EngageNY
Planning Writing: Bullfrog Information Paragraph
Lesson ten in this unit for the book Bullfrogs at Magnolia Circle, prepares third graders to begin writing an informational paragraph about the adaptations of bullfrogs. First, young writers work either independently or in pairs to...
Curated OER
Persuasive/Argumentative Essay vs. Opinion writing
Reinforce persuasive and argumentative writing skills with this activity, which utilizes SchoolNet News Network's website/SNN Monthly magazine. Young writers review journalism writing styles that help them explain that writing a...
Curated OER
Episodic Writing Using Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
Help your middle-schoolers expand their writing skills with this lesson plan on episodic writing, which focuses on story details, idea development, and organization. After reading "The Eighth Picture: End of Summer" from Patricia Reilly...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 11: Beginnings
Every good novel needs a solid beginning! Setting the stage can have your budding authors stumped, so use this lesson to get them thinking. After examining the plot rollercoaster image (included) they consider the four places...
Curated OER
Leading into Good Writing
Discuss the importance of a lead in writing with your upper graders. They examine several examples of leads from literature and practice writing leads for pieces of artwork. They then select a topic from a list and write an introductory...
Curated OER
Author, Author
First graders engage in this interesting lesson on letter writing and writing skills. In it, youngsters listen to the Jan Brett story, The Mitten, as a warm-up. They think of other animals of the world they could ask Jan Brett to...
Scholastic
Writing Letters of Gratitude
A lesson plan begins with a discussion on gratitude—what does it mean, and for who are learners thankful? Scholars share their thoughts and feelings then choose a community worker to which they wish to share their gratitude. Writers...
EngageNY
Planning for Writing: Introduction and Conclusion of a Literary Argument Essay
After completing three body paragraphs of an argument essay about life's rules to live by from Bud, Not Buddy Christopher Paul Curtis, it's time to begin writing the introduction and conclusion. Independently, pupils draft the final two...
Curated OER
Halloween Literature Unit: Creative Writing Project
Students practice their creative writing skills and build cooperative learning skills. For this creative writing project, students review parts of a story. Students reinforce the concept of sequencing and develop stronger writing...
Curated OER
Make a Social Skills Superhero Comic Book
Get creative as you teach a lesson plan on positive peer and social interactions. Discuss good social interactions through a scenario, brainstorm a positive response to the scenario, then creat a comic book superhero that exemplifies the...
Curated OER
Writing Folktales
Students consider the structure of folktales. In this writing skills instructional activity, students list the attributes of folktales that they read in class. Students then complete handouts based on the elements of the tales as well as...
Curated OER
Using Each Trait to Improve Student Writing
Students examine examples of the qualities of good writing skills and discuss how each of the traits add to the process of good writing. A variety of excerpts from literature provide samples for the exploration.
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 3 Assessment: Drafting the Position Paper
Organize your thoughts! Scholars work on the drafts of their position papers about sustainable water management. The draft serves as their mid-unit assessment. Before beginning, the class discusses the prompt and then learners work...
Teach with Movies
Teaching Students to Write a Narrative
Encourage narrative writing with a clever exercise. Class members watch episodes from movies and describe what happened to a character, including details about the setting, plot, and characters. Writers then craft a narrative about a...
EngageNY
End of Unit 2 Assessment: Writing the Analysis Essay, Part 1
1,2,3,4 score! Writers use the grading rubric to score the model essay. After comparing and discussing their scorings, the individuals begin the end-of-unit assessment.
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
Begin the Writing Process
Get ready to write persuasive pieces! Emerging writers select topics, plan arguments, and gather evidence to write persuasive essays. Supportive handouts are provided. The argument chart is particularly helpful, as it includes a space to...
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
Memoir Writing Based on Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed
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...
Curated OER
Persuasive Writing I
Examine the characteristics of an effective persuasive paper. In a group, eighth graders discuss the analogy of a debate being like a persuasive paper. After brainstorming topics, they write an argument and then debate it. Secretly, the...
Curated OER
Skill Building: Alphabet Poem
Amateur poets explore alphabetical poetry. They choose a topic and brainstorm vocabulary that relates to the topic using each letter of the alphabet. The class then generates ideas for a group alphabet poem. After creating one as a whole...
Macmillan Education
Social Skills
Every culture has a set of social skills one must learn to establish and maintain relationships. Some of these skills are particular to a culture and some are universal. Class members practice using appropriate language,...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing Lesson
Sixth graders experience the stages of process writing, work cooperatively, to critique and to incorporate software tools to enhance writing and problem solving skills.
Curated OER
Home Living/ Daily Living: Cooking Mastery
Learning to cook, follow directions, and presenting information are skills every body needs to know. Learners complete a recipe-in-a-jar activity to hone these life skills. They follow the directions, choose and use correct measurement...