Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Outline Workshop: Responding to Friendly and Skeptical Questions
Answering questions is the best way to hone and revise your argument. Foster receptive writers with a workshop activity that promotes peer editing and argumentative writing skills. Given lists of both friendly and skeptical questions,...
Scholastic
Thomas Jefferson and Monticello: An Introduction to Writing Historical Fiction
Thomas Jefferson is one of the most recognized names and faces in America—but is there more to the third president of the United States? Upper elementary and middle schoolers conduct research on Jefferson, his famous home at Monticello,...
Museum of Tolerance
Cultural Research Activity
Class members explore cultural diversity through a variety of texts that showcase the importance of traditions. Then, they interview their family members to research their own cultural background and write their findings on quilt pieces....
Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Parts of Argument II: Article Critique
Break down the parts of argumentative writing with a critical thinking activity. High schoolers read an article of your (or their choice), and use a graphic organizer to delineate the ways the author structures his or her arguments.
Curated OER
Talking Heads
After processing notes from research or an interview, middle schoolers turn the information into a script or dialogue for narrative, persuasive, or expository text. Use this instructional activity in any writing unit to reinforce proper...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 7
As the unit on research writing draws to a close, class members continue to revise and edit their papers, this time focusing on grammar, spelling, and punctuation (colon and semicolon).
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 3
Ninth graders hone their research questions in a lesson focusing on accurate search engine techniques. Continuing a unit on inquiry-based learning based on Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation, the lesson guides learners through the...
Curated OER
Leaders, Laborers, and Other Perspectives of World War II
How did the women in France feel about their country’s involvement in World War II? Class groups are assigned a country involved in WWII, and individuals within the group adopt the point of view of leaders, laborers, businessmen, women,...
The New York Times
Reader Idea | Thinking Like a Historian About Current World Events
Check out this fantastic research project where learners work to see the modern world through the eyes of a historian and analyze a contemporary event of their choice. An in-depth reflection on the project is given by the project...
Curated OER
The History of Paper Money
Young scholars research the history of paper money using the Internet in order to answer questions and create their own bills.
Curated OER
Organizing Writing/Composing a First Draft
Does your language arts class have a hard time with writing transitions? Use this organizational writing lesson to create three effective transition sentences that middle schoolers will use in their research of renewable resources.
EngageNY
Writing a Summary: “Middle Ages” Excerpt 2
What is the big idea? Scholars use Middle Ages Excerpt 2 to complete a summary graphic organizer. They then use the information from the organizer to write a summary of the text on lined paper. Learners share summaries with the class.
Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Parts of Argument III: The Claim Game
Throw down with a fun language arts game! Armed with a hand of writing-themed cards, learners craft arguments based on the strategies written on the cards, dropping cards as they discuss their claims further until there are no strategies...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 3
Plagiarism is the theft of intellectual property. To avoid this crime, class members learn how to create a works cited page and how to craft in-text citations. After examining a high-performance model paragraph and an example of a works...
Curated OER
It’s Your Birthday! – Conventions: Revision and Proofreading
Happy birthday! Celebrate everyone's birthday with this writing activity, which prompts seventh graders to research historical events in a country at the time of their birth to create an essay. Working in pairs, they proofread each...
Curated OER
Those Baffling Bibliographies!
Are you working on a research and citation unit? Have your young writers listen to a lecture on how to cite research sources correctly and how to distinguish new information that requires citing. They compile a list of works cited from...
American Immigration Law Foundation
Cesar Chavez and the Mexican-American Field Worker Experience
After researching and learning about the work of Cesar Chavez, your young historians will design a booklet on the conditions and needs of today's field workers and the Mexican-American field worker experience.
Curated OER
Comparing Units of Measurement
Fourth graders investigate the units of measurement used by various Native American tribes before they had contact with the Europeans. They write research questions, conduct research using a variety of resources, in small groups write a...
Curated OER
How to Write a Biography
Looking for a great lesson on how to write a biography? Here, middle schoolers draw from magazine articles, novels, historical figures, and current events to choose a person, or character to write about in a biography. They follow a...
Advocates for Human Rights
The Right to a Clean Environment in the United States
Even if a school has gone digital, chances are there's still plenty of paper being used. The three activities help scholars learn about the environmental impact of paper and another consumer products of their choosing, the issue of...
NASA
Write the Book on Weather Metrics
It's not easy to measure the weather. Pupils learn about what all weather has in common—the atmosphere. Scholars discover how a meteorologists must be able to measure aspects of the atmosphere and decipher the data. They then create a...
Curated OER
States and Mates
Discuss and reflect on the concept of allies and alliances. The class examines the competition between the United States and Venezuela. Using the New York Times, they search for examples of geopolitical alliances. In addition, they write...
Curated OER
Is Bigger Always Better?
Explore rational numbers with the young mathematicians in your class. They will investigate decimals, fractions, and percents before ordering and comparing rational numbers. This multi-day unit includes differentiation activities and...
Curated OER
Hic-Hic-Hooray!
What is really the best way to get rid of hiccups? Investigate some old wives' tales and folk remedies related to health. Middle schoolers explore the science behind why people might believe these myths to be true and find the real...