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.

Young writers generate descriptive words. They use pictures of various landscapes (from books, magazines, or the Internet) and complete a story pyramid. The pyramid (included here) asks to describe the main character, the setting, and...

Depending on your perspective, solitude can be lovely or very, very lonely. Kids take a look at the simple landscape illustrated in Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince, and write a short journal entry about their...

Scholars reflect upon their reading strengths and challenges to create personal reading goals. Participants use goal-setting verbiage in an accordion-style graphic organizer, a first step in writing a letter that details their reading...

How can learners evaluate research sources for authority, accuracy, and credibility? By completing readings, discussions, and graphic organizers, scholars learn how to properly evaluate sources to find credible information. Additionally,...

Provide parents with the tools they need to bridge the summer learning gap with this collection of fun activities. Whether it's creating an alphabet poster with illustrations for each letter, playing a game of sight word concentration,...

Students follow directions to put on a jacket. In this following directions lesson, students are given flawed instructions for putting on a jacket and must adjust them so the job can be completed.

Second graders use cardinal and intermediate directions to locate places on maps and places in the classroom, school, and community. They draw a setting map of "Little Red Riding Hood." Students give five steps of cardinal or...

Fifth graders chart the elements of drama. In this performing arts lesson, 5th graders discuss the role of a playwrite, practice doing some Reader's Theatre scripts, write a paragraph about a problem between two people, and perform...

Students format scripts using technical instructions.  In this technical instructions lesson, students define three parts of a TV script and use a common professional format to write their scripts.  Students discuss the three...

Students examine the stereotypes used to classify the Middle East. After taking a regional literacy survey, they discover their own global awareness. They discuss how stereotypes are formed and how they persist over time if not stopped.

Students brainstorm in preparation for writing an expressive essay. They review their responses to 'Writing from Experience' and write notes and brainstorm other ideas or details for their essays. They take turns illustrating their life...

Students write a funny story and illustrate it in a comic strip. For this comic strip lesson, students study comic strips and determine the plot of each story. Students then write a short story and illustrate it using a comic strip...

Students respond to a writing prompt using appropriate letter format. In this letter writing lesson, students discuss the format for letter writing and use the worksheet format to write the heading, inside address, and salutation....

Students use their completed outlines, notecards, and opening paragraphs to create a first draft of their research paper.  In this research writing lesson, students focus on the body of their paper as they compile their information...

Students improve their writing skills by identifying people, places, ideas, and things that are important to them. In this writing skills lesson plan, students discuss things that are important to them. Students use the heart map...

Follow this outline to write persuasive essays with your 11th grade college prep classes. Using the internet, they research a topic, citing their sources correctly. They work with a partner to peer edit their rough drafts, checking for...

Third graders start writing papers with much more regularity than they did in the previous grades. They are starting to differentiate between the styles of writing and know why each is important. This activity gives the them a chance to...

Use the present tense to create written assignments. Critical thinkers take a passage written in past or future tense and rewrite it in present tense. They then write a set of instructions in present tense.

Reinforce the importance of the writing process with this publication lesson plan. Elementary and middle schoolers compose a parts of speech book which includes one page each for nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,...

The instructions say to put commas where they belong, and that is just what your class will do as they practice comma placement and use. There are 20 sentences in desperate need of commas and four extensions exercises where comma use is...

Read, discuss, and write short stories with your primary class. They read a short story and complete worksheets for the story. They also brainstorm ideas for a class story and choose an idea to write 3 ideas and then write the story as a...

Challenge your pupils with this innovative how-to activity. Instead of simply having learners write an essay describing how to do a particular activity, this instructional activity has them create an iMovie describing a process.

Young historians interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources in this American Revolution lesson. They select topics from the time era that they are interested in researching. Additionally, they follow...