December writing activities galore! With everything from poetry to research to descriptive writing to writing about things that represent December, there's no way you will run out of options.

Review concepts of cloning and genetic engineering and participate in a round-table discussion based on the ethics and potential of cloning with your class. Each learner then writes a formal essay on the topic, stemming from the debate.

A fun activity that utilizes toys and persuasion! After reading the article, which was written in 2005, pull some advertisements for toys currently being sold. These will be more relevant to your middle and high schoolers. What toy is a...

Explore how the informality of electronic correspondence has affected communications in the workplace. Writers develop pages for a basic writing guide that contains rules and examples to help correct common writing errors. A great way to...

Young journalists write diary entries from the point of view of a person involved in a historical event. They focus on including facts, clear narration, and accurate description of the individual's feelings. 

High schoolers examine the New York Times review of the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and explore the elements of scriptwriting. They read the article about the film adaptation screenplay and examine a...

Students write persuasively by convincing others of their point of view about music downloading.

Third graders explore their culture in comparison to Japanese culture by reading the book, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. They identify islands of Japan, create a Venn diagram comparing Japanese culture to American culture, and...

Young scholars read and discuss "Defending Affirmative Action With Social Science," examining the admissions policies in public universities and colleges. They write persuasive essays either for or against the admissions policies in...

A Middle school special ed class uses the acronym SPAM to learn the 4 parts of writing. They employ 4 different colors to help them visually distinguish each part of writing in a given prompt. This lesson is vague and uses a strong...

Personify your Inner Editor. After making a richly detailed paper doll of your Inner Editor, put him or her in your locker, under your bed or buried in a time capsule in your backyard, but not near where you like to write. Refuse to...

Play a vocabulary game with words from an article about Savion Glover's contribution to the film "Happy Feet." Then, small groups of students design and create original movie advertisements using vivid vocabulary to give Glover the...

Explore the inception and evolution of hip-hop music as a springboard for writing music reviews and researching other genres of music. Learners will read and discuss the Times' article, From Underground Music to Fashion Statement to then...

Explore connections within and between informational texts with this lesson about encyclopedia articles. Middle schoolers write encyclopedia articles focusing on topics in American history. They discuss how to determine credibility...

Study the impact and possible outcomes of the Exxon-Mobil merger in your language arts, social studies, or economics class. Secondary learners evaluate a series of graphs, write a paragraph interpreting the data, and engage in class...

Tis' the season to develop children's fine motor skills with this simple handwriting worksheet.

Get to you know your new class members with an ice breaker activity that uses their name and creativity. Scholars write their first name in cursive on a folded sheet of paper, cut around the curved lines, open the paper to view its new...

Have you ever lost someone? Middle and high school learners journal about a time they experienced the loss of someone through death, divorce, moving, or another type of change. They share their responses and discuss an article relating...

Use this economic activity to focus on writing summaries of informational text. First, middle schoolers define common economic terms used to describe news about the economy. They closely read news about the federal budget deficit and...

Enter the fantastical world of  "Dungeons and Dragons" and other role-playing games with this activity from The New York Times. Middle schoolers create the outline for a role-playing game based on their own community. Then,...

Fourth graders discover a fun-filled way to write persuasive paragraphs. After reading stories about mice and weasels, they choose which animal to be their topic. Students use a web outline to organize their opinion, four supporting...

In this handwriting skills worksheet, students practice writing on a free writing topic on the lined paper provided for them to write on.

Students discuss Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and family traditions. After brainstorming how holidays are celebrated, students write a poem about a chosen holiday and create their own hand-made instrument. They share their poems...

Students review the "word choice" writing trait, and recall how to use descriptive words to paint a picture. They write a description of one of their tennis shoes without sharing it with classmates. They place a shoe on display while the...