After reading candidate biographies, class members select one candidate to research. They craft a report on the candidate's book, their position on issues, and the image the candidate wants to project.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Hunger Games, Brave New World. Welcome to Banned Books Week. As part of a study of censorship and book banning, class members investigate censorship, the purposes of censorship, and First Amendment rights,...

"Warning: Conducting this lesson plan may be harmful." Such statements, called "Trigger Warnings," are the focus of a two-part lesson plan that looks at censorship, especially the pros and cons of trigger warnings. Class members read two...

Young writers create memory books. They think of important events in their lives from the past year. Then they draw pictures that depict these events, and dictate captions to an adult who writes them down in their books for them. These...

Special educators know that it isn't all about the lesson plan, but rather the strategies and practices you choose to use. Here are a set of research-based practices and tips you can use to inform your choices when teaching learners who...

How big is your foot? How long is your arm? How big is your mom’s hand? After learning how to measure body parts, young writers collect their observations into an illustrated book. Instructions for crafting a 3D Tim Foil Man are also...

This lesson about writing can be taught in small groups or large group settings. They examine basic writing techniques and practice using them to improve their writing.

Conduct a written literary discussion and diminish stress about public writing. Class members, already arranged into literature circles, compose and post responses to novels, signing with initials or class number. The process continues...

Study historical events by combining the study of historical fiction and non-fiction. Learners read about true past events in historical fiction novels and then research non-fiction accounts of the same events. What are some differences...

Lead a web search for information on writers and discuss the craft of purposeful writing as a class. Your students investigate "pourquoi tales" which are "why" stories. and then write their own examples of pourquoi stories to share in a...

How do core values and identity contribute to citizenship and leadership? After engaging in a series of activities that explore core values, writers craft a children’s story that focuses on one value. They arrange to read their story to...

A reading of Panic in Paris launches a review of the elements of narrative writing. Class members work in groups to find narrative devices in the book and record their findings on a provided worksheet. Using the completed pages,...

Narrative essay writing is the focus of a series of exercises that model for learners how to not only read a narrative, but how to also examine the techniques fiction writers use to create a setting, develop their characters, represent...

Upper elementary and middle school writers learn how to craft an expository paragraph by following the six steps detailed in a 48-page instructional guide. Learners learn how to write six different types of informational paragraphs:...

Students create a monthly memory and compile it into a Kindergarten Memory Book.  In this memory book lesson, students create a monthly memory page.  Students create a graphic organizer in Kidspiration which is developed into a...

Readers of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings are asked to craft an essay in which they compare how Maya Angelou uses figurative language to depict herself and Mrs. Flowers. 

Young writers personalize their journals by making their own. Whether they make covers for existing journals or make their own books, the activity encourages kids to express themselves in words and images.

Students participate in book club forums where they write descriptive, evaluation, analysis, synthesis, or inference essays. They take on the role of a character in their bok and publish a web page.

"That man is not truly one, but truly two." The Strange Case of  Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde offers readers a change to craft a poem combining words and phrases from Robert Lewis Stevenson's novella to create a poem...

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.

Students create a book using art, problem solving and language skills. They illustrate and write a tall tale. They sculpt a character from their tall tale.

A carefully crafted, logically organized, 128-page packet is an excellent addition to your unit on expository writing.

Writing can become one-dimensional if authors don't involve all their senses. First, scholars observe a strange object which, ideally, they can touch and even smell. Without using certain words (you can create a list or have the class...

A reading of a New York Times review of the movie Beloved launches research into how the Civil War affected the lives of people living during this period. Creative thinkers select a person from an included list of historical figures and...