Here is everything you need to teach fourth graders to write informative/explanatory articles in one unit plan. This carefully crafted resource packet includes lessons, exercises, and activities based on the writing process, that enable...

You'll feel more than prepared for the start of the school year with this collection of daily activities for the month of August! From filling in numbers on a calendar or coloring patterns to solving addition and reading comprehension...

Never again will you need to worry about coming up with a writing prompt! This packet contains, as it says, 501 prompts that are suitable for fourth graders on up. The prompts are paired into four categories (persuasive, expository,...

Having read and discussed Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, third graders demonstrate their bullfrog expertise by writing informational paragraphs. Building on the note-taking and paragraph planning from the previous lesson plan, learners...

Young writers use the Iroquois Constitution as a model to help them organize their own class constitution in the seventh lesson of this unit. Using this historic text helps students better understand the structure of this type of...

In a two-part instructional activity, fourth graders are first assessed on their ability to produce an explanatory paragraph and then participate in a gallery walk, presenting their final constitution paragraphs to their peers. To...

Working with the organized class constitution created in the previous instructional activity, fourth graders learn how certain words and phrases can be used to improve the flow of a piece of writing. By reading aloud their writing,...

Lesson ten in this unit for the book Bullfrogs at Magnolia Circle, prepares third graders to begin writing an informational paragraph about the adaptations of bullfrogs. First, young writers work either independently or in pairs to...

Lesson 7 focuses on building academic vocabulary and writing an explanatory letter with supported textual evidence. For the first five minutes of the lesson, the educator reminds the class of how to read and refer to the accordion...

What is life like for an Iroquois boy living in modern times? The book, Eagle Song, is the vehicle for learners to explore the development of the main character, Danny Bigtree. This is the final assessment for a larger unit in which...

Fourth graders who are studying life in colonial America engage in a instructional activity which has them create a "Help Wanted" ad that would have been written by a master craftsperson from back in the day. They utilize a graphic...

Writing a paragraph from details found directly in a text is the central focus of this thorough and explicit lesson plan. Using the stories Nasreen's Secret School and Rain School, third graders are lead step-by-step through the basics...

Katherine Paterson’s young adult novel Lyddie is the foundation of a differentiated instruction unit that not only explores the rise of industrialization and labor but women’s rights issues as well. After learners read the novel, they...

Art acts as inspiration for a conversation about human impact on the environment and creative writing. The class examines three pieces, looking for evidence of human impact on the landscape. They then write a first-person narrative, from...

Following a reading of Frogs by Gail Gibbons, young scientists write about one fact they learned from the reading to include in a class book about frog facts. Class members illustrate their sentences and add a title page and a table of...

What a pair! Older pupils interview younger ones and use what they learn to write a short, illustrated storybook that features the youngster as the main character. The youngster responds with a thank-you note in which they identify their...

How can you foster a thoughtful learning community for your class? First, the class brainstorms a list of behaviors that will help make the classroom a great place to learn. Then learners group similar ideas together and come up with...

What a great lesson plan, upper graders are sure to love. They explore costume design and the relationships between theatre, culture, and history. They research three time periods, write a response about two of them, then create a...

Investigate popular scientific claims and gather evidence to defend or argue against an author's stance. Writers synthesize information and compose their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in the weekly "Science Times"...

Gather some information, print it onto sentence strips, and then have your class physically shuffle the cards to better understand the importance of organizational patterns in writing. Middle school learners examine information for a...

Discover Oklahoma's first farmers. Read about 14 different agriculture workers and their contribution to Oklahoma's farming. After reading, have your class complete several activities such as researching an agriculturist, writing a...

Use this cross-curricular history lesson to work on your students' informational writing skills. After listening to songs and stories related to Sultana, they engage in a several activities to boost their understanding of slavery and...

Celebrate inventions such as lightning rods, bifocals, and stoves with a Ben Franklin Day. Young historians conduct research and write a paragraph about an accomplishment of Benjamin Franklin including an illustration or collage that...