Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Word Choice
Students explore language arts by participating in a vocabulary usage activity. In this word choice lesson, students read examples of great word usage in literature and discuss with the class why some words appear stronger than others....
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Sentence Fluency
Students practice writing with sentence fluency in order to make the story more enjoyable for the reader. In this sentence fluency lesson plan, students focus on rhythm and flow.
Curated OER
Civil War
Fifth graders discuss the causes of the Civil War and write a paragraph summarizing each identified event. In the computer lab, 5th graders create a PowerPoint presentation explaining events leading up to the Civil War. They use the...
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Snow Day
Third graders examine the effects of a snow day on various people in the community. They listen to the book "Snow Day" by Betsy Maestro, complete a graphic organizer of people affected by the snow day, and write a story from the point of...
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Essay on Themes
Students read the book THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London and discuss the different elements in the book. They then write an essay on a theme providing examples backing up their main point of their essay.
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YANG AND THE YOUNGEST AND HIS TERRIBLE EAR
Students perform a web scavenger hunt to find information about the author of the book, YANG THE YOUNGEST AND HIS TERRIBLE EAR. They develop an understanding of how writers use personal experience to add voice to their writing.
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Applying for a Job
Students apply for a job and create a resume. In this applying for a job lesson, students write a resume for themselves. Resume is designed for real world application.
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If Hornets Could Talk
Fifth graders create a school newspaper. In this journalism lesson students write articles for a school newspaper. They also create an informational website. the projects are both on-going.
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Shadow Trackers: From Photography to Writing
Young scholars explore the rotation of the earth. In this science instructional activity, students view photos of various places around the world. Young scholars conduct an experiment in which they can see how the earth's rotation...
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Pennies of My Life Part 1
Fifth graders read and discuss "The Hundred Penny Box". They write their own autobiographies, collect pennies for each year of their lives, and illustrate their favorite yearly activities.
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Sentence Fragments: Exercise 2; Proofreading
In this grammar worksheet, students proofread 5 short paragraphs while looking for sentence fragments. They use the space below the paragraphs to rewrite them with the revisions.
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First Class Mail
Students read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and write a friendly letter to Elizabeth George Speare, the author, discussing their points of interest in the novel with her.
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Culture Universals Lesson Plan
Students perform research on specific cultures. They write a short paragraph on each of the universals and explain how each universal relates to their home culture.
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Predicting: Making a Hypothesis
Students analyze information from various sources to create a hypothesis about the origin of a family artifact. Students create a hypothesis about the origin of the item and write a paragraph explaining why they believe the hypothesis is...
Ohio Literacy Resource Center
Arguing with Aristotle Ethos, Pathos, Logos
Introduce your classes to the Art of Rhetoric with a lesson that focuses on Aristotle's persuasive appeals and how they have been used, both ethically and unethically, to influence opinion.
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Language Arts: Character Comparison
Fourth graders, using Kidspiration, compare and contrast the two main characters from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. They use a teacher-created template to describe their characters. Students then create their own character analysis.
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Birthday Buddy
Students explore an Internet web site and/or the Groliers Encyclopedia to investigate a famous person who shares their birthday. They write a five paragraph comparison and contrast essay on their findings and utilize ClarisWorks to publish.
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Student Autobiography
Students complete an organizer listing five important events in their lives, use the dates to create a timeline of their life using Timeliner program, print and save their timeline and write a paragraph based on the timeline too.
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Publishing Autobiographies
Middle schoolers practice using Microsoft word. Individually, each student writes a mini-autobiography in standard typed format. They title each paragraph and discuss the publishing steps of the writing process. Students explore...
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HOT TOPICS OF THE MISSISSIPPI
Students use a five-step process to write a persuasive essay about an issue that is related to the Mississippi River. Students build an argument based on prior knowledge and information from a variety of sources. Students base their...
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Guess the Author-Using Pseudonyms
Young scholars study about descriptive writing. They write a descriptive paragraph about themselves without revealing their physical description and sign their writing with a pseudonym.
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County Chronicles
Learners review and use the information from previous lessons about their county. In groups, they write articles for various sections of a class newspaper. They review and edit each others work and publish their newspaper using a desktop...
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Interpreting Language Arts, Health, and Visual Art
Fourth graders draw a magic mask with special powers based on one aspect of health. They write 1-2 paragraphs descibing the mask's special powers. Then they scan the images using a computer software program and write a new paragraph on...
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Feature Stories
Students are taught the basics of writing a feature story. They choose a topic for research. Students use the library and internet research skills to investigate their topic. They proofread their own writing or the writing of others,...