Eleventh graders, in groups of three, improve their descriptive writing skills by receiving a numbered potato. They write a description of their potato without disclosing the number. Groups take turns trying to guess which potato is...

How do you determine an author’s purpose? You ask the author, of course. Invite a local journalist into the class to respond to scripted student questions about his/her writing process. A review of basic classroom etiquette is also...

After discussing the main events in Mr. Popper’s Penguins, young writers describe in sequence what they would do if they had 12 penguins living in their house. The narratives are then glued onto a penguin cut-out, mounted on construction...

The ninth in a fourteen-lesson series, this plan marks a sort of midpoint in a unit devoted to the study of short stories. Pupils learn about theme and work on their short story projects by adding to their blogs, checking in with the...

Students, after reviewing and drilling on a unique vocabulary list of terms, analyze the proper procedures for fire, crime or medical emergencies. They examine how to stay calm and collected during such emergencies and why its important...

Third graders have fun using descriptive words in an expository format to describe a food that they hate. They utilize a planning worksheet that's imbedded in this plan before they begin their drafts.

Students learn the importance of business writing, including content and presentation. They improve their usage of punctuation and commas.

Fourth graders practice using a planning sheet for a well-known fairy tale or picture book.

Students analyze and practice with safety scenarios how to follow simple generic work rules with safety procedures in the United States to insure a safe workplace. In addition, they practice certain commands experienced at the workplace...

Fourth graders write a "how to..." or an expository essay on building a snowman. They practice giving directions by explaining how to draw a person using shapes without mentioning that it's a person being drawn. They revise through the...

Students engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the concepts related to writing lesson plans for the elementary Social Studies class. They are introduced to the lesson planning template and create an initial...

Fifth graders identify and write similes. They define simile and discuss different examples, and with the help of a thesaurus, write original similes that compare the colors of crayons to objects or feelings. Students copy their rough...

Students investigate classroom rules, procedures and expectations given by the teacher. They discuss the analogy of needing ingredients and supplies to bake a pie and needing ingredients and supplies to do their school work. Throughout...

Using Claude Monet's On the Bank of the Seine as inspiration, young artists create their own postcards. During the lesson plan, learners discuss the techniques used in Monet's painting, as well as the woman in the painting, and...

Sixth graders examine the elements of writing poetry. In this creative writing lesson, 6th graders discuss a book of poetry in the setting of Appalachia. Students incorporate childhood experiences into the development of visual and...

Conduct a close reading of chapter 9 of The Cay. Read the chapter again and ask pupils to respond to a list of included text-dependent questions. Finish the class with the provided writing assignment, which asks learners to use textual...

As learners continue to examine a short story of their choice, they take some time to look at analysis completed by others on the same story. In the eleventh lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils explore various sites for literary...

Young scholars practice basic Palm skills. They play a game in which they start to write a story on their Palm and then pass it to the next student, who continues the story, and so on.

Fourth graders participate in an observation hike in this lesson. They orally share observations from their hike, and develop a paragraph in a shared writing exercise. Finally, the write their paragraph about process writing in their...

Fifth graders work together to make simple menus more interesting by adding descriptive words. This plan works well with the Six Traits of Writing as it covers the trait of word choice. This is a really fun way for students to practice...

Tenth graders write a poem. In this poetry lesson, 10th graders read the poem The Road Not Taken written by Robert Frost, answer discussion questions, add new stanzas to the poem and share them with the class.

Students explore the issues of urban and suburban sprawl. They work in small groups to create their own planned communities.

Students write a story centered around their favorite TV show. For this story writing lesson, students share their favorite TV shows and discuss their favorite characters. Students draw pictures that illustrate a story in which they are...

Students talk about being a good citizen and what it means to them.  For this citizenship lesson, students read, Arthur Meets the President and discuss the aspects of the book as they go along.  Students brainstorm a list of...