Have students explore their own roots by interviewing family members. Students then use their family history as a basis for their writing.

• First, ask students to identify family members who could share a detailed and interesting family story. Then, have the class brainstorm a list of appropriate questions to "jumpstart" the interview. (Help students think about using both open-ended questions such as "What do you remember about...?" or more specific questions, such as "Where were your parents born?")
  
  
• Have students select and interview (by e-mail, regular mail, telephone, or in person) one or two people.
  
  
• Ask students to use their interviews as a basis for writing a fictional account of their roots, in the way Haley's Roots was based on his own family history.

Have your students select and explore a scientific topic in detail using Seymour Simon's nonfiction science books. Students then use what they learn to write original poetry on the topic.

• Begin by reading a selection of Simon's books with the class and then having each student select one. Students can also explore Simon's books independently before making their choices.
  
  
• After students have selected a book and read it, have them create a list of important ideas, details, facts, and vocabulary from the text.
  
  
• Ask students to conduct additional research into the main topic of the book they selected. Students can use the Internet, if available, or the library. Have students use their research to add to their lists.
  
  
• Finally, have students visit the Acrostic Poems tool. Have students create an original acrostic poem using the list of words and topics they created earlier. Alternately, students can use the Acrostic Poems mobile app.

Promote independent reading among your students by organizing a paperback book swap in your classroom. Alternatively, you may want to invite another class or all the classes at your grade level to participate.

• Send a letter home to families asking for donations of students' favorite paperback books, including novels and nonfiction titles, for students to trade.
• Explain to students that they will swap their books with one another. (You may want to have a selection of used books available for students who cannot donate a book.)
• Have students use the interactive Book Cover Creator to create an illustrated book jacket for their book that provides information about the book's author, subject, plot, characters, and other important details. Ask them to include a synopsis or review of the book to add to the jacket. See these tips for more uses of this interactive.
• After the jackets have been finished, display the books in your classroom and invite students to make their swaps.

Many of Natalie Babbitt's books address the concept of immortality, an issue that has intrigued humanity for centuries. From the ancient Egyptians' determination to reach the afterlife, to the more recent quests to locate the mythical "Fountain of Youth," history offers numerous examples of humankind's attempts to achieve immortality.

• Have students research these and additional beliefs from around the world, and then compare them to Babbitt's vision in Tuck Everlasting.

• Have students consider questions such as:

  • What are some similarities and differences among these different views?
  • Why do people find the prospect of eternal life so intriguing?
  • What would be the positive and negative aspects of immortality?
• After considering the issues, have students compose a short story, myth, or poem that addresses immortality.
• Finally, have students illustrate their works in a style similar to Babbitt's black-and-white line drawings.

Have your students examine the ways different authors treat the subject of war in their writing.

• Have your students read For Whom the Bell Tolls or A Farewell to Arms, as well as a war novel by another author. Some choices include Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, or Walter Dean Myers' Fallen Angels.
• Then ask individual or small groups of students to compare and contrast the way the two authors have depicted war in their novels, using the Interactive Venn Diagram. Students should examine ways the authors use figurative language, characterization, point of view, and other plot elements to tell the story.
• Finally, have students share their Venn diagrams as a whole group.

You may wish to use this activity as a term project and have students use their research to write comparative essays on the two chosen novels. Have them use the Compare & Contrast Map to plan their work.

Ida B. Wells' work as a journalist provided a public forum for her crusade against lynchings and other violations of basic human rights. Have your students explore some of the ways that journalism has contributed to the advancement of human and civil rights causes around the world by spreading information and affecting public sentiment.

• First, brainstorm a list of human rights issues from current events or from events you've studied in class.
• Have students break into groups and select topics from the list. Each group should research their issue in depth, uncovering the facts on both sides of the issue, the names of people and places involved, and related images.
• Using the current newspaper, examine the ways that journalists cover a story, including factual articles, editorials, and photojournalistic essays.
• Finally, have each group create articles for a classroom newspaper using the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.

Publish the newspaper for the school or local community, and plan a trip to a local news office for students to share their work with and get career information from the editors there.

Have your students share family stories of their own by writing original poems and reviewing parts of speech using the Diamante Poems tool.

• Begin by having students brainstorm important or special childhood memories or people. Examples might be a grandparent or other relative, a memorable trip, or a hardship they have overcome.
• You can also have students explore their memories with the Exploring and Sharing Family Stories lesson.
• Then have each student select the topic they will write about and access the Diamante Poems tool.
• Using the tool, students choose adjectives, nouns, and -ing words describing the topic they've selected to create a diamond-shaped poem.

Point of view is a common theme in Van Allsburg's writing. Invite your students to explore varying points of view by rewriting a traditional story.

• First, brainstorm with students a list of well-known stories or fairy tales, such as The Gingerbread Man, Cinderella, or The Three Little Pigs.
  
  
• Share some books that are written from an alternate point of view, such as Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.
  
  
• Next, invite students to select and rewrite a story. For example, they could write a Cinderella story from the stepsisters' point of view, or use the interactive Fractured Fairy Tales tool to rewrite one of three given fairy tales.
  
  
• Finally, have students illustrate and share their stories. Alternatively, students can share their stories as a puppet show or a reader's theater performance.

See the Fractured Fairy Tales page for more information about this tool along with additional activity ideas.

After your students have read one of Brian Jacques' Redwall stories, or another fantasy novel, create a class newspaper based on the story.

• First, have students complete a story map using this Story Map Handout or the interactive Story Mapping tool.
  
  
• As a whole class, brainstorm a list of the most interesting or significant story events and characters from the novel.
  
  
• Have students work in small groups to write a newspaper story based on a specific character or event from the story. They should describe the scene or character in the style of a news article and write a descriptive headline, such as "Redwall Inhabitants in Struggle of Good vs. Evil!" (You can review the elements of a newspaper article with your students using the Creating a Classroom Newspaper lesson.)
  
  
• After all the groups have finished writing their articles, have students use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press to create their newspaper.
  

Explore the element of plot using the work of Cynthia Rylant. First, select a title appropriate to the grade level of your class. Ask your school librarian for a list of Rylant's titles from which you or your students may choose.

Have students work as a class on one book, or in small groups or individually on selected titles. Students can then use the ReadWriteThink Plot Diagram to map the plot of the selected story. Finally, invite students to create original literary works using the plot diagrams.

• Younger students can adapt the story into a picture book by creating illustrations depicting the elements of plot.
  
  
• Older students can rewrite the story by changing a plot element, such as the climax or resolution.