Curated OER
Lesson Learned: Creating a Life Reports Project
Tap into the wisdom and knowledge of older members of the community with this New York Times plan. To warm up, learners write about and discuss advice they have been given. After reading "The Life Report," an op-ed column that asks older...
Curated OER
D.E.W. (Drop Everything and Write!)
Young scholars gather, determine validity and reliability of, analyze and organize information. They employ the most effective format for purpose and audience. Students write fully developed paragraphs that have details and information...
Spreading Gratitude Rocks
Gratitude Bank
Money isn't the only type of currency that fills a piggy bank. Learners practice filling their banks with the the things that make them grateful. Pupils write about their talents, relationships, challenges, and life skills, making...
Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character
Charlotte's Web: A Story About Friendship
Strengthen the bonds of friendship within your class with a reading of E.B. White's award-winning novel, Charlotte's Web. Focusing on the unique characters in the story and the relationships they develop, young readers draw...
Curated OER
How can we write a silly story?
Second graders use the writing process and create a silly story. In this silly story instructional activity, 2nd graders will review person, event and setting and complete a chart for each. Students will put a person,...
Curated OER
Sight Word Journal writing
Students write an original journal of words they can read. In this sight words lesson plan, students draw pictures and write words they recognize in their personal journal.
Curated OER
Ten Prompts for Student Writing
Build writing skills and creative thinking. Writers are given a variety of thought-provoking writing prompts to choose from. After they choose what they will write about they share their pieces with the class.
Curated OER
Using Dreams in Writing
C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength provides the model for using dreams in narrative writing. After a discussion of the purpose of dreams in Lewis’s tale, class members craft a story in which their dreams play an essential role.
Curated OER
The Diary of Anne Frank
Sixth graders explore journal writing. In this writing lesson plan, 6th graders use the published diaries of Anne Frank and discuss the entries in her journal. Students write in their own journal for a week and create a one page summary...
The New York Times
Getting Personal: Writing College Essays for the Common Application
Develop an understanding of the open-ended questions that are a part of the college Common Application. Future college learners collaborate, discuss prompts acquired from the application, and philosophize on their plan of attack for the...
EngageNY
Blending Informative and Narrative Writing: Transforming Research Notes into Field Journal Entries
The fabulous four. Scholars learn the four key components for creating an excellent journal entry. They then work to create a journal entry rubric and participate in a mini lesson about organizing and outlining journal entries.
EngageNY
Planning Ideas: Developing a Colonial Character Profile
The second lesson in a historical fiction series encourages pupils to develop a character profile of a colonial person using research acquired in the previous unit. Learners prepare their historical fiction narrative by responding to a...
Curated OER
Wagons West
Students assume the personality of a pioneer on a wagon train and create daily journals. In this journal writing lesson, students read excerpts from The Way West: Journal of a Pioneer Woman. Students use their...
Curated OER
A New Life, a New Home
Young scholars connect with an immigration unit through research, journal writing, digital photography, and a movie production using iMovie. By acting out the immigrant's experience, students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation...
Curated OER
Personal Responsibility
Students write in their journals. In this writing and responsibility lesson, students write about personal responsibility. They have three writing choices to choose from that all deal with this central theme.
EngageNY
Writing Narratives from First Person Point of View: Imagining Meg Lowman’s Rainforest Journal
I spy with my little eye! Learners observe page 23 in The Most Beautiful Roof in the World and practice what they would add to a field journal. They discuss how details from the text help add to their thoughts. To finish,...
Scholastic
Connecting with Ruby Bridges
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...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing for Publication
Seventh graders create an original narrative story in a diary or journal format involving a fictional character with conflict, plot, resolution and falling action within the story line. They follow the steps of the writing process with...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 4
Chapter 3 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X discusses how central ideas are developed in a narrative. Readers use the provided annotated bookmark to record evidence of ideas such as racial identity, integration/separation, and systemic...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 5
Zoot suits, the Lindy hop, and conks. Readers carefully examine the rhetoric of chapter 4 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, analyze the effectiveness of using slang to develop a narrative, and consider how they might incorporate Haley's...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 3
Using questions they developed, class groups discuss Chapter 2 of Malcolm X's autobiography, focusing on the individuals and events Malcolm X feels contributed to his character development.
Curated OER
Iditarod Experience Journal
Students use online race updates of the Iditarod race and musher information to create a journal that one of the racers might have kept while participating in the race between Anchorage and Nome.
Curated OER
Journal of a Virtual Expedition
Students journey with Lewis and Clark. In this literature instructional activity, students read The Journal of Augustus Pellitier-The Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804. Students keep a journal in the persona of a member of the expedition...
Orange County Department of Education
Poppa's New Pants
Angela Shelf Medearis' Poppa's New Pants provides third graders with an opportunity to stitch together their own narrative filled with sensory details. After reading the story and noting the sensory and concrete details in the tale...