Let's get creative! With the fun resource, pupils continue working on their graphic novelettes about an invention, adding text and images to each section. When finished, they engage in a peer critique process, giving and receiving...

It's time to make a claim. Scholars learn what it means to make a claim by first looking at a model analytical mini-essay to determine how the author relayed ideas. Pupils then work with partners to discuss how the author might have...

Planning is the key to success. Scholars continue planning their essays by adding reasons to their Planning My Argument graphic organizers. Additionally, pupils analyze a body paragraph from a model position paper, identifying the...

Characters often change over the course of a story or novel. Use the sample graphic organizer provided here to track how the narrator has responded to the sequence of events in chapter four through six of The Cay. In addition to this...

Class members practice their writing skills by completing a prompt about maturity. They develop a constructed response about something they once thought was important, but may not be as important now. 

Fourth graders view examples of help-wanted ads as they plan and create their own writing in the fourteenth instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. The engagement of the class is captured when the teacher shares an actual...

Time to pick a side! Building on the Fishbowl activity from the previous instructional activity, scholars choose a position about whether the American Academy of Pediatrics should raise its screen time recommendations. Using notes,...

Scholars write the draft of their essays about Atticus's decision to defend Tom Robinson in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. They support their claims with reasons, details, and quotes from the novel.

Eighth graders investigate varous writing skills as part of larger course of study. The activity is essentially a rough guide for conducting a class for writing. The main focus of the plan is organizing ideas using various strategies...

Students discuss and develop graphic writing webs, writing supporting ideas for a given topic.

Shoo fly. Scholars read DDT Spray Scares Mosquitoes Away, Study Finds and You Think You Have It Tough? to complete a mid-unit assessment. The learners compare and contrast author presentation and conduct a credibility check on each...

Fifth graders review the characteristics of a nonfiction text. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders understand that one can use a specific graphic organizer to help them in understanding an organizational structure. For example, in...

Help your class use critical thinking when it comes to unfamiliar words. With vocabulary from Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter, kids write the word in the center of a graphic organizer, and find its category, comparisons,...

Listen to the low, stifled sound that arises from the souls of your ninth graders when overcharged with awe. Inspire them with a captivating instructional activity about "The Tell-Tale Heart." Learners analyze how Poe uses the story...

Writers work to create drafts of their end-of-unit assessments relating to A Mighty Long Way and Little Rock Girl 1957. Using computers to create the first versions of their essays, writers emphasize ideas and evidence before focusing...

Time to shine! Scholars show everything that they have learned so far in the unit by completing a mid-unit assessment. In the assessment, they discuss the gist of sections of text from The Lightning Thief and inferences they made about...

Class members begin to work on the body paragraphs of their opinion essays about Jackie Robinson started in the previous lesson. They analyze a model paragraph and underline reasons for the opinion. Learners then take part in a mini...

Students explore ocean biology by participating in a plant growing activity. In this seaweed lesson, students identify the importance and uses of seaweed in the ocean and examine different seaweed samples. Students utilize an aquarium,...

Twelfth graders create a travel brochure using computer software and the Internet.  In this foreign country lesson, 12th graders create a travel brochure as a marketing tool in order to attract potential clients and guests to their...

Examine the text features of non-fiction. Start the lesson by reading editorial samples provided by their instructor and analyze the texts for word choice, details, and organization. An editorial example and graphic organizer are...

Students create a title page, organize information, and write the introductory paragraph to a research paper.  In this research writing instructional activity, students discuss the elements of the title page and outline, then write...

Walk your class through the process of writing compare and contrast essays with this easy-to-use graphic organizer. After first using the included Venn diagram to record the similarities and differences between two subjects,...

Fill-out a story map to help your scholars with pre-writing. They will use a story map template to pre-write. They also organize their ideas into steps which become the foundation for their first draft. Concrete objects are brought in to...

It is not what you say but how you say it. Scholars use an essay prompt from the 2002 AP® English Language and Composition Free-Response Questions to analyze how an author uses language to describe her past. They also support or argue a...