The engagement is in the details. Young scholars learn the benefit of weaving descriptive and sensory details into the fabric of their writing through the activities in this lesson. As their hands explore items concealed in bags, a...

Third graders receive Gummi hamburgers. They discuss parts and structure of a (real) hamburger. Students dissect the gummi hamburger and rearrange the pieces. Students discuss the problems that would be caused by this with a real...

In this paragraph writing game, young scholars will take turns trying to make a match between topic sentences and the correct body sentences. This game is played like Concentration/Memory.

How can you foster a thoughtful learning community for your class? First, the class brainstorms a list of behaviors that will help make the classroom a great place to learn. Then learners group similar ideas together and come up with...

Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...

Do your fourth graders need a little help with punctuation? Use this run-on paragraph to demonstrate proofreading for capitalization, punctuation, and separating ideas into separate paragraphs. At the end of the activity, learners...

It's time to proof read! Pupils read and analyze proof paragraphs from a model essay. They then practice writing their own proof paragraphs to express an opinion about offshore oil drilling. 

Let's get colorful! Scholars use the Painted Essay technique to analyze and color code the conclusion of a model essay. Working in small groups, pupils then write a conclusion paragraph for their draft editorials about offshore...

Enjoy the view. Scholars continue viewing a video of an opinion speech, this time identifying the supporting evidence the speaker employs. After watching, they work in small groups on their shared writing projects, crafting a body...

What are some universal aspects of refugees' experiences worldwide and throughout history? Scholars read the text "Refugees: Who, Where, Why" and create two class anchor charts. Finally, they each write a paragraph that provides an...

Writers near the end of the unit and begin working on the end-of-unit assessment. They analyze the prompt and a model performance task. The class then begins creating a rubric for the assessment by writing bullet points from their think...

How do you know what traits a character displays in a story? Learners select a character and find list three traits for this character, explaining why they chose each trait. They then put this information together into a paragraph or essay.

The opportunities are endless with a worksheet containing 24 biographical narrative writing prompts. Although there are no directions or specifications for the writing process, the prompts promote the use of narrative writing...

What factors make adaptation successful for refugee and immigrant children? The class explores the topic by reading two paragraphs from "Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison." Next, they engage in a think-pair-share to discuss...

Read like a writer. Scholars read a model literary analysis in preparation for a similar writing assignment before annotating each paragraph for the gist. Next, pupils devise a list of qualities of a strong literary analysis essay. 

Using a helpful resource, pupils watch a TED Talk of an opinion speech as they consider the criteria for a high-quality introduction. Scholars then engage in a shared writing process with the teacher to practice writing the introduction...

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" Primary graders write about an animal that interests them, describing what it looks like, where it lives, and what it eats.

Around and around we go! Scholars work in groups to connect The Hero's Journey and The Lightning Thief with a Carousel of Quotes activity. They then independently reflect on the two texts and answer questions about how they...

Young scholars are walked through an outline (Power Writing) and shown how to elaborate on a main idea in their writing.

What type of writing is this? Learners read a brief introduction to various types of text: instructions, explanations, poems, folk tales, novels, informative, and arguments. The introduction doesn't explain these, so...

What would Ben do? Jumping off from the pseudonymous letters Ben Franklin fooled his older brother into publishing when he was still a teenager, young literary lovers dive into acting, writing, and addressing a local issue with wit and...

Writers are asked to examine four sentences that contain details and craft a topic sentence for a paragraph that encapsulates the main idea.

Encourage young writers to edit text based on conventions. After reviewing the conventions, fourth graders watch a teacher demonstrate how to revise a paragraph for correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or dialogue. Then, pairs...

With 52 task cards, learners will not run out of things to do with a book they are reading independently or with the class. Tasks include making a poster on a specific topic, writing a summary, drafting a sequel, creating a windsock,...