After giving students the writing topic "A Special Day that I Remember, give students ten to fifteen minutes to write on the topic. Then tell them they will be revising their "Special Day" prompt writing, but first they will listen to...

Links to 18 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard W.3.2a: Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

Lesson which provides three types of reports for early elementary students to share. These allow young students to see themselves as writers with something useful to contribute from an early age.

Links to 12 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard W.3.2b: Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

Students will take a previously created paragraph and edit it to make it better by adding details, definitions, a topic sentence, or a closure to an informational paragraph. Resources include a PowerPoint presentation and pictures and...

This is a tutorial which focuses on how to narrow the topic for expository writing, how to determine what information to keep or eliminate, and what questions to ask yourself. Students respond to questions throughout. A comparison is...

This tutorial explains point of view in informational texts. Students will learn how to analyze multiple accounts of the same topic or event and identify similarities and differences in different points of view.

This article by Byron Walsh focuses on writing a talking points paper for a public speaker which consists of researched, accurate information provided in bulleted lists with follow up sentences on specific topics.

Students are provided with an eight-step process for completing academic writing on historic topics. Steps include understanding the topic, making an argument, organizing information and supporting details, and other important writing...

An excellent resource for anyone looking to write in the literary genre of mystery, especially for children. Includes helpful information and tips for writers on topics such as publishing and content.

An excellent tip sheet on how to write and create the bulk of a research paper: the body includes in-depth information, examples, as well as links to earlier steps in the process such as thesis statements, notecards, outline,...

The research process can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming! After you complete this self-guided unit, you will be well prepared to write a research paper. You will learn how to choose a topic, evaluate the reliability...

Translated into Spanish, this graphic organizer can be used by student to collect facts about a topic. Students will collect information but record the "gold standard" of facts only.

This site provides information about characters, plot, and setting of several different pieces of literature. It offers links to activities and tests on topic such as analysis and evaluation, creation and production, drama, novels, and...

This 35-minute interactive tutorial models the research process via the story of Quentin, a UMUC student. It takes him through the various research process steps: understand how to locate background information on his topic by showing...

A comprehensive list of the important steps in researching and writing a report or project. Includes links to tip sheets for each step.

This is a two-page PDF of the instructions for a Medieval Diary Multimedia Project. Students choose a character from an Arthurian legend and write a diary as the character. It provides instructions, topics for discussion, format choices,...

The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp. Students realize that the narrative impulse underlies even...

Activities and an easy to read biography on President Barack Obama for the elementary student. With printable activity pages; including cloze activities, synonym sheets, essay topics and more! Also includes links to information on the...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Learners will learn to compare and contrast texts about life cycles using a Venn diagram. Then, using the Venn diagram, students will write an expository paragraph including an introductory sentence,...

Two PowerPoint presentations and a video [2:57] on comparing and contrasting literary and informational texts as well as how to write a literary analysis. Includes links to external resources.

This article introduces the concept of blogs, gives links to blogs that deal with topics in education, ideas for using blogs for student writing and information on setting up your own blog. After reading this article you should be able...

Many facts about Mars are presented on this comprehensive site. Planet size, surface, length of day, orbit, atmosphere, moons, are a sampling of the many topics discussed on this site. You will also find an activity book, a quiz, a...

This thorough site presents a wealth of facts about the fifth largest planet. Topics you will find discussed include size, mass and gravity, length of day, orbit, moons, and more. Various Jupiter activities are found on this site such as...