A great way to connect social studies with language arts, a resource on Mary Henry's historical diary reinforces the concepts of primary and secondary sources. It comes with an easy-to-understand lesson plan, as well as the reference...

Work on narrative writing with this instructional activity, in which middle schoolers analyze the characters from a selected piece of literature and write narrative diary pieces as the character. They work to understand the point of view...

Put your class in the shoes of someone - or something - else with this lesson, which encourages writers to keep a diary from the perspective of a living creature or an abstraction. Use Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm and the Six Trait...

Young journalists write diary entries from the point of view of a person involved in a historical event. They focus on including facts, clear narration, and accurate description of the individual's feelings. 

Keeping a journal can be one of the most enjoyable writing tasks that children engage in. They get to write about what they want to write about - not what the teacher tells them to write about! Here, young writers pretend they are a...

Seventh graders create an original narrative story in a diary or journal format involving a fictional character with conflict, plot, resolution and falling action within the story line. They follow the steps of the writing process with...

Eighth graders read the Diary of Anne Frank. In this novel reading lesson, 8th graders read and analyze the story. Students do online activities and create a newspaper giving a summary of three major events in the story. Students answer...

Fifth graders examine excerpts from a diary of a Confederate soldier and his experiences in a Union prison camp. After receiving character cards, they write diary entries from the perspectives of their Civil War identity. As an...

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...

Students read selected passages from The Diary of Anne Frank. They, in groups, discuss the television / movie characters and create character webs involving these characters and those in the Anne Frank book.

Students complete a diorama and a poster at the conclusion of The Diary of Anne Frank.  In this The Diary of Anne Frank lesson, students create a diorama of the setting and write an essay justifying their choices.  Students...

Students read the books Diary of a Fly, Diary of a Worm, and Diary of a Spider and write diary entries about them. In this reading lesson plan, students also draw pictures to go along with their diary entries.

The New York Times article “Online Diary,” launches this study of websites and how to assess them. Richly detailed, the lesson includes warm-up activities, procedures, journal prompts, discussion questions, and links to valuable...

Younsters are exposed to classic stories of Arkansas Folklore including The Arkansas Traveller, and Davy Crockett. They discuss if the stories they hear are examples of folklore, or some other kind of story. Then, each puil is required...

Students examine descriptive writing. In this writing lesson, students listen to an audio version of the diary of Lt. Polly Hatchard and her expedition to the South Pole. Students explore the components of descriptive writing and...

Students explore new authors and genres they might like to read. The understand the ingredients of a book review. They write book reviews using persuasive language to recommend books.

Students identify geographical features of different regions encountered by migrants on the Oregon trail. Students research how the Oregon landscape may have affected life and 19th century westward migration. Students write a narrative...

Here is a nice way to introduce your young learners to poetry and writing their own poems. Children create their own poems about their favorite quiet-time places. After listening to some poems read aloud by the teacher, each child gets...

Young writers examine the world of diaries. They study the diary of the famous Samuel Pepy, and discuss why it's so important. Together, as a class, they create a diary that describes what happened in school on a certain day. The catch...

Any lesson that includes time at the computer lab is a favorite for the kids! For this plan, the class heads to the lab to research Anne Frank and her life. Using both Internet and print resources (like the book), pupils compile...

Fifth graders explore women's rights by discussing the events of WWII. In this American work force lesson, 5th graders identify the events that led to World War II and how women helped fight the war through non-violent efforts. Students...

Eighth graders apply knowledge of the Holocaust in general and The Diary of Anne Frank in particular to their writing. Acting the play out in class provides them an almost firsthand knowledge of Anne and the other characters.

Students discuss what they want to accomplish in their first one hundred days at school. Individually, they use markers to decorate a journal in which they write down their ideas and accomplishments. To end the lesson plan, they share...

Learners explain challenging theories about the evolution and distribution of microbes. They also investigate other examples of extremophile species, then create posters and write diary entries about them.