Curated OER
Getway to More Descriptive Writing
Learners use more precise descriptive words in their writing.
Curated OER
Apply Post-Reading Skills and Discuss Persuasive Text
Students put their reading comprehension skills to practice. In this interpreting text lesson, students read "Chief Red Jacket's Reply," and then respond to questions that require them to reason, infer, and analyze the selection.
Curated OER
What Did I Just Read
Fourth graders write a summary for each chapter as they read a novel. They summarize the author's purpose and point of view after completing the novel. They also describe about how the author's point of view affected the novel.
Curated OER
There's a World of Science to Read Today!
Pupils read a current science article. They write a summary of the article, take notes, write and edit a summary, and print their work.
University of Arizona
Fusing Firecrackers with Narrative
Improve your youngsters' descriptive writing. They study an object and write about what they see as a warm-up, then they read an excerpt from Paul Guest's memoir, One More Theory about Happiness. The next part of the...
Curated OER
There's a Monster in My E-Mail!
Don't be scared of these monsters! Middle schoolers make new friends as they practice their drawing, writing, and computer skills. They participate in a collaborative e-mail project in which they draw and describe pictures of monsters...
Curated OER
Express Yourself
First graders identify details that make reading and writing more interesting. They classify events, people, places, and things and attach specific characteristics to each one. Everyone generates describing words on a worksheet that's...
Virginia Department of Education
Identifying Audience and Purpose
Use a fun and creative activity to introduce junior high learners to how writing changes for different audiences and purposes. The activity begins with a reading by the instructor where teens visualize a food fight in the cafeteria. In...
Curated OER
Painting Places with Words Using John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
Useful in an Of Mice and Men unit, or in a unit that focuses on descriptive writing, this lesson prompts young authors to impersonate John Steinbeck's writing style in the opening passages of the novel. A Six Trait writing activity...
Curated OER
Our Dinopals with WordArt
Elementary schoolers use the writing process steps to write a descriptive paragraph about a fictional dinosaur. Using a tech tool lesson, they create a graphic title for the paragraph. A nice blending of technology with "old-fashioned"...
Curated OER
Explore your Culture through Storytelling
Explore the cultural heritage through of your class through reading, writing, and speaking exercises. They create illustrated mini-books that express their unique cultural and personal experiences. They share their stores with the class...
Curated OER
Picture a Tarantula
Young scholars create an illustration based upon a read-aloud. For this visual arts lesson, students listen to the book The Tarantula Scientist and listen for details. Young scholars create a picture based upon what they imagined during...
Curated OER
Why Transition?
Help your class transition into better writers with this lesson plan, which guides them through the process of adding transitions to increase sentence fluency and organization. The activity is designed for a classroom with a SMART board,...
Curated OER
Folktale Writing
Review literary analysis techniques with this reading lesson about folktale writing. Middle schoolers read different folktales from many authors, and write their own folktales to share with the class. They identify the plot, morals and...
Curated OER
The Rooms in a Home
Enhance your foreign language students' skills to describe a house. After reading a description of rooms in a house in their target language, they work to answer corresponding questions correctly. Additionally, they view a PowerPoint...
Curated OER
Carl Sandburg's "Chicago": Bringing a Great City Alive
Carl Sandburg composed poetry that conveyed a time and place in American Literature and history. Learners identify the literary techniques he uses to describe the historical and cultural context of living in Chicago. They define the...
Curated OER
"Lawd! Lawd! Lawd!"
From British accents to Texan drawls, a character's dialect can be an important part of the reading experience. A Six-Trait writing activity guides learners through the analysis of a character's dialect (Daniel Keyes's Flowers for...
Curated OER
Best Part of Me
After listening to the story, The Best Part of Me, learners will identify a positive physical feature of themselves, and create a descriptive poem about their favorite feature. Photographs are taken, and a nice final draft of the poem is...
Curated OER
Run Your Own Boarding House
Students become familiar with the historical and sociological aspects of the boarding house phenomenon in America. As students work in groups, they read and analyze documents that will help them gain a deeper understanding. To...
Curated OER
Renaissance Music Questions
Add a comprehension resource to a unit on the Renaissance or music of the Renaissance period. Middle schoolers answer eight comprehension questions and complete ten additional questions in order to fill out a crossword...
Curated OER
Lesson 8: Settings that Reinforce Characters
The best way to be a good writer is to read good writing. Learners read and discuss an excerpt from a book that will help them comprehend the relationship between setting and character. They will use what they've gleaned from discussion...
Reed Novel Studies
A Wrinkle In Time: Novel Study
Fathers and daughters often create a bond of great strength. Is Meg's bond strong enough to save her father? A Wrinkle In Time follows Meg and her friends as they find themselves in a supernatural world; Meg just hopes she finds her...
Reed Novel Studies
Wolf Hollow: Novel Study
Annabelle, a young character in Wolf Hollow, discovers one bully can ruin everything when Betty walkes into her classroom. Betty bullies others and targets a war veteran. Individuals read how one person changed Annabelle's life. They...
Reed Novel Studies
Rascal: Novel Study
Some say a dog is a man's best friend. However, in Rascal, it is not a dog that captures a boy's heart—but a raccoon. Scholars read about the boy and Rascal's adventures while they complete activities about the story. Activities include...