Curated OER
Writer's Notebook and Haiku
Students, after viewing various examples from students around the world, as well as writing in their Writer's Notebook, create, compose and revise a Haiku poem that sketches a "snapshot" or image in time. They incorporate the theme or...
Curated OER
Launching a Writer's Workshop
Students interview each other and their parents to examine why and when writers write and where published authors get their ideas. They complete a class T-chart, fill-out an interview worksheet, and read and discuss a variety of book...
Curated OER
Encouraging Students to Embrace Their Inner Author
Everyone is a writer! Youngsters compose an original piece of writing. In this writing lesson, they come up with their own idea for a piece of writing, revise it, and then publish it with illustrations. This lesson includes three...
Curated OER
Putting It Together in Writer's Workshop
This instructional activity about writing can be taught in small groups or large group settings. They examine basic writing techniques and practice using them to improve their writing.
EngageNY
Applying Research Skills: “Rachel Carson: Environmentalist and Writer”
It's important to cite sources! Scholars take a closer look at their research about DDT by examining how to cite sources. Learners take turns sharing information that would be used to cite sources to complement Rachel Carson:...
Curated OER
Create a "Hero" Trophy
Students identify American heroes. In this research skills lesson, students discuss the characteristics of heroes and examine society's definition of heroes. Students research selected American heroes of the 20th century and create...
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: “Medicine: Then and Now” Pre-Reading Activity
What did medicine look like a hundred years ago? Two hundred years ago? Invite small groups to conduct research on the history of a chosen medical advancement before reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science....
Curated OER
Blogging
A fun, modern twist on journaling! Instead of responding to prompts in their composition notebook, writers use the Internet to complete blog entries. A sample blog (with prompts) is shown here, and writers are assessed on conventions and...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing for Publication
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...
Curated OER
Who's Confused? Not Me!
The class works together to tackle easily confused words. Each learner receives a word and he or she must create a flashcard with the following things: the word, its definition, an original sentence that uses the word, and a picture...
Curated OER
Eliminate Weak Verb-Adverb Combinations
Encourage your writers to use sob instead of cry loudly to trade in adverbs for strong verbs. Improve your middle and high schoolers' writing with this humorously written lesson which demonstrates how to remove excessive adverbs.
Curated OER
Multi-cultural and Multiple Perspectives Literacy Lesson
Third graders compare their thoughts about Africa before and after reading an associated book. In this cultural understanding activity, 3rd graders write down their thoughts about Africa. They receive information from the book, Somewhere...
Carolina K-12
The Revolutionary Times
Be sure to grab a copy of the Revolutionary Times! Scholars take a step back in time to report on topics set in the revolutionary period. Events include the ride of Paul Revere, the Battle of Saratoga, and more.
Curated OER
It's Opposite Day
Celebrate Opposite Day by using a Visual Thesaurus to match words to their antonyms. They match a list of vocabulary words to their antonym counterparts using the Visual Thesaurus, and then they play Antonym Bingo with the words from...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Readers as Individuals
Sixth graders set and are encouraged to meet their reading goals and demonstrate knowledge of literary elements in this lesson.
Curated OER
Similes and Metaphors
Reward your class with tasty treats while teaching them about simile and metaphor. After a teacher demo and explanation of simile and metaphor, pupils read books, looking for examples of these literary devices and copying them down....
Curated OER
Introducing Biographies-Getting to Know You
Learners study biographies as a nonfiction genre while examining a variety of examples. Next, they access and complete an online tutorial about biographies. They choose one person that interests them to conduct further research using a...
Curated OER
The Nature of Haiku Poetry
Students brainstorm elements of nature art prints and photos. They identify the syllable count of Haiku and take a nature walk. They write Haiku poems while practicing the use of simile, alliteration, metaphor, and analogy to describe...
Curated OER
Putting It Together
Students read aloud the book "Courage" by Bernard Waber and discuss the examples that compromise the defintion of courage. They describe another word such as joy and work with a partner or group to brainstorm and write sentences of...
Curated OER
Why Thank You!
Fifth graders listen to a read aloud of Patricia Polacco's, Thank You, Mr. Falker! students examine the use of voice in the book, discuss the writing and theme ideas. They write a thank you not to their hero.
Curated OER
Writing in Different Viewpoints
Students read and analyze the point of view of a selected classic short story. They take notes while reading the story, select a character, and rewrite the story from a different viewpoint.