EngageNY
Revising: Developing Topic Sentences for My Accessing Books Around the World Informative Paragraph
Revision is an important part of the writing process. Focus on revising topic sentences and details with the plan described here. This is part of a unit, so pupils have already filled out a graphic organizer about traveling libraries...
EngageNY
Paragraph Writing, Part II
Come up with a list of requirements for this expository essay on Esperanza's character in Esperanza Rising as a class and use the list to guide class writing. Here, learners will complete the first paragraph, discuss their notes for the...
EngageNY
Paragraph Writing, Part 1: How Esperanza Responds on the Train (Revisiting Chapter 5: "Las Guayabas/Guavas")
When your class members have completed the novel Esperanza Rising, they will be ready to write an expository essay on how Esperanza responds to events and what this says about her character. Set your pupils up for success by starting out...
EngageNY
Revising: Strong Conclusions for My Accessing Books Around the World Informative Paragraph
It's important that writers leave their readers with a strong and satisfying conclusion. Help your young writers develop the skills to compose a concluding sentence with the steps outlined here. After class members have had a chance to...
EngageNY
Writing a First Draft: Accessing Books Around the World Informative Paragraph
Supervise the final drafting of a well-organized paragraph by following the steps outlined in this plan. Using the included sample paragraph as a model, class members brainstorm criteria for quality work and then compose their paragraphs...
EngageNY
Informative Paragraph Pre-Assessment: What Is One Reason You Want the Power of Reading?
This writing pre-assessment has minimal instruction but maximum support and encouragement. It begins with a review of the book, Rain School, through a think-pair-share and small group discussion. The discussion focuses on the idea that...
Curated OER
Writing Organizers
Eight graphic organizers to choose from? That's right! Each of these organizers relates to writing or reading. From narrowing a writing topic, to responding to literature, to planning a writing project, you'll find many purposes for...
Curated OER
Heartsongs Poetry by Mattie Stepanek
Use Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsongs book of poetry to inspire young poets to write about their own lives, experiences, and feelings. After reading the introduction to Mattie’s book, in which he talks about himself and his reasons for...
Curated OER
Ancient Egypt
Pupils complete a series of activities to discover life in ancient Egypt. They create want ads for pyramid workers, design vocabulary flash cards and dictionaries, and research famous Egyptians. They also research the "Curse of the...
Curated OER
Tornado Brainstorming
While the focus of this instructional activity is on writing about tornadoes, any topic could be substituted. The instructional activity provides a well-thought out overview of the writing process. Learners come up with a thesis...
Student Handouts
Five-paragraph Essay Organizer
Some learners just feel more comfortable with very explicit directions. The directions on this template for a five-paragraph essay are very explicit and detail the content and order of each paragraph to be crafted. Color coding reveals...
Curated OER
Topic Sentences and Supporting Facts
Third graders write a paragraph. In this topic sentences lesson students are read the book The Matzah Man: A Passover Story and try Matzah bread in class. Afterward the students write a detailed paragraph about Passover.
Curated OER
What is a Paragraph? Part Two
Paragraphs are simply visual cues to separate information. Briefly display the different types of paragraph organization with these slides. A good tool for beginning readers and writers.
Curated OER
Find the Main Idea: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
An excerpt from Willa Cather's O Pioneer's! provides learners with practice in finding the main idea and supporting details in a narrative. As readers record the bleak details on the included graphic organizer, they can conclude that...
EngageNY
Text-Dependent Questions Text-Dependent Questions and Making a Claim: Digging Deeper into Paragraphs 12–14 of Steve Jobs’ Commencement Address (and connecting to Chapter 9)
Readers draw connections between Bud, Not Buddy and Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford University commencement address and cite evidence from the two texts to support their analysis.
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Close Reading of Thank You, Mr. Falker: Identifying the Superpowers of Reading
Third graders read excepts from the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker in order to gain practice in understanding an unfamiliar story by focusing on the details. They use a worksheet, embedded in the plan, which directs them to certain...
Curated OER
Main Idea and Supporting Details
Eighth graders identify the main idea and supporting details in paragraphs. In this language arts lesson plan, 8th graders review organizational patterns in paragraphs and determine which pattern is best for a given situation. ...
Curated OER
The Great Paragraph Race
Students construct and analyze paragraphs. In groups, students place given sentences in order to form a paragraph. They determine the main idea of the paragraph. Students perform activities to determine the concept of topic sentence,...
Curated OER
Teacher of the Year
Now is the time to identify the great teachers in your school! Discuss the characteristics of persuasive writing and analyze an example. Then, each pupil chooses a teacher who they feel should be named teacher of the year. They plan and...
Curated OER
Contemporary Civic-life Issue Research Based Essay
Seventh graders write a five paragraph persuasive essay on a contemporary civic-life issue.
Curated OER
Writing Topic Sentences
In this writing worksheet, students read a topic sentence or supporting details of ten paragraph. Students fill in the missing information to create a complete outline.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 27
Crafting a clear and cohesive conclusion to any piece of writing is crucial. An effective conclusion restates the central claim in the introduction, briefly summarizes the supporting claims, and presents a new way of thinking about the...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 25
After analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence they have recorded on their argument outline tool, writers draft their essay's first body paragraphs, ensuring they have properly cited their source material.
Curated OER
Paragraph Matching
In this paragraph worksheet, students focus on the usage of a topic sentence and supporting details. Students cut out 6 topic sentences and 6 main body sentences. Students must match each topic to its supporting details.