Curated OER
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Students write a literary response essay to Maya Angelou's novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this literary response instructional activity, students complete pre-writing activities, discuss the rubric for the essay, and visit...
Curated OER
Fairy Tales
Students explore fairy tales. In this fairy tales instructional activity, students analyze the main idea of a fairy tale and interpret it. Students then re-write the story from the point of view of another character or object in the story.
Curated OER
Writing Lesson
Fourth graders connect oral language to written language. They practice strategies for overcoming the fear of writing. They practice prewriting strategies and practice writing descriptive paragraphs.
Curated OER
Narrative Writing
Students create a studenT book based on their knowledge of writing stories. They must complete a pre-writing activity and provide illustrations for the book.
Curated OER
Organizing Doesn't Have to Be a Puzzle
Students review writing process, prepare cluster maps, organize events of their lives on an outline, and utilize graphic organizers to write autobiographical essays.
Curated OER
WRITING AN ARTICLE FOR A CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE
Students engage in the writing of a magazine article. They focus upon the reading of a children's fiction book and create an informative narrative. They create main ideas and supporting details for the article. The supporting of main...
Curated OER
Creative Writing
Fourth graders participate in an observation hike in this lesson. They orally share observations from their hike, and develop a paragraph in a shared writing exercise. Finally, the write their paragraph about process writing in their...
Curated OER
A Year (a Day or a Week) In My Life as a Shorebird
Students describe the basic life history of one shorebird common to their area. They use the writing process which includes brainstorming, rough draft writing, peer editing, and re-writing to create a factually and grammatically...
Curated OER
The Important Thing About Technology
Students assess the advantages of modern technology tools by creating a page in a class book utilizing pattern writing as well as the writing process. They organize and develop a composition on a selected topic after going through the...
Curated OER
What's the Scoop on Slang?
Students examine examples of sports jargon by reading sports articles from a newspaper. They write a news article about a fictional sports event using examples of sports jargon.
Curated OER
My Favorite Room
Learners practice describing a room. In this descriptive writing lesson plan, students use all of their five senses to describe their favorite room. The teacher will model for the class by creating a word list that describe the classroom...
Curated OER
Lewis and Clarke Composition
Students write a narrative story about the Lewis and Clarke Expedition. For this narrative writing lesson, students write a narrative story including themselves in the expedition. Students include aspects of narrative story writing,...
Curated OER
Organizing Writing/Composing a First Draft
Seventh graders access an organizer from an earlier lesson and transition sentences to begin a new essay. In this organization and composing lesson, 7th graders work in small groups to create a draft of an article about...
Curated OER
All About Me Brochure
Eighth graders complete a prewriting activity to gather information about themselves. They create a brochure using their prewriting activity that will introduce themselves to either a prospective employer or their freshman teachers.
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 15
To conclude the study of the play, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, class members craft an in-class essay comparing Doescher's adaptation to George Lucas's film, Star Wars: A New Hope.
Curated OER
All About Me
Learners complete various biographical and autobiographical writing activities. They write an autobiographical essay, biopoem, biographical essay, and design and decorate a bag presenting character traits.
Curated OER
Designing the Future of Technology
Conduct research focused on improving a current technology by having learners work in groups to investigate improvements that could be made to a particular piece of technology. They list the current problems and attempt to develop...
University of Arizona
Identity Repair
In a detailed, creative writing task, potential poets analyze how race, identity, and society categorize and (mis)represent us. The learning begins with an imaginative anticipatory set where students describe unique situations that...
Curated OER
Fabulous, Fractured Fables
Elementary schoolers develop an awareness of the literary form known as the fable. They explore how authors write fables to pass along moral lessons. After reading and discussing many famous fables embedded in the plan, learners attempt...
Curated OER
Whose Point of View? The Journey of Three Generations
A reading of Whale Journey, a fact-filled picture book by Vivian French, launches a study of the life cycle and migration of three generations of gray whales. The interdisciplinary lesson offers opportunities extensions into all subject...
Curated OER
A Goldfish is the Best Pet
Provide your class with a list of possible topics (three are included here, but they're not exactly gripping), and polish their persuasive writing skills. This plan really emphasizes the prewriting process, and several graphic organizers...
Curated OER
Understanding Cause and Effect
Identify the author's organizational pattern for expressing ideas. After reading an article on the California Gold Rush, middle schoolers determine the author's purpose for writing a passage of informational text. A full list of...
Scholastic
Presenting Persuasively (Grades 6-8)
Teens and pre-teens are a prime target for advertisers, so how are they doing it? An interactive lesson highlights the strategies used by advertisers, such as visual imagery and verbal clues. Then, a short writing assignment puts those...
Curated OER
Bud, Not Buddy: Guided Imagery Exercise
Develop readers’ awareness of the visual power of language with a guided imagery exercise. Set the stage and create the mood with dim lights, soft music and potpourri. Then read the provided section of Bud, Not Buddy. Next, invite...