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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reliving History through Slave Narratives

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
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Activity
Curated OER

Lesson Plan 18: Art Project! Design Your Own Book Cover

For Teachers 3rd - 9th
Finished your novel? What’s next? Designing the book cover, of course. But how to begin? After examining the covers of published books and noting the common elements of these jackets, young novelists design a front and back cover for...
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PPT
Tech Coach Corner

Narrative Writing

For Teachers 4th - 7th
A comprehensive presentation on narrative writing, this should be shown to a class before the writing process begins. There are not activities listed, so pupils can take notes on the elements of narrative writing and figurative language....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Every Dog Has Its Day

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the use of imagery in writing. In this writing lesson, students create a writing piece that features sensory images without resorting to the use of clichés.
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PPT
Curated OER

Imagery: Show, Don't Tell

For Teachers 7th - 12th
A vampire, the beach, a bedroom, the school cafeteria. Writers are encouraged to add sensory details (sight, touch, taste, smell, sound) to bring these things to life.
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PPT
Curated OER

Show, Don't Tell: The First Rule of Writing

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Model for young writers how to create pictures in the minds of readers with a series of slides that demonstrate how sensory appeals enliven writing. The presentation includes opportunities for viewers to practice showing writing.
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Unit Plan
Penguin Books

The Curriculum Guide for The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer

For Teachers 5th - 10th Standards
The death of a parent can turn a child's world upside down. A curriculum guide for The Secret Hum of a Daisy explores defining moments in the main character's life, including the loss of her mother. Chapter-by-chapter discussion...
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Unit Plan
Thoughtful Education Press

Personal Narratives: Learning from Lessons Life Teaches Us

For Teachers 7th Standards
"First Appearance," Mark Twain's tale about overcoming stage fright, serves as a model of a personal narrative and gets young writers thinking about milestones in their own lives. After examining student models and considering the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sense Poetry

For Teachers 5th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Words that Surround Us

For Teachers 2nd - 11th
Students investigate writing that we read daily by analyzing advertisements and articles.  In this language arts lesson plan, students discuss the images and writing they see daily, where it comes from, and what it represents.  Students...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Use The Polar Express to Develop Rich and Detailed Writing

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Bring The Polar Express into your middle school classroom to spark the creativity of your emerging writers.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Do Authors Use Imagery to Shape Their Writing?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Esther Forbes' award-winning Revolutionary War novel, Johnny Tremain and excerpts from Julie Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine are used to model how imagery brings alive the setting of a story. The young writers then craft their own...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Composition in Journals

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Carlos Fuentes’s The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait and Jaspre Bark’s Journal of Inventions: Leondardo da Vince serve as models for an assignment that asks class members to create a personal journal they will use...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A New Point of View

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Analyze point of view and how it affects a literary work with this lesson. Middle schoolers create a written piece that focuses on point of view. They review the literary term "point of view," and explore examples of the term in text....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

We Write to Read

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students are introduced to cursive handwriting as a symbolic language system. In this cursive handwriting lesson, students apply the Peterson sequence approach and practice gross motor patterning and action word rhythm. Students then...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Descriptive Writing: Using Art to Inspire description

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Write with the senses! Try using art to inspire writers to consider all of the senses. Here, the class is divided in half. Each group looks at one of two images, imagines the senses that would be engaged, and records answers to five...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oliver Twist Goes to Hollywood

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
How does Oliver Twist, the novel written by Charles Dickens, compare with its screenplay adaptation? Although the activity doesn't require learners to have read the novel, the similarities and differences of the highlighted passages...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Memoir Writing Based on Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Using chapter 1 of Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed, middle schoolers write a personal memoir based on Spinelli's style and a Six Trait writing activity. The lesson suggests several ways to activate prior knowledge, including a picture book and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Visual Aural Impressions

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students view a piece of impressionist art, listen to a piece of jazz music and then write a piece about the picture in the style of beat poets. They compare their writing and look for differences in their perceptions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Personal Narrative - Part 3

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Let's peer edit! Have your writers exchange their personal narratives with another learner! While peer editing, they will look for any missing information and identify strong details. They can practice literary analysis skills using a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Enhancing Poetry with American Memories

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students explore poetry using American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project. They compose their own unque "found poetry" based on the stories found in the collection.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dear Diary

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students analyze a piece of writing by creating diary entries based on a character.  In this reading comprehension lesson, students read an assigned book with their classmates and create a sketch of what they believe the main character...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry: What's on Your Plate (Part 2)

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students write a short paragraph using strong descriptions.  For this using modifiers lesson, students define modifier, adjective, adverb, metaphor, and simile.  Students then write a journal entry in which they write about a favorite...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Locational Writing

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students go outside to the playground and write a piece in the style of beat poets based on what they see and hear outside.

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