Virginina Department of Education
Combining Ideas into an Effective Sentence
Here is a lesson that is best utilized as reinforcement in identifying sentences that combine independent/dependent clauses, and phrases that are awkward, fragmented or complete. Learners use the red, yellow, and green light method of...
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Dependent Upon Clauses
Students say and write simple and compound sentences addressing the clauses that are used. In this sentences lesson plan, students try and speak with simple sentences only to see if they can talk without clauses.
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Editing Marks, Part 1
Dander from the show Twisted Whiskers and characters from My Little Pony are featured in this three part lesson that explores using story pyramids to scaffold ideas, adding sensory details to enrich writing, and editing using common...
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Strategies for Organization and Elaboration of Personal Narrative
Personal narrative writing is usually a favorite form of writing for youngsters because they get to write about a personal experience. The lesson here asks pupils to take a piece of narrative writing and improve it by following...
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Conventions-Interjections
Fifth graders discuss interjections reviewing them to be words or phrases that express excitement or strong emotion. In this language arts activity, 5th graders understand that commas or exclamation marks are used to separate...
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Don't Forget to Say Thanks
Students practice descriptive writing in a thank-you note format. In this descriptive writing lesson, students read the example letter and analyze the corrections in the letter. Students read the example thank you notes and focus on the...
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Humpty Dumpty: The Whole Story
Fifth graders analyze a nursery rhyme to explore the writing process. In this writing process lesson, 5th graders recite Humpty Dumpty and chart the plot of the story. Students select their own nursery rhyme and write a creative story...
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Basic Letter Response to a Writing Prompt
Students respond to a writing prompt using appropriate letter format. In this letter writing lesson plan, students discuss the format for letter writing and use the worksheet format to write the heading, inside address, and salutation....
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How Worldly Are You?
Sixth graders locate and map six components to have a working knowledge of maps. For this map skills lesson, 6th graders define the six map components and work in groups to draw a map using the components. Students read a related story...
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Help Me Learn About the Holocaust
Young readers select a book from a provided list to use as the basis for an intensive class study of Holocaust novels. After completing their novels, groups create a multimedia presentation highlighting the elements of literature...
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Analyzing Persuasion
A reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech launches a study of rhetorical devices such as hyperbole, allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, connotative language and parallel structure. Class members then...
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I Am a Book
Third graders discuss books that have been banned and the things that they have in common. They explore the concept of freedom of speech and write poems based on their discussion.
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Putting it On Paper
Young scholars locate and print samples of two different business letter formats. They write rough drafts of business letters inquiring when, where, and how math is used.
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Where No Student Has Gone Before
Students create a story about an unknown planet invaded by humans as a pre-reading activity for the novel, A Wrinkle In Time. They discuss good versus evil, and identify examples of the theme good vs. evil in books, film, and their own...
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The South Wins Gettysburg!
Young scholars explore American Civil War, hypothesize that the Union Army was defeated at Gettysburg by Lee's army, and write an essay describing how different North America would be today if the South had won the Civil War.