Curated OER
The Role of African American soldiers in World War II
Students design and create a poster, advertising for recruitment of African American volunteers for the Tuskegee Airmen. Students Create a historical newspaper front page, from 1996, which details the awarding of the Medal of Honor to...
Ziptales
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Scholars create a brochure that features three aspects of the poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." The program details information about Robert Browning, the poem's setting, and its events.
Teaching Tolerance
Act Up! Drama for Justice
A lesson turns young historians into playwrights to understand and speak out against social injustice. Pupils work individually or in groups to write and perform monologues that deliver personal messages on social justice. Writers then...
Curated OER
Movie Maker: Retelling a Story
Using Movie Maker, sixth graders make an eight frame movie based on a story they have written. They choose music clips, select pictures from PowerPoint, and make their movie. The lesson should take about ten days to complete.
Curated OER
Creative Writing Using the Senses
Fifth graders, utilizing a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meanings, eat a sweet treat and then list eight different adjectives for each of the five senses. They then describe a sweet with at least then adjectives...
Curated OER
Creating Plays from Children's Stories
Students explain how individual elements (e.g., plot, theme, character, conflict, etc.) comprise the structure of a play. They write an original one-act play with developed characters, specific setting, conflict, and resolution.
Curated OER
Do Heroes Have to Wear a Cape?
Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...
Curated OER
Tall Tales and Urban Legends
In this creative writing worksheet, students sort through old pictures and discuss the characterization in each. Students create characters, a setting, and their own tall tale or urban legend based on the pictures.
Curated OER
Newspaper Article
In this writing worksheet, students write a newspaper article about an event they have experienced firsthand. Students draw a picture with a caption and add a headline.
Curated OER
The Underground Railroad as an Act of Civil Disobedience
Students write an essay from rough draft to final copy about the Underground Railroad. Civil disobedience is researched from a variety of sources. There is a prewriting exercise that is included in the lesson. The whole writing process...
Curated OER
School-Home Links: Editing Writing
In this editing writing worksheet, students write a story about the most exciting thing that ever happened to them. Students brainstorm ideas on this worksheet and then write the rough draft. Students then complete a checklist of their...
Curated OER
The Kidlink Day Project
Students create journal entries on-line as part of a "Kidlink Day" activity. Entries are compared and evaluated by their peers. The writing process is practiced in this lesson.
Curated OER
Tall Tales
Students examine the characteristics of tall tales and how exaggerations are used. They create a character that is larger than life, they brainstorm attributes for their character, before writing a Tall Tale. They plan out their story,...
Curated OER
Revive Reviews With Student-Created Study Guides
Students work cooperatively in small groups to practice note-taking and outlining skills which are applied as student create unit Study Guides for their classmates. They demonstrate critical thinking skills as they decide the most...
abcteach
Street Mapping
What's around the block? Or down the street? Ask your pupils to tap into their map skills by drafting the area around their home and school.
Curated OER
Editing
Are your writers ready to edit their papers? Present them with these editing tips including reading papers out loud, varying sentence openings and lengths, and using action verbs. While the tips are worthwhile, consider supplementing the...
Curated OER
Women Call Out: The Personal Narrative
After reading and discussing several personal narratives written by women in the 1920's, class members write a personal narrative of their own about a time in their lives they felt controlled. Sample narratives can be accessed through...
Curated OER
Editing
Fourth graders edit their previously written essay rough drafts with a partner in this lesson. They apply the revision process using a revision checklist, then revise independently. They conference with the teacher about their needed...
Curated OER
"All About Me" Paragraph
Fifth graders write a paragraph titled "All About Me" in the computer lab after they have drawn graphic organizers to fill in background information about themselves and used a "10-Point Writing Checklist" to do peer editing.
Curated OER
Apples Personified
Students write a creative writing piece by personifying apples. In this creative writing instructional activity, students view a PowerPoint about the writing process and brainstorm about apples. Students write a rough draft about their...
Curated OER
Silly Animal Problems
Young scholars read the story Dog Breath and write their own story focusing on sequencing about an animal with a silly problem. For this writing lesson plan, students use memorable details and pacing in their story.
Curated OER
Humorous Story Featuring Clowns
Middle schoolers write stories that feature funny clowns. In this creative writing instructional activity, students follow the outline for a story in order to write their own humorous story set at a circus.
Curated OER
Humorous Story Featuring Clowns
Middle schoolers write a funny story about clowns. In this humorous story writing lesson, students determine how to develop a setting, use clowns as characters, and how to write a humorous story with a happy ending. They follow the study...
Curated OER
You Are Uniquely You; Reflecting and Sharing
Students write a letter as a culminating activity to a service project. In this reflection project, students draw something that occurred during the project and attach words to their drawings. Students pair share to edit their work.