Investigate letters to the editor and their persuasive qualities. Break your class into reading groups and give each one a different article. As they read, they complete a graphic organizer to record their thoughts and opinions. There is...

As your class finishes the novel Dragonwings, use these culminating projects. A vocabulary list is given for chapters eleven and twelve and either an epitaph or letter activity concludes the book. The final project consists of creating a...

Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...

In this opinion and facts worksheet, students write the opinion and facts of letters to the editor that are for and against a candidate running for office. Students also write the propaganda technique used and example of an endorsement...

Students examine methods for overcoming writer's block. They complete a worksheet, write personal statements, and participate in a class discussion.

Three lessons delve deep into the topic of feelings and the importance of expressing one's emotions. Through grand conversation, hands-on learning experiences, and reflective writing, scholars interpret the ups and downs of everyday...

Learners examine the art of Edward Ruscha and make a three-dimensional model of a single word. They explore shading and value, and create a drawing of the model. They render ribbon strip letters in varied values to show 3-D quality.

A biography writing lesson with a tasty twist! Kids create a "visual biography" in which each pizza slice represents a paragraph, and toppings represent supporting details. They learn research techniques, note-taking skills, and how to...

Students practice color coding in their writing. For this writing lesson, students work on a new technique to help with them with their formation of letters and numbers.

Students write a letter to the editor of a newspaper about the bicycle helmet safety issue. They gather statistics about bicycle helmet use and discuss the statistics as a class and explain how to interpret the numbers accurately. They...

In this propaganda techniques worksheet, young scholars write the technique next to the sentence read by a candidate. Students complete 12 problems.

Fourth graders read stories and pick one with characters they find interesting. Then students create a dialogue of writing a letter from one character to another. The letter must relate to the original story in some way that can easily...

Second graders practice writing. In this five senses writing lesson plan, 2nd graders describe their experience on the field trip they took to the zoo. They work as a class and independently to come up with different things they saw,...

Students examine the need for a national library. In this Library of Congress lesson, students analyze primary sources to investigate the persuasive techniques that Thomas Jefferson used in a letter meant to show his...

Students explore techniques of persuasive writing. In this persuasive writing lesson, students examine primary sources regarding the sale of Thomas Jefferson private library to Congress. Students write their own persuasive letters...

Second graders will write a story. In this writing and meteorology lesson, 2nd graders read the story Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, then use KidPix to create a weather picture. The picture is imported into a word processor and the...

Budding poets create two acrostic poems, one for their name and another using a word of their choice. Over the course of five days, scholars compose, revise, publish, and share their work with their peers.

Being a historian requires serious sleuthing. They examine primary source documents and look for evidence, for clues that reveal who wrote the document, when, and why. After watching two historians model the process, young history...

Betty Botter and Theophilus Thistle provide models for willy writers to wrestle words into tricky tongue twisters. 

Students explore writing as an agent for social change. In this Social Studies lesson plan, students examine the power of writing using Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  Students will practice the technique of persuasive...

First graders listen to the story The Hungry Caterpillar, then sequentially organize their own re-writing and re-creating of the story. They construct illustrations for their book using the collage technique Eric Carle used in his...

Students produce calligraphy projects using writing skills and unique tools in this six-day Art activity. Emphasis is placed upon the work of Portland, Oregon calligraphy artist Inga Dubay and her experiences with "Italic" writing...

Analyze advertising techniques in order to pinpoint persuasive strategies that writers use. These same techniques are then examined in persuasive speeches. You will have to find your own advertisements, but speeches are included. Finish...

Models of and directions for how to write 20 different types of poems are featured in an NCTE resource. The introduction to each form highlights the embedded concepts. For example, tongue twisters encourage poets to use alliteration and...