Positive feedback is a great way to improve writers' skills. Scholars receive their draft essays back with teacher comments and start the revision process. Next, they prepare to begin their final drafts at home.

Imagine you are a soldier in the Civil War. What are you wearing? What do you need to carry with you? Examine the life of a person during the Civil War, from drummer boys to powder monkeys to musket-toting soldiers. Elementary...

Using a motivating topic as the focus, this activity has learners write an email as though they are describing their new house. English language learners read an example letter, and then practice their own writing skills by writing a...

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...

Conclude your unit on Peter and the Starcatchers with an involved final writing project that requires learners to write persuasive pieces, compose short stories, create brochures about the setting of the novel, and choose from a...

An empowering lesson explores the causes and complaints that led to the American Revolution. Young scholars, starting in fourth grade, complete hands-on activities, role play, and create cartoons to understand the American Revolution and...

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." These familiar lines begin the Preamble to the Constitution, but do learners know what they mean? A close reading exercise takes a look at the language of the...

Help young writers with the daunting prospect of a five-paragraph essay. Using William Golding's Lord of the Flies, learners work through a short process to shore up their brainstorming and prepare to write a longer essay.

Scholars work on the end of the unit assessment by reflecting on their writing. They answer questions about the process they used to complete their position paper essays. After completing the end of unit assessment, they add images to...

Where did the cherished ideals enshrined in the Bill of Rights originate? While history gives the Founding Fathers much of the credit, laws in colonial America influenced the Bill of Rights. An interactive web-based activity allows...

The fifth installment in a writing unit that culminates with a Hyperstudio illustrated group story project, this plan is ripe with ideas for ways to design group writing projects for elementary writers. Use the whole unit as a base from...

Young writers have written, revised, and peer-edited their historical fiction narratives by the 10th lesson plan in a language arts unit. Fourth graders finally combine their revision notes to create a second draft. The double-spaced...

Everyone wants to be part of a royal family. Let your pupils experience the privilege of royalty by rewriting the story The Frog Prince from the point of view of the princess. While the story line remains the same, perspective is bound...

After writing a personal narrative, learners edit their work and that of their classmates. Using the imbedded link, pupils edit their paper. They form small groups and check each other's papers for spelling, grammar usage, sentence...

Writers complete editing and polishing the final draft of their research paper and submit the document for assessment.

Global warming: a political debate or a scientific fact? Young historians read text, complete activities, and participate in group discussion to understand the political debate surrounding global warming and the US decision to withdraw...

Young historians closely examine the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address with this primary source analysis worksheet.

Young historians use their planning graphic organizer to prepare a personal narrative draft on expert trades. Since the instructional activity is considered the mid-unit assessment, learners respond to a writing prompt related to the...

As an end-of-unit assessment, class members complete the final drafts of their Common Application narrative essay and then meet in pairs to discuss the independent reading selection.

Students discover the purpose of the Declaration of Independence. In this colonial America lesson, students compare the original draft by Thomas Jefferson to the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Is that your final answer? Scholars discuss the terms, edit, and revise. They then complete their final drafts as the end-of-unit assessment of Unbroken. Writers use their graded draft essays from a previous instructional activity to...

Let's work together! Scholars engage in the peer editing protocol, giving and receiving feedback on their draft opinion speeches. They then use classmates' feedback to begin working on their revisions. 

Dictionaries, thesauruses, word walls, oh my! Pupils use several resources to revise their position papers to include appropriate vocabulary. Then, after peer editing, scholars write the final drafts of their essays and self-assess using...

As a final assignment in a unit study of Edward Bloor's Tangerine, individuals assume the voice of Paul Fisher and craft the witness report Paul mentions in the final pages of the novel. A great way to assess the...