Civil War Trust
Civil War Soldier: Experiencing the Battle of Franklin
Fighting a war over home soil makes a living nightmare even more real. Class members describe the experience of a Civil War soldier during the Battle of Franklin, poised right at a major turning point of the war, after researching the...
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Introduce Vocabulary: I Love You the Purplest (Joosse)
Use Barbara Joosse's heartwarming story I Love You the Purplest (which can be found on YouTube if you don't have it) to practice vocabulary in context with emerging readers. This sensory text is an excellent opportunity to...
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Exploring Sensory Details in Fiction and Nonfiction Text
Second graders analyze storytelling devices by examining sensory details in literature. In this descriptive writing lesson, 2nd graders define the 5 senses and practice using descriptive vocabulary words in their writing. Students read...
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Sensory Descriptors
Pupils feel items in a bucket and describe them using descriptive words. In this sensory descriptive lesson plan, students use words such as smoothe, rough, and bumpy.
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Multi-Sensory Grammar - Adjectives
Third graders demonstrate knowledge of adjectives, and use this knowledge to color-code parts of speech of a sentence.
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Writing to describe
Students examine descriptive writing. In this writing lesson, students listen to an audio version of the diary of Lt. Polly Hatchard and her expedition to the South Pole. Students explore the components of descriptive writing and...
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Writing Descriptions of "My Favorite Place"
Students write a descriptive writing piece. In this writing activity, students use a visualization exercise to add more descriptions to their writing.
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Internet: Writing Friendly Letters Via Email
Students view a Powerpoint presentation on writing and sending email. After examining a Website about the parts of a friendly letter, they compose and send their own letters via email. Teachers set up an email/pen pal account so...
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Color Poems
Students describe colors. In this descriptive writing lesson, students brainstorm color descriptions using all of the senses except sight. Students write poems including similes, sensory images, and interesting word choice. Examples are...
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15 Seconds of Fame
Students write an autobiographical essay. In this writing lesson students read a narrative, Panic in Paris, and review the elements of a narrative as a class discussion. Well-known stories are used as examples for writing their own...
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Guided Imagery: Canyons, Chapter 8
Individuals use words or illustrate what they experience during a reading of a passage from chapter eight of Gary Paulsen's Canyons. Complete directions for the guided imagery exercise, and a suggested passage, are included with the...
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Poetry Beyond Words: Creating Poetry with Linguistically Diverse Students
Models of and directions for how to write 20 different types of poems are featured in an NCTE resource. The introduction to each form highlights the embedded concepts. For example, tongue twisters encourage poets to use alliteration and...
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Enhancing Poetry with American Memories
Students explore poetry using American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project. They compose their own unque "found poetry" based on the stories found in the collection.
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Easter Egg Surprise
Young readers describe objects by using describing words. After reviewing the five senses, they use their senses to gain information about an object. Then as homework, they write three descriptive words about a mystery object and place...
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Message in a Bottle
Sixth graders write a short story about being stranded on a deserted island. After a brief geography review of locations at various latitudes and longitudes, 6th graders draft their story about being stranded. They use sensory and...
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Out of the Dust 1
Young scholars review figurative languages terms and examples. They read the first entry in the book, Out of the Dust, and discuss the images created by the author. Then they create an autobiographical poem using figurative language.
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Elaborating: Specific Adjectives
Students use adjectives to improve their descriptive writing. In this language arts lesson, students discuss adjectives that can be used to describe objects. Students complete sentences by selecting adjectives.
Museum of Tolerance
My Experience with Injustice
As part of their preparation for a visit to the Museum of Tolerance, individuals are asked to write about a time when they witnessed or experienced unjust, biased, or prejudicial treatment. A great way for writers to make a personal...
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Imagery: Show, Don't Tell
A vampire, the beach, a bedroom, the school cafeteria. Writers are encouraged to add sensory details (sight, touch, taste, smell, sound) to bring these things to life.
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Blogging to Create a Community of Writers
One of the keys for successful teaching is connecting curriculum to real-life experiences. This instructional activity on blogging does this, by making writing, revising, and publishing a reality. Pupils create a character for a story,...
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Every Dog Has Its Day
Students explore the use of imagery in writing. In this writing instructional activity, students create a writing piece that features sensory images without resorting to the use of clichés.
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Nudging Questions
Students choose one topic to write about. They brainstorm ideas about their topic or incident. They use sensory details to visualize their topic. They answer a variety of teacher directored nudging question to help them describe their...
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My Favorite Room - Brainstorming Sheet
In this writing worksheet, students brainstorm a writing piece about their favorite room. They write a purpose sentence, and fill a chart that describes the room using the senses. They write a draft using the purpose sentence and three...
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Lesson Three: Go Free or Die
Fourth graders look for sensory details and figurative language. In this reading strategy lesson, 4th graders read the story Go Free or Die by J. Ferris and complete a chart with figurative language. They use a word wall in the...