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Activity
Curated OER

Reading and Writing Skills Activities

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
A straightforward and thorough packet of reading exercises would be a solid addition to any reading unit. With worksheets that address various writing and reading skills, including word roots, narrative writing, evaluating text, and...
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Writing
Curated OER

The Learning Network: The First Middle School Chess Champs

For Students 7th - 8th
Introduce some nonfiction reading into your classroom! This resource contains seven comprehension questions pertaining to an article from The New York Times website about the first middle schoolers to ever win the United States Chess...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Use The Polar Express to Develop Rich and Detailed Writing

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Bring The Polar Express into your middle school classroom to spark the creativity of your emerging writers.
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Activity
Bulgarian Creative Writing Competition

Creative Writing Workshop

For Teachers K - 12th
Looking for suggestions on how to organize a creating writing workshop? For topic suggestions appropriate for various grade levels? Check out a resource packet, designed for English language arts instructors, that is packed with ideas...
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Lesson Plan
2
2
Carnegie Library

Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers. 
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Overcoming Obstacles

Writing Reports

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Following a review of how to research and take notes, scholars define the term paraphrase and identify ways to organize information and finish reports. To put their newfound knowledge to the test, learners interview a peer, take notes,...
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Organizer
1
1
McGraw Hill

Writing Prompts, Student Rubrics, and Sample Responses

For Students 7th Standards
Whether you are teaching mainstream, advanced, or intervention language arts classes, you will find something helpful in a thorough writing packet. It includes prompts, rubrics, responses, helpful hints, graphic organizers, and many...
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Handout
2
2
Learning Express

501 Writing Prompts

For Students 4th - 12th Standards
Never again will you need to worry about coming up with a writing prompt! This packet contains, as it says, 501 prompts that are suitable for fourth graders on up. The prompts are paired into four categories (persuasive, expository,...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Writing Connections: Link Writing to Pupils' Daily Lives

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Engage your learners in writing a set of instructions that relates to their experiences.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stating Your Case: Writing Thesis Statements Effectively

For Teachers 6th - 12th
As a writer, if you have a weak introductory paragraph or thesis statement, you might lose your audience! Have your middle and high schoolers practice writing introductory paragraphs that include clear thesis statements in response to...
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Writing
3
3
K12 Reader

I Have a Dream… Personal Narrative: Writing About Your Dream for the World.

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
How do your pupils want to change the world? Find out with this writing prompt, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s well-known speech. The resource provides the prompt and lines for writing.
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Curated OER

Reading Poetry in the Middle Grades

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Bring the beauty of "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost to middle school language arts. After learners read a copy of the poem, they follow an instructional sequence that focuses on sound, figurative language, and theme.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Around Your School - Bonding Students to Staff

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers participate in an interview of a school employee. In this interview lesson, students develop appropriate interview questions and carry out an interview of a school employee to show that all jobs well done is worthy of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Revising Pronouns and Antecedents

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students choose better pronouns to use in their writing. In this pronouns in writing lesson plan, students identify pronouns in their writing, then replace second person pronouns to improve their writing.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Test Your Writing Skills

For Students 5th - 7th
In this letter writing skills activity, middle schoolers examine 15 phrases from letters and determine whether each phrase is from a formal or informal letter. Good, solid writing practice!
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

How To Use the Six Traits of Writing

For Teachers K - 7th
Use these reference tools to plan and organize the Six Traits of Writing Program.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Viewpoint and Persuasive Writing

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Practice persuasive writing skills in this thorough lesson plan. After selecting issues and discovering viewpoints, middle schoolers write letters or brochures created to express the individual's perspective. The ideas are presented to...
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Lesson Plan
Teachers.net

How to Write a Movie Review from a Pet's Perspective

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
When would two paws up denote a blockbuster film in your classroom? Only when young writers create movie reviews from a pet's perspective in this imaginative expository writing practice. This engaging topic begins with a class discussion...
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Unit Plan
2
2
Digital Education Resource Archive

Narrative Writing Unit

For Students 4th - 7th Standards
Each one of the learners in your class has a story to tell, so help them learn the most efficient and organized way to tell their tale. A thorough unit on narrative writing addresses the writing process, grammar, story structure,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing Pattern Books

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Have your older students assist young children with writing in this community service and literacy instructional activity. Middle schoolers become partners with a local elementary school. They assist the grade school children in writing...
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Assessment
Fluence Learning

Writing Informative Text: Did Shakespeare Write Shakespeare?

For Students 7th Standards
William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...
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Unit Plan
University of Houston

Personal Narratives: Writing, Revising, and Publishing (WRAP)

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Writing is a process, and lesson planning is, too! A personal narrative unit stresses the writing process to pupils, who first examine various stories and poems as a model of autobiographical writing and then write their own stories....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scary Short Story Writing Lesson

For Teachers 6th - 8th
There's nothing like the prospect of writing a scary story to get your middle schoolers' writing juices flowing! In the lesson presented here, pupils listen to scary short stories read to them by the teacher. Then, a discussion ensues...
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Activity
Novelinks

The Martian Chronicles: Response Writing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Follow the format of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with a journal-writing activity. Readers choose a character and examine the character's life and circumstances through brainstorming, research, and discussion before writing a...