Curated OER
Building Believable Characters
Students use descriptive strategies such as physical descriptions, background, and comparison of characters when writing narratives. They develop the topic with supporting details and precise diction to paint a visual image in the...
Curated OER
Character Impressions
Whether you are planning a unit on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, or simply want to improve your pupils' descriptive writing, this lesson could be a good addition to your class. Using the Six-Trait Writing process, pupils use...
Curated OER
A PLAY ON WORDS
After making predictions about Janell Cannon's story Verdi, middle schoolers read through the book and make a new list of descriptions, personality traits, etc. They select an animal and write a narrative story about the animal, paying...
Friends of Fort McHenry
Sensory “Star Spangled Banner”
Music can help us to access memories and events in a meaningful way, and Francis Scott Key used specific words to convey what he had seen and felt when writing what would become America's national anthem. Help your class connect to the...
Curated OER
Getway to More Descriptive Writing
Middle schoolers use more precise descriptive words in their writing.
Curated OER
Luscious Language Boxes
Young scholars experience a writing activity aimed at spicing up their writing. They use the classroom Luscious Language Box to add creative parts of speech to their writing.
Curated OER
Persuasion and Use of Language
Students discuss connotative language, hyperbole, allusion, and rhetorical question. In small groups, they read one section of the "Speech to the Virginia Convention" and analyze these devices. Groups present their results to the class.
Curated OER
Awesome Animals
Sixth graders write descriptive narratives about animals. In this descriptive writing lesson, the teacher models how to write a paragraph with interesting sensory words and exciting verbs. Students choose a picture of an animal they want...
Virginia Department of Education
Using Specific Vocabulary and Collaboration
Develop concepts on how to change your improving wordsmiths' writing from blah to wow with the activities and ideas in this resource. The instructor provides the class with examples of writing that lacks detail and precision, and then...
Curated OER
Choosing Words Carefully
Use literacy tools to select precise vocabulary. High schoolers respond to discussion questions that require them to consider the denotation and connotation of words. They then read non-fiction passages and identify words in the passages...
Curated OER
Description and Measurement
For this measurement worksheet, students write 4 questions that can be answered by making measurements. Students also use estimate the measurement for 4 given objects.
Curated OER
Show, Don't Tell: Details to Make Writing Come Alive
After each of three viewings of a 45-second video, aspiring writers employ vivid adjectives and precise, strong verbs to "show, don't tell." First they compose a single sentence, then three, and finally a five-sentence paragraph. Repeat...
Curated OER
Which Shoes Are Mine?
Fourth graders write down detailed descriptions of the shoes they are wearing that day. They participate in a relay descriping their shoes as they go.
Curated OER
Picture Me with Words
Students search in newspapers for words that describe them or what they like. They gather the words and use them to create a self-portrait. They read "boring" sentences and rewrite them using more descriptive words. They write 10 word...
Curated OER
Say What?
Students explore the literal and figurative meanings of twenty-nine phrases and sayings. This unit of nine lessons integrates written expression and convention to demonstrate the value of idioms to the language.
Curated OER
Mandela The Man
Ninth graders explore civil rights by reading several biographies. In this Nelson Mandela lesson plan, 9th graders discuss the trials and tribulations Nelson Mandela had to face in South Africa and how they were similar to the problems...
Curated OER
Descriptive Prompt
Young scholars create a detailed self portrait, and then write about their appearance.
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing
Students practice descriptive writing. In this unique writing lesson, students hear a story about a mitten. Then three grade levels come together to first, create a mitten on KidPix; second, describe the designed mitten; and third, try...
Curated OER
Dragonfly
The speed of a dragonfly brings math into the real world as your learners collaboratively see the value in calculating unit rates in direct proportion problems. This six-phase lesson plan encourages you, as the teacher, to only ask...
Curated OER
Personify This
Eighth graders study personification in published works of poetry, then create their own through the use of diamante or cinquain poetry. They read and discuss poetry by Shel Silverstein, William Jay Smith, and Elinor Wylie.
Curated OER
From Ordinary To Extraordinary Writing
High schoolers investigate the quality of writing while focusing on the use of sensory words to convey meaning and ideas. The power of similes and metaphors is emphasized while they create and edit works of writing. The skill of...
Curated OER
I See and I Think (It's A Wonderful World)
Students analyze song lyrics (by listening to the song) to pick-out descriptive vocabulary. They use this descriptive vocabulary to create a drawing of the images they "see" in the song. They compare their drawings to find similarities...
Curated OER
Thinking Syntactically: Using non-print text to faciliate generation of syntax and analysis of tone
Students write with a command of the stylistic aspects of composition. They respond to non-print text. Students demonstrate working knowledge of syntactical choices. They construct sentences using descriptive language. Students analyze...
Curated OER
Baby Talk
Learners read the story Toilet Tales and discuss the importance of using grown up words and not baby talk words. In this speaking lesson plan, students discuss how they are now in school and use appropriate language.