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Creatively Creating Expository Essays
Young scholars, after reading Fahrenheit 451, brainstorm inventions that could have been in the novel. They present their invention to the class and writing an expository essay about their creation.
Scholastic
Smart Quotes Mini-Lesson
Prepare for an interview project with a set of worksheets about asking questions and quoting people. After completing a grammar exercise about quotation marks, kids write out the questions they want to ask their interviewee, and record...
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Oh, I Believe in Yesterday
Who is Aimee Mann? Read the New York Times article "P.S. I Loved You," included here, and have your readers answer a series of reading comprehension questions. Afterward, encourage your class to brainstorm ways in which they...
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There's No Accountin with Ledgers
Tenth graders create and maintain a ledger, write an essay for the process, and learn to keep financial accounts through the ledger. In this ledger instructional activity, 10th graders define an accounting ledger and create one for the...
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Best Part of Me
After listening to the story, The Best Part of Me, learners will identify a positive physical feature of themselves, and create a descriptive poem about their favorite feature. Photographs are taken, and a nice final draft of the poem is...
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Language Arts: Laws of Life
Students participate in the iEARN Project by completing a questionnaire about values and lessons they have learned. They read sample essays by other students in the project about their views on the laws of life. They then write and post...
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Organizing Writing/Composing a First Draft
Seventh graders access an organizer from an earlier lesson and transition sentences to begin a new essay. In this organization and composing lesson, 7th graders work in small groups to create a draft of an article about...
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Black Power
Use this New York Times lesson plan to research contemporary leaders in the African-American community. After reading the article "Blacks Weigh the Impact of the Post-Jackson Years," middle and high schoolers discuss the varying...
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"I Believe..." Podcast Style
Use this communication skills lesson to emphasize evaluating a speaker's main point and argument. After reading Martin Luther King's, "I Have a Dream Speech" and John F. Kennedy's speech, "I Believe in an America Where the Separation of...
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Painting Places with Words Using John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
Useful in an Of Mice and Men unit, or in a unit that focuses on descriptive writing, this lesson prompts young authors to impersonate John Steinbeck's writing style in the opening passages of the novel. A Six Trait writing activity...
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Shaking the Movers: Youth Rights and Media
Children have rights! Exploring those rights and using media to express those rights is the focus of this Media Awareness Network lesson plan. Although some of the law links reflect the Canadian Articles of The Convention, the majority...
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Five Paragraph Essay
Eighth graders are introduced to the mechanics of writing a standard-form essay. They draft, edit and polish a five-paragraph essay about spending the day as an animal of their choice.
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Writing From Experience (Grades 7-12)
Students brainstorm in preparation for writing an expressive essay. They review their responses to 'Writing from Experience' and write notes and brainstorm other ideas or details for their essays. They take turns illustrating their life...
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Schools Closings: What Are the Guidelines?
Young scholars gather and read articles about school closures in Ohio or other nearby town or city, make list of criteria to use when deciding which schools should close, develop list into essay that argues for these criteria to apply in...
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It’s Your Birthday! – Conventions: Revision and Proofreading
Happy birthday! Celebrate everyone's birthday with this writing activity, which prompts seventh graders to research historical events in a country at the time of their birth to create an essay. Working in pairs, they proofread each...
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Persuasion: Analyzing Persuasive Writing
Students examine and create persuasive essays. In this writing activity students engage in activities that allow them to understand how a persuasive essay is constructed so they may compose their own.
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Developing a Topic for Writing Using an Idea Web
Teach your upper graders how to use an idea web to develop a topic for writing. After reading a variety of stories about friendship (a list of stories with the theme of friendship is included), model using an idea web. Class members...
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The Family Tree
Students make a family tree. In this family lesson plan, students brainstorm what the word family means, interview their family members and grandparents, create a family tree, list their family's favorite foods and write an essay...
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Picture the Process
Young scholars read Chasing Vermeer and relate the book to the author . In this writing process lesson, students view Blue's Photo Album and see how the author writes and revises her work. Young scholars discuss the process that...
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Stereotypes and Tonto
Learners identify stereotypes, especially those applied to American Indians. In this teaching tolerance lesson, students read an essay entitled " I Hated Tonto (Still Do)" and discuss the negative impact that stereotypes may have...
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Developing Student Web Pages for Showcasing Research
Students employ information literacy skills to research topics. They develop topics using a graphic organizer. They draft, revise and edit research projects. They write an expository essay. They create a web page in Microsoft Publisher.
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Village Children in Northern Pakistan
Student use maps to answer geographic questions. They analyze Earth's surface by using a map to identify physical features that lead to different transportation routes. Student create a collage to show geographic insight into the topic...
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Fretful Over Fast Food
Fifth graders research fast food options and write an essay on the topic. In this fast food lesson, 5th graders pretend they are a babysitter and research fast food restaurant options to eat at while they are baby-sitting. Students write...
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Autograph Story
Learners write narrative essays about getting a famous person's autograph (a classmate) and then combine their work with pictures to enhance the stories. This technique can be used with any writing project.