Twenty prompts, fifteen starters, and ten situations. What more could you ask for from a list of journal ideas?

There are so many things to celebrate in the month of April, like April Fool's Day, Earth Day, and spring! Use these fun prompts to get young writers writing during the month of April.

As your class reaches the end of the book Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, the seventh lesson in this literary unit helps third graders transition from reading narrative to expository writing. Scholars develop their note-taking skills...

Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...

To conclude their study of Out of the Dust, the 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel, individuals craft a narrative essay based on one of the themes in Karen Hesse's novel.

Make narrative writing festive with a St. Patrick's Day-themed writing prompt! Sscholars provide a detailed account of Sean the Leprechaun and an amazing event that happened to him on a joyful spring morning.   

Youngsters write and construct their own autobiographies based on The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis. They engage in pre-writing steps, narrative writing, and peer editing. This is the second part of a two-part project lesson.

At the beginning of the lesson, the class discusses the central idea of a poem. After that, the teacher reads a poem, embedded in the plan, to the class. In groups of two or three, learners create their own poem in response to the...

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day and encourage creativity with a writing prompt. Young scholars to compose a narrative that details what they would keep at the end of a rainbow.

Imagine you are a soldier in the Civil War. What are you wearing? What do you need to carry with you? Examine the life of a person during the Civil War, from drummer boys to powder monkeys to musket-toting soldiers. Elementary...

Once upon a time are four words most children are familiar with when reading a fairy tale. But do they know that fairy tales are a great way to learn the literary elements of reading and writing? Use a thorough fairy tale unit...

Present the class with a slide show that will give them a great head start in writing expository and narrative texts. The information is highlighted for easy note taking, well organized, and presented in a kid-friendly manner. It...

Help young readers find, identify, and use their voices with a set of empowering activities based on Peter H. Reynolds' trilogy of books. Sky Color, Ish, and The Dot focus on recognizing moods and treating each other...

Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.

Students engage in creative writing and performance using Flat Stanley. After reading Flat Stanley your class summarize their understanding and then create a flat image of themselves. Students then brainstorm ideas of how they would...

Create a buzz in your class with this collection of learning activities for the book Hi! Fly Guy. Including a list of comprehension questions, a sequence of events activity, a summary writing assignment, and a vocabulary list, this...

Scholars examine the first Thanksgiving through books and interviews while they complete a KWL chart. Pretending they are part of the feast, learners craft a scrapbook page that features images related to their experience. Pupils reflect...

You can't read Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without craving the rich treats described in Dahl's vivid prose. Young writers try their hands at sensory language with a lesson plan that prompts them to write about...

Third graders identify story elements. In this story elements lesson, 3rd graders look at main idea, characters, point of view, theme and setting. They create a five paneled comic strip from a book.

What does is take to be a role model? Through grand conversation, and the use of books and a graphic organizer, scholars find out and apply the requirements to identify a role model within their family. They then journey through the...

Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...

Students become familiar with oceanography terms by writing an oceanography horror story.