Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...

What does your fortune say? Engage class members in writing complete sentences by first handing out fortune cookies and reading the messages. Pupils will practice writing complete sentences by composing fortunes to put in die cut fortune...

As guided practice, class members work together to revise a model persuasive paragraph. Then they practice independently with their own writing. The included rubric looks at prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, nonfiction text...

In this parts of speech worksheet, students identify nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and more in sentences. Students complete 30 problems total.

As part of a grammar lesson, use these sentences to identify parts of speech. There are no directions, but parts of speech are available. The resource contains ten sentences in all.

This one-page handout provides an overview and examples of how and when to use a semicolon. It does not include any questions or exercises; however, it does address relevant grammar rules at the secondary level.

How would you feel if you were on trial for murder—and you were only 16 years old? Put yourself in Steve Harmon's shoes before reading Monster by Walter Dean Myers. Kids listen to music that fits the theme of the book before...

Readers of Robert Cormier's Tunes for Bears to Dance to are asked to consider the morality of the central character's actions

If you need an introduction to skill W.9-10.1 for writing, then you’re off to a good start here. Included is a funny script that introduces what the students need to know to conquer the skill. It also provides an introduction activity...

Learn about the ancient Near East through a close examination of ancient artifacts. Lead your class into analysis by first observing an artifact as a class. Pupils can then work in pairs to analyze the other artifacts and compile a list...

In this word use worksheet, students learn the correct use of: although, even though, despite/ in spite of, despite the fact. Students read all of the rules before rewriting 3 sentences in 5 different ways.

This research writing PowerPoint addresses the research writing process, focusing specifically on Saguaros. This PowerPoint exhibits each step of the research writing process and gives examples by focusing on researching Saguaros. The...

In this direct objects worksheet, students underline the direct objects in 8 sentences and finish 8 sentences with a personal direct object.

Learners complete vocabulary activities about friends. In this vocabulary instructional activity, students introduce themselves in a ball game format and discuss the topic of friends. Learners complete a worksheet with related vocabulary...

Learners explore poetry and technology.  In this poetry writing lesson, students choose a theme and write a pattern poem, then create a related slideshow.

Young scholars identify when and why quotations are used. Using comic strips and speech bubbles, they read and discuss examples of quotation marks, and in pairs write text for a cartoon on a piece of paper using quotation marks around...

Third graders read and discuss the selection "Paul Revere's Ride" (included with the lesson). Students imagine they live in one of the villages that Paul Revere stopped. They are awakened by his knock on the door. Students write an essay...

Third graders develop multi-paragraph compositions. They include an introduction, first and second level support, and a conclusion. They use a variety of sentence structures (e.g., simple, compound/complex) and sentence types (i.e.,...

Students create an alternate ending with digital animations to illustrate their text.  In this novel creation lesson, students read a novel and analyze the plot in small groups.  Students collaborate on an alternate ending...

Students write original earthquake articles typically found on the front page of a newspaper. Each student has the freedom to write in a variety of writing styles (lead story, human interest story, editorials, etc.). They research...

Second graders survey a favorite story he/she has read or heard read aloud. They use the graphic organizer to draw illustrations that show the beginning, middle and end of the story. They tell the title of the story, whether it is...

Students demonstrate how to retell a story in sequential order. In this reading comprehension lesson, students listen to a suggested read aloud, such as Little Boy Blue. Additionally, students practice retelling the story by using...

Are your writers ready to edit their papers? Present them with these editing tips including reading papers out loud, varying sentence openings and lengths, and using action verbs. While the tips are worthwhile, consider supplementing the...

Fourth graders engage in a lesson plan that covers the concept of using a storymap to increase reading comprehension. They possess the prior knowledge of parts of speech from previous lessons. Students fill in the blank storymap while...