Curated OER
Narrative Writing Outline
Students explore the elements of a narrative for its purpose, type of audience, mood, main character, minor characters, setting, and conflicts in the story. A story outline is developed and a five paragraph essay composed in this...
Curated OER
Essay on Themes
Students read the book THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London and discuss the different elements in the book. They then write an essay on a theme providing examples backing up their main point of their essay.
Curated OER
Multi-sensory Writing
Students use their senses to help describe special place they have been. They write short sensory-image essay that incorporate all five of their senses, and identify sensory language while reading different pieces of literature.
Curated OER
A Christmas Memory
Students write an essay about a special Christmas memory they have. In this Christmas essay lesson, students use vivid description to write an essay about a special Christmas memory they have.
Curated OER
College Essay Writing
Students discuss the difference between analyses and essays. They practice writing an essay for a college admission application. They are graded based on a rubric included with this lesson.
Curated OER
Middle School Writing: Semester Goals
Seventh graders practice their writing skills by identifying their goals for the semester. They write an essay of four paragraphs and then combine all the information into one. As a class, they create a contract for each of them to use...
Curated OER
Writing A Thanksgiving Day Story
Students write a Thanksgiving Day Story using some or all of the words included in the worksheet. These stories can be fiction or non-fiction (Personal Essays). They are graded on sentence structure, paragraph structure, grammar,...
Curated OER
The Abstraction Ladder (Using Examples in Essays)
Students study the appropriate formats for giving examples in American discourse style. A ladder approach is used to demonstrate the concept. They write paragraphs about abstract concepts, such as beauty, wealth, and love, using methods...
Curated OER
Writing a Fable
Middle schoolers are introduced to the definition of a fable in that it is a story that has a moral for people to apply in their lives. They then read a fable together so they have a better understanding. Next, students write their own...
Curated OER
Southeast Asia Today
Students describe daily life in a small Vietnamese city by exploring a photographic essay, then apply what they have learned to write a descriptive essay about the daily life of a Chaudoc resident.
Virginia Department of Education
Creating Thesis Sentences
Growing writers explore what it takes to develop and support a thesis statement with pre-fabricated ideas provided by the Virginia Department of Education. Learners take notes on what makes a thesis statement and a topic sentence, and...
Curated OER
Strong Verb Image Makers
Students use description language to clarify ideas and create vivid images in an essay focusing of strong verbs. They discuss weak verbs and explore that the better image the words create, the better the reader understands the text.
Curated OER
Comparison Contrast Essay
Pupils compare and contrast the experience of the migrant worker as depicted in The Grapes of Wrath with the experiences of migrant children as depicted in the narratives and poems provided.
Curated OER
The Rest Cure: Gender in Medicine and Literature
Read and discuss "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the gender issues that the story brings up. Use articles from the time period to analyze, complete with specific discussion questions. After two days, scholars write an essay based on topics...
Curated OER
Thankful List
Students practice using free association as a pre-writing technique as they list things that they are thankful for. They share the lists of words and apply them when they write a descriptive essay or poem after identifying commonalities...
Curated OER
Build an Indoor Compost Bin
Students write an essay to describe the contents of a compost bin. In this composting lesson, students create a compost bin. Students examine soil for its contents and explains in an essay the impact of the soil on the environment.
Curated OER
The Holocaust: Valuing Creation
Students write a descriptive essay. In this Holocaust lesson, students discuss what it must have been like for Anne Frank to stay inside for two years. Students try to appeal to all five senses in their descriptions.
Curated OER
Working on the Slant
Compare and contrast a major news story from various newspapers. How does the perspective change? Are certain things included in some of the stories and left out of others? Have pupils complete a graphic organizer to compare how...
National History Day
Helping Life and Aiding Death: Science, Technology, and Engineering at Work during World War I
Science, engineering, and United States history? Pupils research collections of artifacts from the Smithsonian to learn about historical scientific innovations. At the end of the lesson, they write an essay to discuss technology's...
Science 4 Inquiry
Rocks Makin' Rocks: Rock Cycle Simulation
Scholars review prior knowledge before completing a hands-on simulation of the rock cycle. They write stories or songs summarizing their simulations to demonstrate mastery.
Curated OER
Dance: Discovering the Culture of Gullah
It's wonderful to see a lesson that incorporates art, movement, and writing. These three forms of creative expression are explored as learners dance to music from the Gullah people of West Africa. They analyze several paintings, listen...
Curated OER
Up Close and Personal with Black Bayou Lake
Students get up close and personal with Black Bayou Lake. Visiting web sites and taking virtual tours, they write multi-paragraph essays using descriptive words and literary devices.
Curated OER
Fifteen Seconds of Fame
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,...
Curated OER
Figurative Language - Part Two
Students need to use their papers from Part One of this lesson plan. They then write a paragraph for each term. This exercise help them to use these terms in their writing. Using figurative language makes writing more descriptive and...