Curated OER
Descriptive Essay
Learners review previously written essays, draw pictures of shapes, and write descriptive essays.
Curated OER
Writing - Combining Ideas to Write Descriptive Paragraphs
Pupils develop a strategy for combining various ideas into well formed sentences which then combine to produce effective descriptive paragraphs.
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My First Book
Introduce young writers to the process of writing a book. Start by reading a book of your choice and discussing the essential elements of any book such as the cover, story, and illustrations as well as who is responsible for each...
Curated OER
The Perfect President
Students advertise for the perfect president. In this presidential duties lesson, students determine the attributes that the ideal president should have and then write job descriptions for the role.
Curated OER
Creating Bloggers
Blogs provide the motivation for this richly detailed writing lesson plan. After viewing blogs on various websites, class members pick topics, create a blog, and post an entry. Your bloggers then evaluate their work using evaluation...
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An Animal Report
Third graders create reports in the fashion of small books. They write brief descriptions for a variety of topics and answering a variety of questions. They create a picture book for their individual animals. They utilize basic computer...
National History Day
Heroes Who Made a Difference: Memorializing a Distinguished Service Cross Award Recipient
Ever wonder how to memorialize World War I heroes in the classroom? Activities in a high-quality social studies resource prompt middle schoolers to research Internet sources, complete a graphic organizer, and write an editorial feature...
Curated OER
Revive Reviews With Student-Created Study Guides
Students work cooperatively in small groups to practice note-taking and outlining skills which are applied as student create unit Study Guides for their classmates. They demonstrate critical thinking skills as they decide the most...
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Product Persuasion
Learners examine various products and analyze the marketing strategies used to entice consumers. They bring in a product they like to use, and using persuasive writing, they write their own advertisements for their products.
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Zoo's Clues!
Students determine the difference between major and minor details after researching animals and completing graphic organizers. They write descriptive paragraphs for classmates to guess what animal is being described.
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The Story of an Old Piano
Students read excerpts from The Story of an Old Piano. They choose a personal object and write paragraphs from the object's point of view. Their stories can be bound for the class library.
Curated OER
Writing a Historical Fiction Story
What is historical fiction? After explaining the difference to your learners, it's time to give each learner a try! With your support, encourage them to research, plan, and write their own historical fiction story. Don't forget to have a...
Curated OER
Writing A Biography
Students choose an interesting person to research for a biography. They gather the information they want to include in their paper from various sources. Students write an outline to use as a guide when writing their biography.
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Writing an Essay- The Circulatory System
Fifth graders write an essay. In this writing instructional activity, 5th graders research the circulatory system and organize their notes into an outline. Students write an informational essay on the circulatory system.
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Writing Letters Using Appleworks
Students discover how to write letters using Appleworks. Following a demonstration by the teacher, they compose rough drafts of their letters. Working independently, students correct their drafts and type the final versions.
University of Chicago
Using Artifacts for Clues About Identity
Learn about the ancient Near East through a close examination of ancient artifacts. Lead your class into analysis by first observing an artifact as a class. Pupils can then work in pairs to analyze the other artifacts and compile a list...
Curated OER
Creating Plays from Children's Stories
Students explain how individual elements (e.g., plot, theme, character, conflict, etc.) comprise the structure of a play. They write an original one-act play with developed characters, specific setting, conflict, and resolution.
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Narrative Literature Response Letters: Original Lesson Plan
Readers write a formal letter to an author offering an alternative ending to a story the author has written. First, the class reads a story or novel. Upon finishing the reading, they are introduced to the format of a formal letter. They...
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How to Score in the Word Series
Students examine an object in the classroom and write a description of it employing exciting language. They brainstorm and outline ideas for an original article about an event they participated in or attended.
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What's in the Box
Second graders verbalize, write, and illustrate descriptive vocabulary words and/or descriptive phrases while attempting to guess an unseen object, which has been hidden in a box by teacher.
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Paragraph Building
Build the skills your budding authors need to develop to compose well-structured paragraphs. Give them the topic sheet (included here), and have them write a cohesive paragraph using the ideas listed. Consider having them include two...
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Learning About Hurricanes
Learners write a research paper on hurricanes. In this weather lesson plan, students use a science text book to write down facts about hurricanes on note cards and then outline their essay. Learners use the outline to create an organized...
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Humorous Story Featuring Clowns
Middle schoolers write stories that feature funny clowns. In this creative writing instructional activity, students follow the outline for a story in order to write their own humorous story set at a circus.
Curated OER
Should Voting in the United States be Mandatory? Research Activity
Eighth graders research how many voters actually vote in the U.S. and nine other nations. They create a spreadsheet using this information and write a persuasive essay.