Step into the great outdoors and develop young scientists' skills of observation with a nature journaling activity. Given a specific focus or goal, children practice making and recording observations of nature through written...

Writers participate in a unique form of environmental writing and deepen their connections to nature through journaling. They generate new ideas and thoughts that they can use for continued nature journaling and explore a variety of...

Engage your class in writing right away during the month of March. This resource provides writing prompts for every day in March, and each is decorated with a shamrock. For most of the prompts, learners use creative writing skills,...

In this milk and monarch butterfly mania journal entry worksheet, students write a scientific journal entry about the milkweed plant, using the information from another linked website.  This worksheet includes many links to other...

Young scholars create a digital journal every week using adapted technology that depicts the chosen focus for the week. In this digital journaling lesson, students search for items that depict the focus of the week and take photos. Young...

Students organize daily news with this journaling activity.

Youngsters construct a map of treasures that they find along a nature trail as they hike. They also make sketches and create place names of some of the spots along the trail. Once back in class, pupils use their treasure maps to help...

Twenty prompts, fifteen starters, and ten situations. What more could you ask for from a list of journal ideas?

Home in on the quote on this page to explore setting, the author's and character's voices, and plot in Willa Cather's My Antonia. Pupils draw a picture of what is described in the quote, discuss the content, and make connections to their...

Students investigate the history of America with the help of children's literature. The story is structured as a timeline that begins at the time of Columbus and progresses to the present. The teacher reads the story with the class and...

How would you feel if you were on trial for murder—and you were only 16 years old? Put yourself in Steve Harmon's shoes before reading Monster by Walter Dean Myers. Kids listen to music that fits the theme of the book before...

The words of Henry David Thoreau on Civil Disobedience seem particularly relevant today, as are his writings and those of other transcendental thinkers who ask what it mean to live deliberately and what are the responsibilities of...

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...

Students explore U.S. geography by completing an observational activity with classmates. For this New Mexico lesson, students research the Chihuahuan Desert by visiting several Internet sites. Students write the data they've collected in...

Need some possible writing topics for your class? Look no further, this resource consists of a list of 24 writing prompts. Perfect for journal writing or quick writes, all 24 prompts ask about pupils' personal experiences and thus elicit...

"People never notice anything." As part of their study of The Catcher in the Rye, class members adopt Holden Caulfield's approach and spend time as quiet observers of their surrounding, recording their observations/reflections in a...

The class is presented with an image of a hand-carved leg. They act as art historians and hypothesize as to the purpose, nature, and creators of this amazing wooden leg. They compose journal entries from the point of view of an art...

Look carefully. Scholars practice observing and recording the natural world around them by looking out a window or viewing an image. Learners discuss how their experience compares to that of Meg Lowman in The Most Beautiful Roof in the...

Tenth graders identify and interpret modern poetry through exploration with guided instruction. Students use the Encarta Encylcopedia site to explore further modern poetry and locate poetry that inspires them. Students identify themes...

Poetry Soup, a reading and writing unit constructed by the Petrified Forest National Park, will have scholars hungry to learn about nature. The cross-content unit contains topics related to history, science, and language arts. Content...

If you're looking to start a unit based around narrative writing, make sure to consider this resource while you're planning. This book covers five topics: writing personal narratives, writing narratives about others, writing...

"How are belief systems represented and reproduced through nature?" This essential question guides lesson 6 of this unit on The Odyssey (the rest of the unit is linked). Students first write about a scenario in which they are...

Students examine the meaning of generosity and how sharing can be a cultural trait. In this cultural trait lesson, students read a text about the culture of generosity in Africa. Students complete a discussion activity and journal activity.