Curated OER
If I Could Have Lived in Another Time or Culture
Third graders develop multi-paragraph compositions. They include an introduction, first and second level support, and a conclusion. They use a variety of sentence structures (e.g., simple, compound/complex) and sentence types (i.e.,...
Curated OER
To Sum it all Up...
Students observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. They read and discuss the steps to summarize text, then in small groups read and summarize an article about frogs from "National Geographic" online. Independently they...
Smekens Education Solutions, Inc.
Introducing the 6 Traits to Students
Put together an English language arts unit on the six traits of writing with this helpful collection of resources. From fun songs to differentiated writing exercises reinforcing each of the traits, great ideas are provided for developing...
Curated OER
Changing Seasons
Explore expository writing and using precise language in this descriptive paragraph writing lesson. Learners brainstorm prior knowledge about the changing seasons in Ohio. They describe seasonal items, view seasonal pictures from...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Defense of the Electoral College
Each presidential election year, the debate about the electoral college rages. Michael C. Maibach's "A Defense of the Electoral College" offers young political scientists an opportunity to examine a reasoned argument for why the...
Curated OER
Journal Writing Idea - Pets
Carve out some time for your youngsters to write in their journal. Today, they write a story about pets. They learn the value of a journal and how to keep up with it, and they enhance story development by planning their story before...
Curated OER
Our Special Keepsake
Third graders observe the procedure for writing a single paragraph. They listen to a story and write a single paragraph response including a topic sentence, with supporting sentences.
Curated OER
What's the Main Idea?
Students summarize a piece of text. After reviewing the correct way to read and summarize, students work in groups to summarize a piece of text assigned by the instructor. They write a summary paragraph using the process outlined during...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nature Walk: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 2)
Walking in nature is the theme of a unit designed to support English language development lessons. Scholars look, write, speak, and move to explore topics such as camping, woodland animals, instruments, bodies of water, things found at a...
Curated OER
Rule of 3 Web
Students create a web with the writing topic in the center of the web. They extend three branches from the center of the web, write the main ideas that support and develop the topic. They draw three branches that extend from each main...
Curated OER
Maize to Maquiladoras: Movement from Mexico to Arizona
Fourth graders label maps of Arizona and Mexico to show the people, goods, and ideas that have moved between the two places. In this Arizona and Mexico lesson plan, 4th graders summarize the effects of the movement on Arizona life.
Curated OER
Plain Polly: Adding Relevant Details
Students use a stick figure to help them learn to write with details. In this details lesson, students brainstorm details to add to the stick figure 'Plain Polly.' Students then draw stick figures for their own writing and give them a...
Curated OER
Summarize and Celebrate Earth Day!
Students observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. As a class they read and discuss a poster of the rules for summarization, then silently a page from the book "Let's Celebrate Earth Day." Students then summarize the...
Curated OER
Cause And Effect
Fourth graders read the book Stellaluna and cite sentences that show cause and effect in the story. In this cause and effect lesson plan, 4th graders also write sentences that show cause and effect in their own lives.
Michigan Department of Education
Family Fundamentals for Summer Learning
Just because it's summertime, doesn't mean that learning has to stop. Support children with continuing to develop their reading fluency with this extensive collection of literacy activities.
Curated OER
The Rest Cure: Gender in Medicine and Literature
Read and discuss "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the gender issues that the story brings up. Use articles from the time period to analyze, complete with specific discussion questions. After two days, scholars write an essay based on topics...
Curated OER
The Great Paragraph Race
Students construct and analyze paragraphs. In groups, students place given sentences in order to form a paragraph. They determine the main idea of the paragraph. Students perform activities to determine the concept of topic sentence,...
William E.B. DuBois Elementary
Persuasive Writing Graphic Organizer
Take your pick of 16 graphic organizers, all designed for persuasive writing. Some provide space to prepare an entire essay or speech, while others provide space for brainstorming and organizing ideas before settling on concrete ideas...
Curated OER
Sensational Summarizers
Students study strategies that aid comprehension. They focus on the main ideas of a passage and eliminate unnecessary and repetitive information. They substitute super ordinate terms for a list of items and create a topic sentence.
Curated OER
Writing Author's Purpose
Write in all three authorial purposes (persuasive, informational, entertaining) with this instructional activity. Young writers consider a time when a friend of theirs helped them out and gave them advice on something. They write a short...
Curated OER
Gathering, Evaluating, And Organizing Information for a Report
Students gather and organize information for a research report on a topic of their choosing. Each students selects a subject for their research. Using traditional and electronic data they reference four or more appropriate resources...
Curated OER
Summarizing and Mapping for Comprehension
Young scholars practice summarization in order to increase their comprehension of non-fiction text. They read and summarize passages by finding the main ideas in passages from a Social Studies textbook. After silently reading the passage...
Curated OER
What Did I Just Read?
Learners summarize a chapter from the book, "Sarah Plain and Tall. After reviewing the the formation of a topic sentence, they independently read a chapter from the book. Students write a summary paragraph using the checklist outlined by...
Curated OER
Get the Skinny! Summarize a Story!
Students examine the steps of summarizing text. They silently read an article, then read and discuss the steps to summarizing a passage. Students then write a summary of the article they read, and as a class discuss the main idea,...