Bright, bold, and engaging, this presentation on elaborated paragraphs is a good way to reinforce your expectations for your class's writing. Each slide presents a simple, straightforward tip to writing complete paragraphs, including...

Bring this lesson plan into your unit about creative writing and precise language. First, middle schoolers create a piece of writing with the help of their classmates. In the second part of this workshop, they edit their own piece of...

Middle schoolers analyze how to use writing for generating and organizing their thoughts before communicating them. They use the questions on the first handout to organize a three-minute introduction of themselves to their small group....

Help your young writers use logic in their persuasive writing. Discuss the characteristics of a persuasive paper, and have pupils work together to explore and solve a syllogism. They will write a short persuasive paper which includes a...

Emerging writers observe and demonstrate the process of writing an essay. As a class, they read and discuss the writing steps, read a sample essay, and write an outline for a three-paragraph essay. Then they write a final version of...

Complete the steps of the writing process. Emerging writers present final drafts of essays that include thesis statements, appropriate paragraphing, elaboration, and style. They participate in a peer editing activity that requires them...

How do you write an interesting beginning, middle, and end of a story? With this lesson, young writers look to other stories as examples. Then, they use some of the attached graphic organizers to help them create their own story. Note:...

High schoolers complete the writing process. They present final drafts of essays that include thesis statements, appropriate paragraphing, elaboration, and style. They participate in a peer editing activity that requires them to use...

To better understand early American literature, which was usually written by Puritans coming to the new world, learners pretend they have just landed on Mars. They compose a letter home describing their experiences, the new landscape,...

How can you tell if a prompt is expository or narrative? Help your learners identify key words in writing prompts to determine how they should craft their essays.

Third graders analyze the importance of characters in fiction writing and performances.  In this theatre lesson, 3rd graders identify the important characteristics of a fictional character and how to portray a character through many...

At the beginning of the lesson, the class discusses the central idea of a poem. After that, the teacher reads a poem, embedded in the plan, to the class. In groups of two or three, learners create their own poem in response to the...

Explore fantasy as a genre. After working in small groups to identify literary elements in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, class members share their work and then use the presentations to help them prepare to write...

Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...

The practice of developing lyrics by elaborating with sensory details and examples continues in the third lesson on songwriting. This time class members examine Jesse McCartney's "How Do You Sleep?" Using procedures established in the...

Students read Arthur's Pet Business and  complete a pre-writing worksheet for expository writing.  In this paragraph writing lesson, students gather and organize material for a paragraph about pets.

Students are walked through an outline (Power Writing) and shown how to elaborate on a main idea in their writing.

Students create stories using only pictures.  In this visual storytelling lesson plan, students read Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie de Paola and analyze the wordless story.  Students create new text for the book by writing on...

Personal narrative writing is usually a favorite form of writing for youngsters because they get to write about a personal experience. The lesson here asks pupils to take a piece of narrative writing and improve it by following...

Junior high writers investigate other student’s sample writing and critique on how it could be improved. Skill emphasis is place on elaboration, voice, and sentence variety. The student writing is provided, but the checklist for revision...

A desk is used as a visual analogy to construct the main idea and supporting details in a story. The top of the desk is the main idea, and each of the four legs provides supporting details. The legs of the desk provide support for the...

This engaging activity is a great change of pace for the classroom. The activity starts with a simple message on the board “The teacher is angry.”  The instructor is to stomp around, drop books and glare—anything to show anger. The...

Struggling on what steps to take in your expository essay lesson? Or confused on what to include for your scribes? This exercise in the process of expository writing provides concepts and structure for the educator on what the writers...

As the saying goes, art often imitates life ... and literature! A series of activities designed to accompany a visit to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art encourage writers to find inspiration in various landscapes. The lesson includes a...