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Lesson Plan
Read Write Think

Book Report Alternative: Rewind the Plot!

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Have you ever looked for a new way to teach an old concept? Scholars thinking about the rising action of a story in a whole new perspective. However, Book Report Alternative: Rewind the Plot! challenges readers and allows for much...
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Activity
Spreading Gratitude Rocks

Live and Learn and Pass It On

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
What are some of life's most tried-and-true lessons? Pupils listen to examples from the book Live and Learn and Pass It On by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. They write down their own life lessons to later compile in a class booklet. As a bonus...
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Lesson Plan
California Department of Education

How to Succeed in Life

For Teachers 8th Standards
Is it possible that six simple traits lead to a happy, successful life? Part four of a six-part series of college and career readiness lessons examines the effects of character in determining success. Working groups discuss...
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Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Water/Ways: The Poetry of Science

For Teachers 1st - 12th Standards
Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...
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Writing
Curated OER

30 Writing Prompts for National Poetry Month

For Students 6th - 10th Standards
A collection of writing prompts are so fun, you'll want to finish them yourself! Learners practice narrative prose and poetry skills with prompts that twist traditional structure, provide wild vocabulary, and encourage pupils to...
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Lesson Plan
2
2
Social Media Toolbox

Ethical Decision Making

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
When faced with a dilemma, how do journalists decide how much news to use? Social media scholars explore the philosophies of ethical resolution in the first of a 16-part Social Media Toolbox series. Partnered pupils use a Potter Box to...
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Unit Plan
American Press Institute

High Five: Media Literacy and Newspapers

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Teach the five different types of media with the first of three in a media literacy unit. Learners create and propose a final newspaper project, which must address information covered throughout the unit. 
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Unit Plan
American Press Institute

High Five: Go to Press

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
High school scholars learn valuable information about how to run a newspaper in the third and final installment of a media literacy series. The unit scaffolds learners to success with background information before they plan for...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Hillary Conquers Everest

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
If a field trip to the summit of Mount Everest isn't in your school budget, make the trek virtually! An interactive lesson allows class members to follow Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's trail up the mountain, and provides...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A picture's worth a thousand words—and even more inspiration! A visual activity uses photographs to inspire writers. The process teaches aspects of narrative writing, such as point of view and characterization.
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Unit Plan
ReadWriteThink

Scaffolding Methods for Research Paper Writing

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Rome wasn't built in a day, but researchers can be with proper scaffolding. This writing unit has scholars write a research paper through scaffolding of various parts of the process. Learners begin with identifying a topic and crafting a...
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Unit Plan
ReadWriteThink

Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
I Have A Dream ... that after the lesson, all individuals master the reading, writing, researching, listening, and speaking skills the biography project helps them develop. Martin Luther King, Jr. serves as a topic example for a model...
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Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Thomas Jefferson's Library: Making the Case for a National Library

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The United States Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. But such was not always the case. The library was destroyed during the War of 1812. In a persuasive letter to Samuel H. Smith, Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his...
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Lesson Plan
Candace Fleming

Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman’s Life

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
Candace Fleming's award winning Ben Franklin's Almanac is the anchor text for a classroom guide that provides teachers with a cache of pre, during, and post-reading activities.
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Writing
The New York Times

650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
An extensive list of narrative prompts is just what you need to inspire young writers to tell their stories. Arranged by topic, the questions are sure give them something to talk about.
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Activity
Therapist Aid

Gratitude Journal

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
If you asked a fifth grader what went wrong in their day, you may get a more thorough answer than if you asked what went well. Help young learners find moments of gratitude throughout the week with a journal template that focuses on...
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Handout
Nosapo

Writing about a Meal

For Students 4th - 12th Standards
You don't need to be a food critic to describe your meal accurately! A series of activities introduce learners to vivid adjectives when writing about the taste, smell, and feel of food. After working with word choice, parts of a...
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Handout
Nosapo

Creating a Bio Poem

For Students 4th - 12th Standards
Find out what's special about your pupils with a fun biopoem activity! As they fill out their name, words that describe them, what they love, and what they dream of, learners create an expressive poem about themselves.
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Printables
3
3
Bulgarian Creative Writing Competition

Creative Writing Prompts For Every Season and Month

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Winter, spring, summer, and fall! Every season is covered in a 14-page list of writing prompts. Included are story starters, reflection questions, poetry topics, and more.
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Identifying Types of Irony Using "The Gift of the Magi"

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" is the classic example of irony in literature. Teach young writers about the ways irony can engage their readers with an activity in which they write scripts using dramatic irony, situational irony, and...
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Lesson Plan
Bully Free Systems

Bully Free Lesson Plans—Eighth Grade

For Teachers 8th Standards
Middle schoolers are likely very familiar with the concept of bullying and cliques. Discuss their experiences and brainstorm ways to handle peer conflict and feelings of exclusion with a poem that focuses on bullying, and a second lesson...
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Interactive
ReadWriteThink

Diamante Poems

For Students 3rd - 12th Standards
The blank page can be a huge hurdle to overcome when writing a poem. Take that hurdle away with an interactive format that enables pupils to write elegant diamante poems. After they add the first and last words in two separate fields,...
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Writing
2
2
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Writing Prompts for Middle School

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Scratching your head when it comes to engaging writing prompts? Check out a list of prompts designed for middle school classes, which includes topics for persuasive writing, expository writing, how-to essays, personal narratives, and...
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Unit Plan
Cleveland Metro School District

Novel Lesson for The Giver

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Lois Lowry's The Giver is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking works of literature in the middle school curriculum. Round out your novel unit with a collection of reading activities, comprehension questions, memoir and journal...