Curated OER
Writing Process-- Revision and Editing
As guided practice, class members work together to revise a model persuasive paragraph. Then they practice independently with their own writing. The included rubric looks at prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, nonfiction text...
Dream of a Nation
Writing an Analytic Essay
After researching an issue introduced in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, writers develop an original thesis statement and craft an analytic essay using evidence collected in their research.
Curated OER
Writing a Newspaper-Style Article
Help your secondary reader/writers assess texts by studying press releases from Statistics Canada and drafting articles based on them. They then compare the press release, their own articles, and actual news stories they find online. I'd...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Focus: Writing a Brief Research Paper
If you are planning on working on a research paper in your class, take a look at this resource first. Starting off with information about plagiarism, the series of activities briefly described here should give your pupils a general idea...
K20 LEARN
Writing An Argumentative Paragraph: Argumentative Writing
Learning how to craft a cogent argument based on a solid claim, supported with evidence and solid reasoning, is an important life skill. Teach middle schoolers about argumentative writing with a lesson asking them to analyze the claims,...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Curated OER
Creating a Newspaper
Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...
Curated OER
Writing to a Specific Topic
After a class discussion where learners make predictions about what will happen in a book based on its cover illustration, pupils are asked to compose a written response about an aspect of the story and include some of their own...
American Press Institute
In the Newsroom: The Fairness Formula
Reporting the news is easy, right? Think again! Show young scholars the difficult choices journalists make every day through a lesson that includes reading, writing, and discussion elements. Individuals compare the language and sources...
Curated OER
We Are All Authors: Create a Book
Every child is an author with this engaging reading activity. First the class reviews the various parts of a book such as the title, author, dedication, and author-biography. Then each individual will choose a story of their own to...
Curated OER
We Are All Authors
Read and discuss a variety of books by different authors and have your class create their own book. They will identify the different parts of a book, then using a story they have already written, they enter their story and information...
Curated OER
Digital Storytelling
Sixth graders write a creative story and turn it into a digital storybook. For this digital storytelling lesson, 6th graders write a creative story, illustrate the story, and then use computer technology to turn their story and...
Curated OER
Publisher Brochures
Students create brochures on subjects they are studying in Publisher. In this nonfiction writing lesson, students use Publisher to create a brochure telling all the main ideas of a topic they are studying. Students use text boxes, fonts...
Baruch College Writing Center
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Workshop
What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based on two...
Curated OER
How Logical is Garfield?
Third graders analyze comics found in the newspaper for samples of logical, emotional, and ethical appeal. They write a paragraph for each selected comic strip explaining how the comic strip represents the use of logic, emotions, or ethics.
Curated OER
Cloudy Days Are for Reading and Writing
Learners consider a variety of well-known proverbs that refer to the weather. They research the scientific validity of these proverbs, conduct interviews about public perception of the proverbs and summarize their findings in writing.
Curated OER
Louisiana Cinquains
Students enhance their understanding of parts of speech by writing a cinquain poem about Louisiana. For this cinquain poem lesson, students read example cinquain poems and study the format for a cinquain poem. Students create a class...
Curated OER
The Land and the Water
Third graders read "The Land and the Water," a fictional short story and an article about John F. Kennedy, Jr. and compare and contrast fictional tragedy to a non-fiction tragedy. They fill out a Venn diagram and write an essay using...
Curated OER
Raising the Titanic
Ninth graders research the history of a person who was aboard the Titanic and write about the part he/she played in the world's greatest maritime disaster.
Curated OER
Start Book
Students review their notes, drawings, photos and writing from the field trip to share with the whole group. They make a fiction or nonfiction storybook as a group. They include writing from all students and can include artwork and...
Curated OER
Visualizing Jazz Scenes From the Harlem Renaissance
Students identify themes of selected nonfiction, fiction, poetry and art to Harlem Renaissance jazz and describe the impact of jazz on African-American literature of the Harlem Renaissance
Curated OER
Freedom and You
Students research the American Revolution. In this Revolutionary War instructional activity, students research facts about the American Revolution, write an expository essay, and peer edit for good content. The paper is suggested to be...
Curated OER
Summing the Disaster
Students assume the role of a newspaper editor during the time of the Titanic disaster. They must search out the accurate answers to the questions: What? When? Where? Who? and Why? students then write their own newspaper article...
Curated OER
Independent Project Selection
Students write research proposals, conduct research and interviews and maintain a log of their work, and draft, revise, and edit final written projects to produce a finished research article.