Check out this detailed resource for some beginning of the year activities. After examining examples, class members uses the computer lab to create a personal brochure enhanced with clip art or photos to introduce themselves to the...

Twenty prompts reinforce scholars' writing skills of essays and poems. Prompts cover topics such as superpowers, holidays, the weather, and more!

Explore the concepts of community and point of view with these activities complementing the children's book Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. Following a class reading of the story, ask students to either draw a map of the...

Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...

Writer's workshop is an idea that's been around for years. Students write, read, and comment on each others writing in an authentic and thoughtful way. Here is a 21st century twist, 6th graders will use the class blog to create a...

Discuss the importance of a lead in writing with your upper graders. They examine several examples of leads from literature and practice writing leads for pieces of artwork. They then select a topic from a list and write an introductory...

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...

Reading about history is nothing like experiencing it firsthand. Encourage your eighth graders to do the next best thing with a historical narrative prompt, in which they describe the experience of a first-time traveler on the...

After watching West of the West's documentary The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, class members imagine how Juana Maria/Karana may have felt about living alone on the island for 18 years and craft a blackout poem or a narrative in...

An activity boosts reading comprehension by challenging scholars to answer questions about a narrative tale detailing elements—plot, characters, setting, theme, problem, and solution.

The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...

There's something different here. Using a note-catcher, scholars determine the differences between the conclusion of a piece of analytical writing and the conclusion of a narrative. Next, they begin drafting their own narrative...

Eyes on the finish line. Serving as the first part of the end of unit assessment, learners answer questions based on a text about how to write a graphic novel. Using what they've learned, they then create a storyboard about the invention...

Revision is the key to great writing. Individuals revise their readers theater scripts and write a group conclusion. Scholars then perform their scripts for another group and receive feedback.

If you could have any one superhero ability, what would it be? Your charges will love this classic writing prompt, which can be supplemented with an array of follow-up writing or discussion activities.

December writing activities galore! With everything from poetry to research to descriptive writing to writing about things that represent December, there's no way you will run out of options.

Invite your learners to take on the voice of a character from Ordinary People as they write a letter. Pupils use what they know about the given character to compose their letter, which must relate to the plot of the novel.

After completing Juliet Marillier's young adult novel Wildwood Dancing, class members rewrite a traditional fairy tale, making three significant changes to illustrate a theme of their choosing.

Young writers craft the story of a special summer day, detailing the event and why the day was so memorable.

Students work on a K-W-L chart about electrical storms, lightening, and thunder. They discuss how meteorologists forecast storms and research their answers which are shared in a whole class setting. Using art supplies, they draw dwelling...

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens has delighted readers for generations. An in-depth study guide gives an overview of an adaptation of the classic story for the stage. Along with summaries of the plot and key characters, theater...

Fourth graders write a narrative from a race car driver's point of view. For this narratives lesson students use the narrative writing format to write about a race car driver's experiences in the Indianapolis 500. The students use a...

Students identify geographical features of different regions encountered by migrants on the Oregon trail. Students research how the Oregon landscape may have affected life and 19th century westward migration. Students write a narrative...

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a comic strip combines both images and words for the ultimate narrative effect. After reading The Three Little Pigs and deciphering the plot elements, elementary readers work through four...