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Giving Thanks for Food and Farms
Sarah Stewart’s The Gardener and Food from Farms by Nancy Dickmann display the importance of community farms. After reading these short picture books, class members draw connections between farms and the food we eat each day. As a...
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Thomas Jefferson's Library: Making the Case for a National Library
Students examine the need for a national library. For this Library of Congress lesson, students analyze primary sources to investigate the persuasive techniques that Thomas Jefferson used in a letter meant to show his...
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Powers of Persuasion
Did you know that clothing and textiles can be recycled, just like glass, paper, aluminum, and plastic? Pupils are introduced to textile recycling and design persuasive posters or letters that raise awareness about this unique...
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Persuasive Essay PowerPoints
Students address issues important to them by creating a PowerPoint presentation. For this persuasive writing lesson, students discuss issues with their classmates that they wish to address through a persuasive essay they will...
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Capital Letters and Small Letters
Students identify capital and lowercase letters. In this writing lesson plan, students work independently to write lowercase letters and capital letters and practice writing the alphabet in order.
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Georgia Performance Standards Framework for ELA Unit 3-7th Grade
Seventh graders explore persuasive writing using the city life and the country life as focus topics. In this persuasion lesson, 7th graders read "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse" in an attempt to determine the pros and cons of both...
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Persuasive Vegetables
In groups, write persuasive essays telling people whether or not they should be eating vegetables.
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The Art of Persuasion-Analysis of Argument
Analyze advertising techniques in order to pinpoint persuasive strategies that writers use. These same techniques are then examined in persuasive speeches. You will have to find your own advertisements, but speeches are included. Finish...
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Identify and Discuss the Author's Purpose
Examine author's purpose in a persuasive text using this scaffolded plan. You essentially have a verbatim script here, but it can definitely be used as an outline instead. Review questions that readers should ask themselves when...
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Making an Argument: Effective use of Transition Words
Work on using transition words in context by prompting elementary and middle schoolers to write their own persuasive essays using transition words. They explore new forms of transition words and examine how they are used in an editorial...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Informational Writing
Emerging writers identify an informational piece of writing. They are provided with examples of informational writing and view a PowerPoint on narrative writing. Then, they design their own informational writing with a brochure,...
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How Would You Feel?
Sixth graders put themselves in the shoes of aborigines who were displaced from their homes in the 1800s by Europeans who came in and took their land from them. They discuss the social injustices suffered by these people, and write...
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Persuasion
Young scholars explore the characteristics of a persuasive letter. They label each characteristic and they create a persuasive letter using the correct business letter format. Students recommend a school rule or change of a rule and...
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Persuasive Letter about Smoking
Students write a persuasive letter to someone they care about who smokes. They must use both logical and emotional appeals in their letter.
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Rubrics for Assessing Student Writing, Listening, and Speaking Middle School
This is a fantastic collection of a wide variety of rubrics for writing, listening, and speaking! The resource contains over 14 rubrics for assessing such items as a summary, autobiographical sketch and narrative, speech, oral...
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Romeo and Juliet: To Tell, or Not to Tell
Should Romeo and Juliet have revealed their engagement to their parents? After reading Acts I and II of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, your class discusses this question with a SMARTboard presentation (though the lesson still works...
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Global Warming and Climate Change
Students explore the environment by writing a persuasive letter. In this global warming lesson, students identify the key problems with our energy consumption in the United States. Students complete worksheets and write a letter...
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Writing Letters for Human Rights
Pupils draft and edit a letter regarding human rights. They work in groups to select a cause, follow basic letter writing guidelines and draft a persuasive letter expressing their concerns. Students can also send the letters to a...
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Cows That Type Friendly Letters
Students engage in a lesson that introduces the parts of a letter. The lesson is taught using a powerpoint presentation with the purpose of integrating technology into instruction. Students create a letter and thinking map to challenge...
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Writing a Political Leader
Learners investigate politics by writing a formal letter. In this U.S. Government lesson plan, students discuss political issues they would like to address and research their topic using the Internet. Learners locate an appropriate...
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Writing - The Persuasive Essay
Students, in groups, work together to develop a five-paragraph essay that defends the group's viewpoint on an assigned topic. Each student in the group writes one paragraph.
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Identifying author's purpose
Why is it important to know an author's purpose? After reviewing the three main purposes of writing, seventh graders write a persuasive letter to convince why summer school is better than taking the summer off. They can then join in a...
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Effective Letter Writing
Students explore letter writing. In this persuasive writing lesson, students write a letter to a local organization based on a topic of their choice. Students employ the correct letter writing procedure as outlined in the...
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Environmentally Friendly
What can your pupils do to promote better conditions for wildlife? After researching issues around wildlife management, class members use the Internet to locate three different organizations devoted to protecting wildlife. They then...