟️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🤖

Emoji Stories 🤖

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🛥️

Emoji Stories 🛥️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

A Character’s Playlist

A Character’s Playlist

What playlist of songs best goes with a character’s change over time?

Writing About Art: Twilight in the Wilderness

Writing About Art: Twilight in the Wilderness

Look closely at Twilight in the Wilderness. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.

Writing About Art: The Scream

Writing About Art: The Scream

Your students will turn the iconic painting The Scream into a vivid, sensory poem.

Writing Sample: A Christmas Carol (Cold)

Writing Sample: A Christmas Carol (Cold)

A passage from White Fang to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Story Starter: Amusement Park

Story Starter: Amusement Park

Students use 12 random phrases to write a story that takes place in at an amusement park.

Story Starter: Somewhere In Space

Story Starter: Somewhere In Space

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in space!

Writing Sample: The Velveteen Rabbit (The Toys)

Writing Sample: The Velveteen Rabbit (The Toys)

A passage from The Velveteen Rabbit to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Writing Sample: Peter Pan

Writing Sample: Peter Pan

A passage from “Peter Pan” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Writing Sample: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Writing Sample: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

A passage from “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Writing Sample: Anne of Green Gables

Writing Sample: Anne of Green Gables

An intriguing passage from Anne of Green Gables to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Do Narrators Have Too Much Power?

Do Narrators Have Too Much Power?

Imagine being a character in a story. Are you worried that your story’s narrator may inaccurately describe you? What if they reveal something you wanted to be kept secret? Do narrators have too much power!?

The Personalities of Rocks

The Personalities of Rocks

What would an igneous rock be like? Would it get along with a sedimentary rock? Could they handle the hot personality of a metamorphic rock?

Showing A Character’s Trait

Showing A Character’s Trait

We tell students to ‘show, not tell’ — but that advice is useless until they experience the difference. This lesson makes it click.

Historic Social Media

Historic Social Media

How would people from history have interacted online? Students will develop a conversation online between people involved in the same event from history.

Better Stories Part 2: Types of Conflict

Better Stories Part 2: Types of Conflict

If your students’ stories are packed with endless ninja fights or arguments between frenemies, it’s time to expose them to a wider range of conflicts.

Better Stories Part 4: Character Archetypes

Better Stories Part 4: Character Archetypes

Are students’ characters a bit flat? Archetypes give them a strong foundation on which to build their own characters as well as a tool to analyze existing stories.