Write and work with authors on the Scholastic Website to promote the recognition of various genres.  Young writers will participate in activities based on the type of writing such as biography, descriptive, folktales, mystery, news, and...

Discuss the importance of a lead in writing with your upper graders. They examine several examples of leads from literature and practice writing leads for pieces of artwork. They then select a topic from a list and write an introductory...

After researching issues involving panthers, middle schoolers practice writing persuasive letters.  They  become familiar with a controversial issue related to panthers and write their position on the issue. This lesson would be a good...

What a pair! Older pupils interview younger ones and use what they learn to write a short, illustrated storybook that features the youngster as the main character. The youngster responds with a thank-you note in which they identify their...

Help empower your class by learning about the editorial section of the newspaper. They will have the option to also write to a politician. The goal is to teach students how to speak-up and express their opinions on important issues....

Do your young authors suffer from writer's block when they try to write short stories? Access their natural creativity with C-Gor, the writing monster! The instructional activity takes aspiring authors through a new writing process...

A comprehensive and immersive series of lessons that examines various aspects of story development leads learners into writing a narrative of their own. Writers develop an understanding of the writing process as they use the learning...

A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...

Design an informational brochure to urge people to move to a specific community. The purpose of this activity is to expose pupils to expository writing. After creating the brochure, they write a three-paragraph persuasive or...

New ReviewScholars read and discuss an essay by 12-year-old actor Lonnie Chaves about racism, paying close attention to how racism presents itself in interpersonal and institutional ways. Learners reflect on how they experience or witness racism...

Practice writing algebraic expressions from written phrases. The objective is to consider two seemingly similar phrases, write them as algebraic expressions, and then simplify using the order of operations. Learners are challenged to...

Have your class examine the characteristics of various writing genres using the Writing with Writers online project. Detailed instructions for how to introduce, discuss, and develop a piece of writing for each genre are included. Class...

Assess your new learners' writing abilities and knowledge of literary terms with these diagnostic activities. Part of a back-to-school unit, this is meant to provide the teacher with information about the ability levels of their class....

Have your older students assist young children with writing in this community service and literacy lesson plan. Middle schoolers become partners with a local elementary school. They assist the grade school children in writing a pattern...

Wait, there is an effective way to practice writing dialogue with your high school class? Great! High schoolers will have a blast writing dialogue using a list of potentially silly situations and an image of people talking. Employ the...

Write a book using Spanish vocabulary after listening to the book La Casa Adormecida. Learners identify known vocabulary, match vocabulary from the book with visuals, and unscramble syllables discover words. Students write a new version...

Relate the structure of the essay to the structure of a building. The class compares an essay to a building, with the writer being the architect, the introduction being the foundation, and so on. They use the visual representation of a...

Students listen to Japanese folk songs to get inspired to create a writing piece about Japan.  In this writing lesson, students use primary and secondary sources to add information about Japan. 

Use an article about an Orca killing a trainer to help writers complete a persuasive essay. The article, other templates, and models are attached. Scholars divide up into groups of three where each person takes a different role,...

High schoolers analyze photographs as a development activity for their literacy skills. They will review the 6 Q's feature for analyzing photographs and analyze a variety of photographs and then write comments in the space around the...

In expository writing, it is important to back up claims with evidence and details. Help your class to develop their writing with notes on different types of evidence. Once they have the basics down, practice with a sample thesis and...

Examine writing using a fun, interactive format. Young writers choose a piece of their own writing to proofread for initial capitals and final periods they left out. They work independently using green stickers to add capitals and red...

Here’s a great teacher resource - thirty-five writing prompts designed for high school writers. Categories include cause and effect, definition, expository/informative, persuasive, how to, descriptive, narrative, biographical narrative,...

Involve your readers in finding works of literary genius. Have each individual write down compelling sentences that they read or hear, whether in a newspaper, advertisement, book, movie, song, or any other place! Once each person has a...