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Lesson Plan
San Francisco Symphony

Music and Early Man

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Creative projects are great ways to increase interest in topical research. Middle schoolers learning about primitive life styles in the Americas explore the importance of music to hunter gatherers. They research and create musical...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Identifying Audience and Purpose

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Use a fun and creative activity to introduce junior high learners to how writing changes for different audiences and purposes. The activity begins with a reading by the instructor where teens visualize a food fight in the cafeteria. In...
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Lesson Plan
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Virginia Department of Education

Analyzing and Planning Persuasive Writing

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Young writers work backward to analyze persuasive techniques. As a class, work through the provided persuasive letter: a plea to an imaginary city council to lift a city-wide ban on fast food restaurants and discount stores. Start by...
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Lesson Plan
University of Arizona

Fusing Firecrackers with Narrative

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Improve your youngsters' descriptive writing. They study an object and write about what they see as a warm-up, then they read an excerpt from Paul Guest's memoir, One More Theory about Happiness. The next part of the activity prompts...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Creating Thesis Sentences

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Growing writers explore what it takes to develop and support a thesis statement with pre-fabricated ideas provided by the Virginia Department of Education. Learners take notes on what makes a thesis statement and a topic sentence, and...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Using Specific Vocabulary and Collaboration

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Develop concepts on how to change your improving wordsmiths' writing from blah to wow with the activities and ideas in this resource. The instructor provides the class with examples of writing that lacks detail and precision, and then...
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Activity
Shoop English

Literature Terms Activity

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Designed to be used with an independent reading book, this activity provides practice with identifying and explaining literary terms. While they read, individuals find instances of literary devices and elements in use in their books....
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Lesson Plan
Nancy Fetzer's Literacy Connections

Expository Paragraph

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Upper elementary and middle school writers learn how to craft an expository paragraph by following the six steps detailed in a 48-page instructional guide. Learners learn how to write six different types of informational paragraphs: to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Time and Cycles - Dendrochronology

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate the lives of trees by examining ring cycles.  In this plant life lesson, students identify the field of study known as dendrochronology and discover its history.  Students investigate a simulated tree ring and...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Developing an essay: Using specific nouns, strong verbs, and vivid adjectives

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Feeling bored and unimpressed with word choice in your class? If so, consider this activity, which focuses on using specific and precise language. Pupils use highlighters, brainstorm independently and in small groups, and create a poster...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Researching and Narrowing Topics

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Internet research is becoming more common, so why not conduct an online research project in your classroom? Use this resource to get you and your class started. The lesson includes basic instructions and a list of questions to help...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Adding Specific Vocabulary

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Virginina Department of Education

Combining Ideas into an Effective Sentence

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Here is a lesson that is best utilized as reinforcement in identifying sentences that combine independent/dependent clauses, and phrases that are awkward, fragmented or complete. Learners use the red, yellow, and green light method of...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Using Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Phrases and Clauses

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners practice subject-verb agreement in a practical activity. As a class, they see examples of subject/verb agreement provided by the instructor. In groups, they assemble the provided subject/verb cards and make creative sentences...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Researching Information on the Internet

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Practice Internet research skills. Each class member will need Internet access in order to follow along as you model how to search using key words and to do their own research on African and Asian elephants. Their notes will go into a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Parts of a Cell Analogy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students reinforce comprehension of the parts of a cell. Theyl synthesize this content knowledge in a descriptive paragraph writing assignment.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scrambled Stories

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

DNA is Who I Am

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students expand on and elaborate about the field of genetics.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reading Meet Writing

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Thinking about introducing your middle schoolers to reading log journals? Try the approach suggested by this resource. After reading to the class an article or portion of a novel, demonstrate a Think Aloud and then model how to transform...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

When A Story Met A Sandwich

For Teachers 6th - 12th
How is a story like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Use making a sandwich as a metaphor to remind your writers that a good, solid beginning, a rich and rewarding middle, and an ending that brings everything together spices up a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tense Buster

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students, after using the "Intermediate" selection of the Tense Buster software, recognize and practice using passive voice in their writing. As a result of this task, they correctly use five new vocabulary terms with passive voice in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Acrostic Book Report

For Teachers K - 8th
Young scholars read the story Wild Horse Winter and construct acrostic poems. In this poetry lesson, students use adjectives and events in the text to develop an acrostic poem.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Transition Words in Expository Writing

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Create to learn! Your class can create posters of transitional words and phrases to help them compose an explanatory text. They work in groups and focus on one type of transition (time, place, importance, etc.). They also create a poster...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Sounds of Daydream

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Based on the poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, this resource is well constructed and guides learners through examining the Yeats poem (rhyme, meter, content) to composing a poem of their own about a...

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