Not all sandwiches are edible. Scholars use a Quote Sandwich graphic organizer to draft the written content of their informative consumer guides. Additionally, they view a mini-instructional activity on formal writing. 

It's time for the grand finale! Scholars complete the final draft of their newspaper articles for the End of Unit 3 Assessment. They share their article with a classmate for peer critique. After considering all feedback and including a...

Choose your words carefully. Scholars continue looking at the creation of a newspaper article by examining word choice. They highlight key verbs, vocabulary, and descriptive words in the model article Sandy wreaks havoc...

Serving as the end-of-unit assessment, scholars draft letters to a publisher about an athlete's legacy. They then reflect on their progress by completing a self-assessment. 

Does the influence of interest groups harm a political system? Your class members will analyze the role of interest groups in American politics, as well as consider the effect of perspective, bias, loyalty, and the...

Should countries use their militaries to stop humanitarian crises in other countries? Learners make claims, organize their reasoning, and provide evidence for their arguments with this rich resource.

After reading Elvira Woodruff's George Washington's Socks, young readers and writers embark upon writing their own historically based story, with a focus on developing ideas and details throughout the piece. In small groups, class...

Eleventh graders, in groups, pre-write, draft, edit and revise a murder mystery short story to hone their skills in short story drafting, editing and revision, group collaboration and computer usage. They also evaluate writing for both...

Here is a handy guide for putting together a research report on birds, or on a selection of other topics (see the added materials.). Individuals are guided to think of three questions about their topic, they narrow down subtopics, use a...

Insert text box here. Learners use index cards to create their own informational text boxes. The text box includes information about an insect in the rainforest. Scholars also complete the draft of their research science journal entries.

Big news isn't necessarily newsworthy everywhere! How do journalists decide what to cover with so much happening around them? A instructional activity on media literacy examines the factors that affect the media's choice of stories to...

The possibilities for effective collaboration, editing, and peer review are endless with Google Docs! This organized lesson plan details how to walk class members through establishing their Google Drive accounts, creating and sharing...

Pitch your best news story to your news team, or the peers in your journalism class, with a lesson about finding, reporting, and presenting a story. After watching clips of different examples, as well as strategies for finding...

The third and final lesson in the Reporting series tests young journalists' ability to be objective in reporting contentious topics. After brainstorming a list of contentious topics that interest them, the class selects one, and...

Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...

Add your final touches! Seventh graders finish the final draft of the brochure they began in the previous activity. They then reflect by talking with other learners to discuss their work. Peers talk about the choices they made in layout...

Video games may not be so bad after all. As scholars read the text "The Many Benefits, for Kids, of Playing Video Games," they summarize the gist in their researchers' notebooks. Next, pupils draft supporting research questions based on...

Take note. Scholars receive their claim drafts back to revise and write their claims and three pieces of evidence on notecards. They save the notecards to use when the verbally present their claims to the class. At the end, individuals...

Flex those brain muscles! Scholars take a mid-unit assessment, conducting research to take notes about how a particular invention helped meet society's needs. To complete the test, they work on draft sketches for their graphic...

Use this writing and photography lesson plan in your descriptive writing unit. Elementary and middle schoolers write and create a story line incorporating photos from Inspiration or their own personal photos. They experiment with...

Create baseball cards for literary characters with this lesson plan. It introduces students to baseball cards, their components (stats, picture, etc.), and prompts them to draft and publish their own cards based on figures from...

Explore persuasive writing with your middle schoolers. They each choose a place they would like to visit in the United States and do research to determine its features and attractions. Is it worthy of visiting? Using their persuasive...

Students explore the effects of Internet filters in schools. They work in small groups to survey different types of people in the school community about their views on school Internet filters and draft an Internet policy based on their...

Students create journal entries on-line as part of a "Kidlink Day" activity. Entries are compared and evaluated by their peers. The writing process is practiced in this lesson.