Curated OER
Making an Argument: Effective use of Transition Words
Work on using transition words in context by prompting elementary and middle schoolers to write their own persuasive essays using transition words. They explore new forms of transition words and examine how they are used in an editorial...
Knox Education
Opinion Argument Writing Packet
You won't need much persuading to use an argumentative writing packet in your language arts class! With helpful reference pages, guided practice through the writing process, examples of opinion and argument writing, and a thorough...
Curated OER
Organizing Writing/Composing a First Draft
Does your language arts class have a hard time with writing transitions? Use this organizational writing lesson to create three effective transition sentences that middle schoolers will use in their research of renewable resources.
Curated OER
The Transit in Pictures
Students investigate the June 2004 Transit of Venus, write a screen play, and produce a movie or animation of the transit including a narration. The difference between storytelling and storyboarding is made clear in this lesson.
Curated OER
Creating Transitions
Fourth graders analyze the use of transitions in text. In this transitions lesson, 4th graders determine how and why a transition is used at a specific time in a piece of writing. They show transitions by using movements before...
Curated OER
Shakespeare and Poe Teach Six-Trait Writing
A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...
Curated OER
Writing the Essay
Relate the structure of the essay to the structure of a building. The class compares an essay to a building, with the writer being the architect, the introduction being the foundation, and so on. They use the visual representation of a...
Curated OER
Persuasive Writing - Anticipating Opposing Views
Persuasion, when used effectively, is a powerful and effective tool. In groups, young writers develop a persuasive letter about something that they would like their parents to allow them to do. Then, independently, they use proper...
Curated OER
Using Compare and Contrast Key Words
Compare and contrast while challenging your class with this higher-level thinking and reading comprehension lesson. After observing the teacher model comparing and contrasting bats and birds, learners read passages about two towns. They...
Curated OER
Compare Two Versions: Folk Tales, Sequencing, and Summary
Compare two versions of "The Three Little Pigs" (traditional and Jon Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, told from the wolf's point of view). As your 4th graders recount the familiar version of the story, emphasize the...
Curated OER
Topic Sentences and Transitions
High school writers identify the purpose of both a topic sentence and a transitional statement. They write a topic sentence which denotes the paragraph topic and the author's stand on that topic. Then they write an effective transitional...
Curated OER
More Details and Transitions
Use details and transition words to enhance writing. Sixth graders examine their own writing and insert more details and transition words provided by their teacher. There is a list of 11 "Terrific Transitions," but brainstorm several...
Curated OER
Seeing the Image in Imagery: A Lesson Plan Using Film
In our increasingly visual society, it is often difficult for some readers to create a mental picture of a picture created only with words. An image-rich text like F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby can therefore, present a real...
Curated OER
How to Write A+ Essays!
This lesson, which promises to improve the essays of your middle schoolers, contains a list of characteristics an essay should include. It breaks it down into the introduction, thesis statement, body, etc. There's also a list of things...
Curated OER
Writing Process-- Revision and Editing
As guided practice, class members work together to revise a model persuasive paragraph. Then they practice independently with their own writing. The included rubric looks at prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, nonfiction text...
Curated OER
Foods
Young scholars identify what types of items are grown on a farm. They discuss how those items are processed and turned into food they everyday. They are to write a paragraph using transition words.
Curated OER
Search Warranted?
Young readers work on evaluating claims in a piece of informational text with the article "In New York, It's Open Bag or Find Exits" from the New York Times. They analyze current search procedures implemented to fight terrorism and...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 8: Native Americans
Over five weeks, fifth graders listen to and discuss reading passages that explore the connection between Native Americans and nature. Following daily readings, scholars practice word work, including prefixes, root words, suffixes,...
Curated OER
Write Your Own Screen Play
Middle schoolers critique the transition of "Holes" from a novel to screenplay and consider how the details in a book are brought to life in a movie. They then choose a scene in a book and transform it into an original script after...
Museum of Tolerance
The Role of Citizens in a Participatory Democracy
Groups research participatory democracies and compare the role and rights of citizens in ancient history with those in recent U.S. history. Guided by a series of questions, individuals compose a persuasive essay in which they discuss the...
Curated OER
The Beginning, The Middle, & The End
Cut magazine pictures into three sections, having your youngsters piece the pictures back together. With this fun activity, they discover the importance of sequencing a story. Then they use a fun template (shaped like a burger) to write...
Curated OER
Adventure Writing: Oregon's Landscape as a Setting
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
The Correct Use of the Articles "A" and "An"
Young scholars discover the grammatical rules regarding articles. In this grammar activity, students study the rule regarding the use of "a" and "an" in writing. Young scholars are encouraged to discover the rule on their own and apply...