University of Minnesota
Heads or Tails
How exactly does touch help us identify items? Students test this question by feeling a coin without moving their fingers and trying to determine if it is heads or tails. They test their accuracy by rubbing their fingers on the coins....
Curated OER
SENSORY ELEMENTS
Students describe the sensory elements of musical selections (i.e., tempos, dynamics, and articulations). They write an essay evaluating Saint-Saens' effectiveness in using sensory elements in both selections. They describe the...
Curated OER
Writing a Personal Narrative
Young scholars learn characteristics of an effective personal narrative. In this personal narrative lesson, students discover ways to show rather than tell, adding richness and detail to their writing. Young scholars evaluate a news...
Curated OER
Describe a Journey
Students describe the sensory experience of a character's journey in an essay. In this precise details writing lesson, students explain the effects on the senses of weather, time of day, landscape, and other experiences. Students use...
Curated OER
Mandy
Third graders read Barbara D. Booth's, "Mandy" while noting each time they read a sensory detail. They read about the young girl in the story who is hard of hearing and determine how her other senses are heightened. Also, they determine...
Curated OER
Every Dog Has Its Day
Young scholars explore the use of imagery in writing. In this writing lesson, students create a writing piece that features sensory images without resorting to the use of clichés.
Curated OER
Plain Polly: Adding Relevant Details
Students use a stick figure to help them learn to write with details. In this details lesson, students brainstorm details to add to the stick figure 'Plain Polly.' Students then draw stick figures for their own writing and give them a...
Curated OER
Color Poems
Students describe colors. In this descriptive writing instructional activity, students brainstorm color descriptions using all of the senses except sight. Students write poems including similes, sensory images, and interesting word...
Curated OER
Crafting Poetry: A Sensory Journey
Tenth graders experiment with poetry devices to write poems. In this poetry instructional activity, 10th graders participate in learning stations. Students create a word pool and select a word from the list to create a line of poetry....
Curated OER
Poetry: What's on Your Plate (Part 2)
Students write a short paragraph using strong descriptions. In this using modifiers lesson plan, students define modifier, adjective, adverb, metaphor, and simile. Students then write a journal entry in which they write about a...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Using Maps to Inspire Personal Narratives
A solid description of one way to teach narrative writing, this resource outlines the writing process from concept to completion. Class members create concept maps of moments in their lives and follow the writing process to publish their...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Songwriting Skill - Elaboration: Jesse McCartney - “How Do You Sleep?”
The practice of developing lyrics by elaborating with sensory details and examples continues in the third lesson on songwriting. This time class members examine Jesse McCartney's "How Do You Sleep?" Using procedures established in the...
Curated OER
Describing Paintings: Calm or Stormy
Young writers use nouns, verbs, and adjectives to describe details in two paintings. One depicts a sunny landscape, and the other shows a cloudier view. They write a narrative inspired by the paintings, paying attention to transitional...
Curated OER
The Personal Narrative - Part One
Read to write! The class lists sensory details based on the plot of a story they have recently read. They create a drawing of a bracelet and use the bracelet's jewels or charms to list sensory details included in the story. They then use...
Curated OER
Reliving History Through Slave Narratives
Students read slave narratives and retell the stories to the class, identifying sensory details. In this slavery lesson, students discuss the importance of sensory details, then read the slave narratives looking for specific examples. ...
Curated OER
Poetry: What's on Your Plate?
Students create original poetry on the subject of food. In this poetry writing lesson, students use sensory details about a food item to create a class poem. Students then write short poems with one sensory detail and add another...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing
Fifth graders develop compositions on self-selected topics. They choose a topic based upon their ability. Individual pupils earn points for each activity completed. Students use descriptive writing as they support their composition...
Curated OER
Acoustic Poems
Students explore acrostic poems. In this interactive poetry activity, students visit the ReadWriteThink.org website to view characteristics and samples of acrostic poems. Students develop acrostic poems by using the interactive site.
Poetry Society
Tiny by Mandy Coe
Introduce magic and imagination into your classroom with a poetry activity. Learners read the poem "Tiny" by Mandy Coe and use their magic tickets to visit any place they can think of! The final result is a poem describing where they...
Curated OER
Here's My Family
Family traditions help to instill personal values, social norms, and the warmest of childhood memories. Elementary and secondary learners share their favorite family traditions with a fun diorama project. Using modeling clay, they create...
Curated OER
Accentuate the Expositive: Unit 2 Expository Writing
Students analyze narrative passages in order to improve their writing skills. In this narrative writing lesson students use the same style of writing that they have analyzed in their own narrative passage.
Curated OER
15 Seconds of Fame
Students write an autobiographical essay. In this writing lesson students read a narrative, Panic in Paris, and review the elements of a narrative as a class discussion. Well-known stories are used as examples for writing their own...
Curated OER
The Great Depression in North Carolina: Experiences of the People
Students explore the Great Depression. In this research skills lesson, students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary sources. Students write their own WPA interviews after they have examined...
EngageNY
Learning to Observe Closely and Record Accurately: How to Create a Field Journal
Look carefully. Scholars practice observing and recording the natural world around them by looking out a window or viewing an image. Learners discuss how their experience compares to that of Meg Lowman in The Most
Beautiful Roof in the...