Encourage your young citizens to make a difference. Using Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America as a starting point, class members watch documentaries, investigate issues, and then write letters to...

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. According to the 11th handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series, that's why writing a strong introduction is so important. The handout offers strategies for crafting...

A thorough unit on literary analysis and character development culminates in a final writing assessment. Prompted to compare the parent-child relationships in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and H.G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights, high...

The life of a tree is the focus of a packet consisting of several activities all covering a different subject. Second graders measure shadows, make pinecone critters, write poems, count rings, complete a word search, play tree tag, and...

Introduce your young writers to the basic five-paragraph essay. The fun part of this presentation is the stance of the essay used to illustrate the format. The writer of the model essay contends that the Twilight series is a terrible...

Is peace simply the absence of war, or is there more to the story? Young social scientists define peace in the second installment of a 15-part series. Groups work together to explore cultural concepts of peace and the peacemaking process...

"Romans, countrymen, and lovers! Hear me for my cause." "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!" As part of a study of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, individuals as asked to compare the funeral speeches of Brutus and...

Are executives as powerful as they sound? High schoolers find out about the US president and executive branch. A variety of activities include scaffolded reading sections, research assignments, and collaborative group work.

High schoolers begin with a teacher-leld discussion of recent research, which has found measurable imporovements in patient symptoms even four monthe after their participation in a brief writing exercise about a stressful event in the...

Learners watch an online slideshow that shows Cornelia Funke's transition from an illustrator to a writer. They discuss her writing process from the way she gathers ideas to how and where she writes. Next, they work in groups to choose a...

Learners practice persuasive writing. In this writing lesson plan, students understand that there are different ways to write. Learners build a list of words that can be used for persuasion. Students develop statements to use for...

Think about a moment, frozen in time. Now take a critical look at the painting, Better, Homes, Better Gardens. This painting works to provide learners the opportunity to analyze art, critique artist's choices, and write a story inspired...

Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...

High schoolers investigate the dilemma of a proportional response with a lesson about the history of terrorism and militant extremists in the United States. As they examine memos from the FBI and speeches from President Bush and Obama,...

Here is an app version of a powerful tool that allows you and your students to have one place where you can capture, organize, and share items in multiple media formats.  The different uses for this app are as varied as your ideas...

Young scholars demonstrate the steps of the creative writing process. In this creative writing activity, students brainstorm ways to come up with an initial idea and ways to express their ideas. Young scholars write a description of...

Review the procedure of using a word processor to write a letter. Writers read 20 sentences that are each missing one action verb. They use the words in the word bank to complete the sentences. 

Test your English language learners' ability to find the correct nouns! They will complete the blanks for 20 sentences that detail how to use a computer to write a letter. A word bank is included at the top of the page. 

Review sequencing by providing your English language learners with this mix of sentences. Cut the paper into 20 strips, and have each learner rearrange them into the correct order. Don't forget to keep one copy with the correct order! 

Students review and brainstorm the signs of autumn through a PowerPoint presentation/ lesson with embedded video clips. After brainstorming ideas as a group, Students use Kidspiration to develop a graphic organizer and follow the writing...

Emerging writers create a portfolio showcasing various writing formats. They discuss Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. They observe the key features of picture books and then create their own book to add...

This handout offers a three-step process for revising sentences for clarity: diagnose, analyze, revise. After reading an example sentence revision with a detailed explanation, learners complete three sample sentences using the three-step...

Sixth graders discover word choices to use when writing a conversation. They explore synonyms for "said." Students examine a thesaurus. They create a writing piece using the writing process. Students edit and revise their work.

Collaborative writing projects can be a lot of fun for students. They use a Scholastic Story Starter and the class blog to write a creative story containing basic story elements. The web link to Scholastic is included but non of the...