EngageNY
Synthesizing Information: Writing an Apprentice Wanted Ad
Fourth graders view examples of help-wanted ads as they plan and create their own writing in the fourteenth instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. The engagement of the class is captured when the teacher shares an actual...
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Creative Writing
Students criticially read an unfinished creative writing piece, answer factual questions concerning the piece, and then finish the story or create their own story about their own neigborhood and possible environmental issues.
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Writing Novelettes
Students practice their writing techniques by creating a novelette. In this creating writing instructional activity, students brainstorm and decide on a topic they would like to expand upon in order to create their own novelette....
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The Flat WSD Students
Young scholars engage in creative writing and performance using Flat Stanley. After reading Flat Stanley your class summarize their understanding and then create a flat image of themselves. Students then brainstorm ideas of how they...
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Explore a Family Recipe Creative Writing
Learners explore the connections between food and culture by investigating the cultural influences, preparation, and historical ties of the food that people eat. They comprehend how geography and climate effects what people eat...
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Making Poetry Writing Fun!
High schoolers find a group of words from an unlikely source and turn them into a poem. They discuss the central image in two well-known poems by Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson. They write their own short poem expressing one...
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From a Pet's Point of View
Young scholars explore the concept of point of view. In this point of view lesson, students discuss the point of view of a pet and write an imaginative story. Young scholars then create a power point presetation for the class to view.
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"Take my Advice": Poems with a Voice
Discuss the meaning of the phrase tone of voice with the class. They respond to a variety of scenarios where a particular tone would be prevalent. They then read "Mother to Son" without knowing the title and answer some questions about...
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Water Creative Writing
Young scholars red and discuss an example of a biographical essay. They read The Last of the Falling Tide by Car Hiassen, answer factual questions concerning the work, and create their own story about a natural place they are familiar...
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Product Persuasion
Learners examine various products and analyze the marketing strategies used to entice consumers. They bring in a product they like to use, and using persuasive writing, they write their own advertisements for their products.
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"Writing As Healing" Exercise
Students begin with a teacher-leld discussion of recent research, which has found measurable imporovements in patient symptoms even four monthe after their participation in a brief writing exercise about a stressful event in the...
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Resource Materials and Gathering Information: Reading Another “Choice” Text from the Research Folder
Look it up. Scholars use a dictionary and thesaurus to verify the meaning of the research vocabulary words they defined in the previous activity. They then use sticky notes to write a synonym for each word. Finally, individuals choose a...
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T-shirts Build School & Community Pride
Students explore ways to promote community pride by creating t-shirts. In this community lesson, students utilize a digital camera to take photographs of their hometown and transfer them to a t-shirt. Students complete a creative...
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The Rest Cure: Gender in Medicine and Literature
Read and discuss "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the gender issues that the story brings up. Use articles from the time period to analyze, complete with specific discussion questions. After two days, scholars write an essay based on topics...
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Criminal or Hero
Young scholars investigate slavery in America circa the American Revolution. They will examine point- of view and perspective as they research a variety of informational resources. While this is designed to be used with the PBS video...
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Fantasy Stories
Students create fantasy stories. In this creative writing lesson, students write a fantasy where they can use characters that they have read about in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
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Let's Roll Robots!
Students write a story about robots. In this creative writing lesson, students read a story about robots, make their own robot, and write a story about their robot. In addition, the lesson plan suggests taking photos of the robots to add...
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Book: Super Power: Americans Today
Students, after reading Chapter 1 in the book, "Super Power: Americans Today," analyze the recognition of the quote, "Hunger does not breed reform; it breeds madness and all the ugly distempers that make an ordered life impossible," by...
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What's In a Name?
Students write a story. In this identification lesson, students write their name vertically and think of a word or phrase to match each letter. Students write a paragraph or story based on their name descriptions.
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Short Story Framework
The class gets creative after listening to a short story containing a definitive structure. They are required to think about character, relationship, and setting, while attempting to show rather than tell, in their writing. Dialogue,...
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Telling Stories: Symbols of a Life
Art and literature can go hand in hand, they both are used to express elements of the self in a creative and interesting way. Budding story tellers interpret and analyze the narrative elements they find in a work of art. They focus on...
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Witness to a Brawl
Using The Musicians' Brawl, middle schoolers first impressions and the effect the title has on a piece of work. Then they analyze the narrative elements to art and write a newspaper article for the painting. For this narrative art...
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Breath as Metaphor - Poetry Exercise
Young scholars are required to critically read two poems, answer factual questions concerning the pieces, and then discuss the different uses of breath as a metaphor. They use the samples as a starting point for their own creative efforts.
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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:...