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Strong Descriptive Writing: James and the Giant Peach

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Support your writers! Clear procedures and appropriate support make this a superb resource for elementary writing instruction. Ready your class to compose original descriptive paragraphs inspired by the episode in Roald Dahl's James and...
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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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Episodic Writing Using Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Help your middle-schoolers expand their writing skills with this lesson on episodic writing, which focuses on story details, idea development, and organization. After reading "The Eighth Picture: End of Summer" from Patricia Reilly...
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How to Write a Biography

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Looking for a great lesson on how to write a biography? Here, middle schoolers draw from magazine articles, novels, historical figures, and current events to choose a person, or character to write about in a biography. They follow a...
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Curated OER

Writing a Personal Narrative

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students complete a variety of computer file pre-writing activities to help them prepare for writing a personal narrative. They focus on including a beginning, middle and end to their narrative. They make a class book.
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Creative Writing - Getting Ideas

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Learners examine the procedures that writers utilize to obtain and develop ideas for writing. Journal writing is fostered as a primary step in the writing process. Learners are encouraged to pay careful attention to using complete...
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Writing Expository Paragraphs

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students read Arthur's Pet Business and  complete a pre-writing worksheet for expository writing.  In this paragraph writing lesson, students gather and organize material for a paragraph about pets.
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Edgar Allen Poe And The Art Of Composition

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers evaluate several works by Edgar Allen Poe based on the criteria in his essay, "The Philosophy of Composotion" Their analysis is documented using a graphic organizer. Learners begin the pre-writing process for their own...
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Directed and Undirected Free-writing: An Activity in Brainstorming

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders practice pre-writing skills using brainstorming methods. Using music and meditation, they examine the difference between directed and undirected free-writing, as well as how and when to apply them to the pre-writing process.
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Borrowing Narrative Skills from Mr. Fletcher: Using a "Prompts in Reverse" Technique to Inspire Your Writers

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...
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"I" Witness to History

For Teachers 6th - 10th
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. 
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"Knot" the Whole Truth: Writing a Modern-Day Story with a Tall Tale's Voice

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Beyond Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, tall tales can be a great way to teach young writers about word choice and voice in their writing. Using Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee  and the Six-Trait Writing process, they begin to write their own...
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Creative Convincing

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young writers will love examining  Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type for examples of good persuasive writing. Generally, when we write persuasive pieces, there are common words we use. Encourage your writers to identify these words and...
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So Much Depends Upon...Sixteen-Word Imagery Poems Inspired by Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

For Teachers 6th - 7th
After reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (and possibly shedding a few tears), middle schoolers work on their own sixteen-word poems with a Six Trait writing activity. They focus on word choice in this activity to capture an...
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Animation Pre-Production

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Does your class love reading cartoons? Use their talents and interests to examine the process of writing a story they wish to tell through a cartoon. They develop the beginning, middle, and end of a story based on their original...
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Lesson Plan
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A Poem for Two Voices for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Poems For Two Voices are a great resource in any language arts classroom, whether you are studying poetry or not. Focusing on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this lesson prompts young authors to write a Poem For Two Voices...
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Combining with Participial Phrases

For Teachers 4th - 9th
Combine participial phrases and creative writing with this lesson, which is equally helpful for writing skills and conventions. After a mini-lesson on participial phrases and reading the picture book Dancing in the Wings, pupils use a...
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Bucket List Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 10th
What is on your pupils' "Bucket Lists" - the list of things they want to do before they die? Their choices of activities for this list could be very revealing, and is a great source of inspiration for a personal poem. The lesson prompts...
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Simple Machines

For Teachers 5th
Have your class conduct research to learn all they can about simple machines. They use the web, take notes from a video, write a script, then make a film describing various simple machines found in real life. These videos are then...
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Descriptive Writing Using Landscape Scenes

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students use the descriptive writing process through the use of landscape scenes, the Paragraph Writing Strategy from the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning, and the 4MAT Instructional Model.
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Missing Toy Writing Activity

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students listen to Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, by Mo Willems. In this listening and writing lesson, students listen to the story and create a poster for their favorite toy if it were to go missing. They work independently to...
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How To: Friendly Letter Writing

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders investigate the proper mechanics of a letter by writing to fictional characters. In this friendly letter instructional activity, 2nd graders read the book Stars in the Darkness, analyzing the story and characters with...
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Rock Write-In-Roll

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students participate in physical education and classroom activities with their parents and families. To engage parent's in their student's educational process, students and family members spend part of an evening roller skating and the...
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Lesson Plan
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Discovering Saturn, The Real "Lord of the Rings"

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Reading, writing, and rings! A lesson from NASA combines space science with authentic reading and writing tasks. Included in this lesson are pre-reading activities, four mini informational booklets on Saturn, a structured note-taking...

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