Let's start designing a house. Future architects create floor plans for a house given certain constraints. They calculate the area of each room in the house. This is the 11th lesson in a 15-part unit.

Scholars read their poems to their research teams as their final performance task. The teams listen and give feedback on the flow between the two poems. Writers then take the feedback from their teams and revise their poems before...

Scholars analyze a model Readers Theater script. Then, small groups read their scripts aloud to help determine where they need to make revisions.

Put it in your own words. Scholars work independently on their mid-unit assessments by responding to a writing prompt. They write about Miné Okubo’s life and the moments when Okubo became visible again.

Time to revise! Scholars revise their argument essays based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream using feedback from their teacher and peers. They begin their revisions after reviewing a mini-lesson on proper writing conventions.

It's an easy transition. Scholars identify transition words in the Pygmalion model essay and record definitions in the Transitions anchor chart. They then begin to look at the tone of the model essay. Finally, individuals begin writing...

And now for the grand finale! Scholars prepare their final Pygmalion end-of-unit essays. Learners participate in a brief mini lesson about correcting errors and then begin revising their own argumentative essays. 

Think about it. Writers think about their end of unit essays through reflection. They use the End of Unit 3 Assessment, Part 2: Reflection on the Writing Process handout to analyze the writing process they used to create their...

Scholars work on the end of the unit assessment by reflecting on their writing. They answer questions about the process they used to complete their position paper essays. After completing the end of unit assessment, they add images to...

Moving on up ... Scholars take a look at how the author of the model essay Elements of Mythology and Theme of Cronus moved up in the writing process from a graphic organizer to an essay. After walking through the writing process of the...

Let's focus. In small groups, writers narrow text selections to produce a narrative script based on the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Next, pupils plan their reader's theater scripts based on the text.

Students describe the basic life history of one shorebird common to their area. They use the writing process which includes brainstorming, rough draft writing, peer editing, and re-writing to create a factually and grammatically...

Students draft . In this writing skills writing selections. In this writing process lesson, students plan and draft persuasive and expository pieces following the provided guidelines. 

What are the five steps of the writing process? This short PowerPoint presentation identifies the five steps and gives a quick definition of each. Use this if you want to introduce your learners to the terms and their definitions. 

Examine the different perspectives on the future of United States Navy bombing exercises taking place on Vieques, Puerto Rico with this lesson from The New York Times. Here, young learners read "Islanders to Vote on Vieques Bomb Drills,"...

Encourage your middle and high schoolers to share their memories of a recent event. After reading a New York Times article, they discuss Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night. They write their own memoir about a significant event that affected...

Young scholars use pieces of farm pictures to investigate the elements of art.  For this farm art lesson, students use pieces of pictures to create an original artwork. Young scholars use the Internet to find images.  Students...

Students use a T-square, triangle and pencil to draw a 1-inch by 1-inch title block on a piece of 8 1/2 by 11-inch drafting paper.

Students study the basic artistic styles of suspension bridges. They follow step-by-step instructions to draw a suspension bridge. Students discover volcabulary related to the architecture of bridges. They examine websites of bridges.

Are your writers ready to edit their papers? Present them with these editing tips including reading papers out loud, varying sentence openings and lengths, and using action verbs. While the tips are worthwhile, consider supplementing the...

Young scholars draft entries about a recent historical event for a history textbook using two specific sources of information. They then compare their entries and examine the differences.

It's all about using peer resources in this writing process lesson, which includes a fantastic novel revision worksheet packet. Learners have read a partner's story draft the night before, and groups have a "lightning round of...

Readers reflect on enjoyable stories they know, brainstorm criteria that make a story "good," analyze a New York Times article about innovative children's performances, re-envision classics on their own, and peer edit drafts. Use this as...

A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...