Curated OER
Same Theme, Different Story Using Fox by Margaret Wild
Middle schoolers work with themes in this instructional activity, which is based on Fox by Margaret Wild. Because the book has multiple themes, it is a great way to transition into exploring literary analysis and writing stories. A Six...
Curated OER
A Hurricane Blowing In
Students write a scene. In this creative writing lesson, students read The Lightning Thief and discuss the sentence fluency and word choice in the writing. Students complete a writing assignment where they create an interesting scene...
Curated OER
The Scoop Through Desktop Publication
Drafting, revising, and editing is all apart of the publishing process. Using a series of documents as inspiration, young journalists compose a class Newspaper. They work independently and in groups to publish their own articles.
Curated OER
Spinning My Tale
Begin writing personal narratives in this writing instructional activity. Junior high writers start by writing a journal about their favorite holiday. They read a book at their skill level and use graphic organizers to record their ideas...
EngageNY
Presenting a Research-Based Claim: Effective Speaking Techniques
Take note. Scholars receive their claim drafts back to revise and write their claims and three pieces of evidence on notecards. They save the notecards to use when the verbally present their claims to the class. At the end, individuals...
Curated OER
So Much Depends Upon...Sixteen-Word Imagery Poems Inspired by Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
After reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (and possibly shedding a few tears), middle schoolers work on their own sixteen-word poems with a Six Trait writing activity. They focus on word choice in this activity to capture an...
Write At Home
250 Ways to Say "Went"
Getting tired of seeing went over and over again in student writing? Banish boring verbs with a list of 250 different substitutes for that mundane word went. Organized in alphabetical order, words such as bustled, inched, and tottered...
Teaching Tolerance
Journalism for Justice
Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...
Curated OER
Global Warming: Writing and Editing a Research Report
Bring environmental issues into your classroom! Practice writing and peer editing research reports on global warming and the greenhouse effect. Middle schoolers can work on their research skills, their writing skills, and how to...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 11: Setting
Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...
Valhalla Free Union School District
End of the Year Writing Portfolio Project
Ask class members to reflect on their year-long writing experience by creating a portfolio of their work. Here's a resource that details what should be included in such a portfolio, and provides a rubric that can be used to assess the...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 15: Theme
Build understanding of theme with an activity designed for The Cay and the Common Core. Small groups or pairs use graphic organizers to determine themes, find and record related details from the text, and formulate theme statements. In...
Curated OER
Coaching, Conferencing, and Correcting
Students, after revising their writing and identifying their strengths and weaknesses, edit their writing incorporating teacher feedback and examples from class exercises. In addition, they continue working on individual writing...
Curated OER
Cuentos
Students revise Spanish mystery stories. They sequence the events from a group's mystery story and suggest revisions for the setting. They revise their stories using the suggestions from classmates and describe characters in folktales....
Curated OER
Tense Revision
In this verb tenses online interactive activity, students read 24 sentences and fill in each blank in each sentence with the correct form of the verb in parentheses next to each blank.
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Writing an Analytical MiniEssay about Mythological Elements and Theme
Two is company. Scholars pair up to continue their mini essay writing from the previous lesson plan. They work on their introduction and conclusion paragraphs and then trade partners for peer feedback and a fresh set of eyes on their...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Identifying Points of View through Character Responses in R.J. Palacio's "Wonder"
Readers examine the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio to determine how characters respond differently to situations and events. Readers annotate and analyze the text and carry out group discussion using accountable talk. They work in small...
Curated OER
Run On Sentences
Sixth graders review three sample sentences in order to identify sentence structure, and to practice how to edit sentences appropriately. They work with a partner to define a run-on sentence and identify three ways to correct it. They...
Virginia Department of Education
Adding Specific Vocabulary
An exercise and activity tackle the struggles young writers have in expressing and adding details and specific vocabulary to their writing. The instructor guides the class with an example paragraph, where the learners discuss what the...
Curated OER
Sense Poetry
Access your young poets' senses and emotions with this activity, which guides them through the process of writing a "sense poem." After working on a sense poem as a class and modeling the procedure, individuals work on their own poems...
Curated OER
A Simple Task Made Complex: Types of Sentences
Looking for a lesson about differing sentence types? Use this lesson on compound and complex sentences in your grammar unit. After composing simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences individually and as part of a group,...
Curated OER
Varied Beginnings: Research Process / Narrative Writing Techniques
What's the best way to start a story? Learners write a memoir using effective openings. They research the process and work through a list of hooks to use in their writing. They use at least two hooks to begin their personal memoir. A...
Curated OER
Practice Makes It Better
Use the Internet to expand the audience for portfolio writings and motivate young writers to edit their work. Have your class members select a piece of writing from their portfolios to be polished and published on the World Wide Web....
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Using Maps to Inspire Personal Narratives
A solid description of one way to teach narrative writing, this resource outlines the writing process from concept to completion. Class members create concept maps of moments in their lives and follow the writing process to publish their...