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Writing and Amending Bills
Students participate in a classroom Congress simulation. They research and write a bill, and enact the passing, amending, and vetoing process of taking a bill through the Committee process of Congress.
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Write All About It
Fourth graders use research skills and the writing process to create a newspaper. Although students work in groups to complete the final draft of the newspaper, each student is responsible for doing his or her own research and writing...
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Writing a Fantasy Story - Time Travel
Students write a fantasy story about travelling back in time to the period of the Oregon Trail. They conduct research and take notes about the Oregon Trail, and write a first and a final draft of their short story about their visit to...
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Revision Checklist
In this language arts instructional activity, students go through the checklist in order to make revisions to writing samples before constructing a final draft.
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Thesis Statements
A good thesis is hard to craft. Model for your writers how to develop and refine thesis statements with a series of slides that discuss the purpose and format of this all-important sentence. Viewers following along as the process is...
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ARC Writing Lab Worksheets: Parallel Structure
In this parallel structure worksheet, learners read about parallel structure within sentences and between sentences, then complete a practice sheet of exercising, rewriting sentences. An answer key is given.
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Writing
Students discover the process of writing,. including the different steps to be taken in accomplishing the writing process to come up with the final published pieces.
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Writing a Children's Book -- Young Authors
High schoolers practice their writing skills by creating a children's book. They integrate five elements of short stories into the narrative. They share their stories with their book buddies.
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Language Arts: Writing Lead Sentences
Sixth graders discover the importance of lead sentences and practice writing them. After reading lead sentences in books, they determine the qualities that attract and hold readers' attention. Finally, once they have identified the...
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.
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Building Original Narratives
Fourth graders act out and write original narratives. In this theater meets writing lesson, 4th graders work in groups to create original narratives; after students act out their story, they write it down as a narrative.
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Making the Personal Political
Students identify controversial topics on which they have strong opinions and model their own persuasive opinion pieces after the featured article. They compose persuasive essays on controversial issues that "hit home" for them.
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Strategies for Organization and Elaboration of Personal Narrative
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...
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Biography: Telling Someone's Life Story
There are many different ways to help your students get excited about writing biographies.
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Agriculture Counts
Students discuss ways in which agriculture impacts their lives on a daily basis. In groups, they brainstorm ideas that they could possibly write about. They write a rough draft, participate in peer editing and write a final draft of a...
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Music in Words
Your class can build strong, well-represented opinions about the music they hear. They listen to, and share thoughts about, a piece of classical music. Then they write a piece of music or a poem, and analyze their peers' work and their...
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Health Conscious?
What is your attitude on health and illness? By considering their own experiences, students will reflect on and discuss their attitudes toward health and illness while educating each other by researching illnesses in small groups,...
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Children's Book
A great way to publish students' stories is by having them create a picture book using Pages. This simple instructional activity has them take a short story they have written and create a book with a title page and dedication. After they...
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Audio Aesop: Listen to the Lesson!
Aesop's Fables are the focus of this language arts lesson. Young philosophers study and discuss the morals found in the most famous of Aesop's Fables. They write an original fable that teaches a common moral. A "Fable Listening Library"...
Federal Reserve Bank
“Dewey Defeats Truman”: Be Aware of Data Revisions
Discover the impact and importance of data releases about current economic conditions in the United States. Your class members will learn about data revision and the GDP, and how these figures can alter people's views on the economy.
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VH1 Driven: Kanye West, Lesson 2
Young scholars compose an original rap. They discuss the career and music of Kanye West, discuss their pre-writing worksheet, and write an original rap using a Final Draft Worksheet.
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Conventions and Proofreading
Students explore and apply their proofreading skills in order to prepare their project essays for peer editing and final drafting. They refine their final project essays by identifying and correcting spelling and grammatical errors.
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Las Christmas: Favorite Latino Authors Share Their Holiday Memories
Eighth graders read Las Christmas and discuss their own cultural traditions. For this holiday traditions lesson, 8th graders write their personal story about a tradition or holiday memory. Students complete all stages of writing in...
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Newbery Award Winners
Sixth graders select a book from the Newbery list and read it. They write a short summary of the book without giving away the ending and then research the book's author. They write a book review and, finally, incorporate all of this onto...