Curated OER
Writing Police Reports: Emergency!
Students practice writing emergency reports. In this emergency reports lesson, students participate in a visit from a police officer or emergency technician. Students then write a historical report based on the fictional account the...
Curated OER
Research Paper Project
Break down some of the most foundational components of writing a research paper, such as incorporating and formatting citations, creating a thesis statement, and using quotes effectively, into manageable tasks for your young writers.
Curated OER
It's Your Birthday! Expository Writing Unit 2
Students create an expository essay. In this writing lesson Students are assigned a country and must conduct research surrounding a historic event that occurred in that country at the time of their birth.
Curated OER
Multi-sensory Writing
Middle schoolers use their senses to help describe special place they have been. They write short sensory-image essay that incorporate all five of their senses, and identify sensory language while reading different pieces of literature.
Curated OER
Do Heroes Have to Wear a Cape?
Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast a Cookie and a Cracker
Students write an essay comparing and contrasting two like items. In this informative writing lesson, students use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast a cracker and an Oreo cookie. Students write an informative five paragraph essay on...
Wordpress
The Inn of Lost Time
Test understanding of "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namoika with an assessment that includes true/false, multiple choice, vocabulary, short answer, and essay questions. The test is not entirely traditional since, for the first 10...
Curated OER
Sandwich Chart
Students fill in the blanks on a writing worksheet to create ideas for a five paragraph essay. Each blank needs to be filled in to create a "sandwich" essay which includes a topic sentence, the paragraphs with supporting details and a...
Virginia Department of Education
Maintaining Organization, Clarity, Central Idea, and Unity
Introduce and challenge the essay organization skills of your junior high writers with the paper reconstruction activity in this demonstration. Theydetermine what the word organization means, and discover the basic organizational...
Curated OER
Pair-Share: Constructing Paragraph Order
Young scholars write with controlled and/or subtle organization. They identify the main idea and explicit details. Students analyze paragraph and essay structure. They utilize context clues to identify organization.
Curated OER
Thesis Statement Exercises
In this writing worksheet, students identify what a thesis statement is and how to write one from three different essay questions. They identify the three main points for each questions and then, give it a title.
Curated OER
Using Transitions
Transitions, words that reveal the relationship between two ideas, are the subject of a presentation that provides color-coded illustrations to show viewers how this part of speech functions in sentences. The PowerPoint concludes with an...
Santa Ana Unified School District
Lord of the Flies Unit
How does a society influence and shape individuals? Class members ponder this essential question as they read Lord of the Flies, as well as primary source materials about the historical background of the novel. As a final assessment,...
Curated OER
Review of a Novel Project
This review of a novel project is a great way to ensure accountability for independent reading. The assignment sheet, templates, samples, and rubrics are all part of the packet materials.
Curated OER
Songs that Bring Us Together - Lesson 5
Students compose song as a classroom effort. They write a one-paragraph essay about "message" songs in 100 years and include three ideas for topics along with the style of music (such as folk, rock, blues, rap, etc.) that would match.
Curated OER
Thoughts to the President
Learners write a persuassive paragraph to the President stating their opinion on a topic. To do this, they start the message with a topic sentence such as "War is _____." The blank should contain a word or phrase expressing the student's...
Curated OER
Writing Police Reports
Learners discover police procedures by filling out crime reports. In this government activity, students discuss the benefits of historical reports pertaining to criminals and victims. Learners listen to an officer of the law speak in...
Curated OER
Birthday Buddy
Students explore an Internet web site and/or the Groliers Encyclopedia to investigate a famous person who shares their birthday. They write a five paragraph comparison and contrast essay on their findings and utilize ClarisWorks to publish.
Curated OER
The Eye; Structure and Function
Students research the structure and function of the eye. In this anatomy lesson, students write a report about the eye and draw an illustration. They research a particular animal's eye then present their findings to the class without...
Curated OER
Connecting Poetry with Philanthropy
Students use their knowledge of philanthropy and poetic conventions to write original poetry about philanthropic giving. In this philanthropy lesson, students write poetry based on philanthropy using poetic conventions. Students...
Curated OER
Participating in Democracy
Students analyze film clips in class. In this democracy activity, students identify the differences between civil liberties, democracy and freedom. Students view a video regarding Japanese internment and answer study questions as well as...
Curated OER
I, Robot: Chapter One
Students discuss literature about technology in the 20th century. For this book study lesson, students read I, Robot by Isaac Asimov and compare the fiction to technology in the 20th century.
Curated OER
Study Skills- Fact and Opinion
Students engage in a variety of activities in order to achieve the objectives of a layered curriculum unit. They take notes on the differences between fact and opinion. Students also use a newspaper in order to recognize opinionated...