Learners use the author's writing as a model to achieve vivid description and engaging humor in compositions of their own. They examine the ways a writer can capture and hold a reader's attention and write a short personal narrative...

Fifth graders utilize the library in order to find the answers to three questions about The Revolutionary War. In this writing and library skills instructional activity, 5th graders pretend they are a Spy, and write the answers in a...

The documentary, The Legendary King of San Miguel Island, introduces the fascinating tale of Herb Lester, his family, and their life on San Miguel Island. Viewers have an opportunity to expand their study of the island and of...

The motto for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry warns that one should never tickle a sleeping dragon, but learners will definitely be tickled by the activities in a packet of materials designed to accompany a reading of the...

Experiment with multimedia storytelling. After watching a segment of American Family, first, middle and high schoolers tell a story about their families, clarifying the setting, characters, and script. They work on setting...

Help your seventh graders relate the ELA Common Core standards to their own learning with these "I Can" statement posters. Each standard has been translated into a statement that pupils can understand and placed on its own page for...

Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess,...

When Ruby Bridges entered an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960, she also entered history. Scholars consider what the experience must have been like for the young girl using two books that document her experience as well as a double...

Students research the lives of the Mirabel sisters, complete related graphic organizers, and watch the movie, "In the Time of the Butterflies." They write a narrative essay about one event in the Mirabel sisters' lives.

Students explore poetry and its meaning. After reading poems, students explore the literary elements such as the setting, character, problem, events and resolution. They compare and contrast descriptions given in poems. Students...

Students use a rubric to analyze their neighborhood and write a persuasive essay about changes that should be made. For this writing lesson, students use a rubric to grade their neighborhood and brainstorm improvements. Students write a...

Tenth graders experiment with poetry devices to write poems. In this poetry instructional activity, 10th graders participate in learning stations. Students create a word pool and select a word from the list to create a line of poetry....

Images can inspire powerful writing. Engage your class in narrative writing with the idea included here. Individuals each snap a digital photograph that includes action. The teacher then mixes these up and hands each class member a photo...

Analyze the use of balanced sentences and parallelism in a narrative. Included in this resource is a narrative about serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan titled, "The Train Ride Home". Middle and high schoolers review...

Students study Norman Borlaug. For this reading and math lesson, students research Norman Borlaug's work and write a narrative interview with Borlaug. Students complete a variety of activities using wheat stalks.

Seventh graders experience the satisfaction of writing for a purpose; their self-selected piece be published for an audience. They write using techniques appropriate to the selected genre.

Students read stories from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and create their own tale. In this writing applications lesson, students read the tales and analyze the specific details that Chaucer use. Students work in groups to...

Where does inspiration come from? Where do writers get their ideas? What about visual artists? A PowerPoint and a video introduce middle schoolers to children's author and illustrator Eric Carle and how he found inspiration in the work...

Ninth graders practice the elements of narration. In this narration lesson, 9th graders complete learning profile activities to address kinesthetic learners, artistic learners, musical learners, and interpersonal learners. Students work...

Students examine the battle of Gettysburg as they write news articles. In this Battle of Gettysburg lesson, students become familiar with the job of the news reporter as they report on the events of the Battle of Gettysburg as they...

Oskar Schell's narrative about his expedition to find out more about his father serves as a model for writers who are crafting their own narratives. Class members choose two characters from the novel and collect examples of the methods...

Sixth graders provide a writing experience based on their own lives. The components of the writing process will be emphasized as well as narrative writing experiences. They then will publish their autobiography on the computer and use...

Eighth graders write a three part dialogue as part of an effective memoir.  In this three part dialogue lesson, 8th graders are given two parts of a dialogue and emotions that accompany the words.  Students then create the...

Through an informative WebQuest and group work, learners explore the human body and cell structure. They create a cell diagram, research a disease, write a letter explaining the causes of human disease, and work in small groups to create...