Curated OER
The Rumpelstiltskin Story
Why didn't Rapunzel's hair stop growing? Why did it take the fairy godmother so long to intervene in Cinderella's affairs? Young writers consider unanswered questions like these and compose news articles investigating the true...
Curated OER
Responding to Literature: James and the Giant Peach
Fifth grade reader/writers create an alternate ending to an episode in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach in which our protagonist "loses" the chance to magically solve all his problems. Prompts students not only to write creatively...
Curated OER
Novel Character Study
Students complete a character study using a database to compile information from a novel. They design a five slide presentation highlighting the character's reaction to different situations in the book. They write an acrostic poem using...
Unified School District of De Pere
Reader Response Journals
Writing about and in response to what you read can help you process the text and lead to stronger analysis. Included here are four larger topics that students can write about, sentence starters to help pupils get started with their...
Curated OER
Blogging
A fun, modern twist on journaling! Instead of responding to prompts in their composition notebook, writers use the Internet to complete blog entries. A sample blog (with prompts) is shown here, and writers are assessed on conventions and...
National Gallery of Canada
To Canada with Love
Focus on line and color with a postcard project. Learners view various works of art and discuss line and color before moving on to creating their own work. Using nature as inspiration, pupils decorate postcards and mail them after...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: A Bird's Tale
Who wouldn't love to get a letter from a blue bird? Elementary art enthusiasts analyze the social and historical context of Ason Yellowhair's Navajo piece, Bird and Cornstalk Rug. They examine the construction and images on the rug...
Scholastic
A Reading Guide to Sarah, Plain and Tall
Eliminate the hard work of creating an entire literature unit with this reading guide for the novel Sarah, Plain and Tall. From background information about the author and her motivation for writing the story to...
Central Bucks School District
Igneous Rocks Lab
Searching for a simple igneous rocks experiment to assist pupils with rock classification based on texture and composition? In the activity, pupils view multiple rocks in various ways to determine texture and composition. They then...
Curated OER
Activity 3: Composing Personal Narratives
What was your most (exciting, maddening, nervous, thrilling, etc.) experience in school? A part of a unit on narrative writing, in this lesson class members review the elements of the form and then choose an event when they learned a...
Curated OER
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: EXAMINE EXPRESSIONS THROUGH PORTRAITURE
Students use a work or art as a springboard to a personal narrative or descriptive writing, create a collage to identify tone through art, and use inference to discern what might have caused an individual to feel the emotion that is...
Curated OER
Composition of Ocean Water
Learners experiment to determine the composition of ocean water. In this ocean water composition lesson, students color in a grid that shows the percentage of each of the components of ocean water which include chloride, sodium, sulfate,...
Curated OER
Write Your Own Cultural Connections
Students write a cultural narrative. In this multicultural writing lesson, students create an expository narrative to teach others about their lives. Students complete the narrative and use a buddy editing strategy to revise their papers.
Curated OER
"How To Build A Snowman" Expository Writing
Fourth graders write a "how to..." or an expository essay on building a snowman. They practice giving directions by explaining how to draw a person using shapes without mentioning that it's a person being drawn. They revise through the...
Curated OER
A Little Mystery and Intrigue in Writing Short Detective Stories
Learners read and analyze the twelve short stories in the novel "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." They create their own detective that has to solve a new kind of crime, and write and edit a short story with their original detective as...
Curated OER
It's Your Birthday! Expository Writing Unit 2
Students create an expository essay. For this writing lesson Students are assigned a country and must conduct research surrounding a historic event that occurred in that country at the time of their birth.
Curated OER
My Time Book
First graders write a time book. In this writing and telling time lesson, 1st graders learn about the concept of time using a Judy clock. Students read a book about a ladybug and look closely at the time on the clock. Students then...
Curated OER
True Music
Eleventh graders research a given decade in US History. In this American History instructional activity, 11th graders interview a person who lived during the decade to gain a personal perspective on it. Students rehearse and...
Curated OER
Singing The Blues with Garage Band
Learners demonstrate writing lyrics for a twelve-bar blues pattern by writing two verses of a blues song and then recording themselves singing over a stock blues pattern using Apple's Garage Band. Requires a networked keyboard lab.
Curated OER
Transcendentalism and Epiphany in Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine
Twelfth graders examine the characteristics of transcendentalism. In this transcendentalism instructional activity, 12th graders determine what this type of writing entails before reading a passage from, Ray Bradbury's, Dandelion Wine....
Curated OER
West Virginia Def PB Wants You!
Learners write, adapt, and compose a song related to the West Virginia State Museum. In this music lesson, students create a composition for a work of visual art. Learners incorporate major and minor melodies.
Curated OER
Using a Writing Prompt
Fourth graders explore the writing process. They practice responding to a writing prompt. Students practice their proofreading skills and proofread their writing. They include a beginning, middle, and ending in their writing.
Curated OER
Lesson Four: Developing a Narrative Writing Piece
Second graders practice writing a narrative piece. In this narrative writing lesson plan, 2nd graders fill out a Rough Draft Organizer then write a narrative composition. Students then conference with the teacher to show their personal...
Curated OER
Minnesota-China Connections: Writing Prompts
Learners write a short essay in response to a writing prompt related to a theme or issue raised within the Minnesota-China Connection Web site.