Freewriting: Exploring Everybody's Favorite Topic

Teach emerging writers how to master the topic sentence, supporting details, and concrete details. A list of transition words is also included. Several practice opportunities are listed here, presenting certain topic sentences (for...

Third through fifth graders explore writing paragraphs. Each person chooses a planet. Everyone arranges themselves physically to represent the solar system. This helps learners make connections between the order of the planets and the...

Dim the lights, take a deep breath, and press play to explore the emotions and memories that music elicits. Class members begin using relaxation techniques designed to create a positive listening experience. As music plays, learners...

In this content-area writing prompt worksheet, students sharpen their writing skills as they select 1 of 4 listed content-area writing prompts to complete. Students respond to 6 questions that require them to write topic sentences.

Examine character in depth. Over the course of these six lessons, learners explore their own character traits, determine the traits of characters in the books they read, practice comparing and contrasting, and collaborate in small groups...

Ninth graders explore the construction of topic sentences and the processes involved in the development of a paragraph from these sentences. Outlines are utilized to provide ideas for topics and their supporting details.

Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...

Satires may be designed to expose a bias to ridicule but if misunderstood can they reinforce that bias? Langston Hughes poem, “Minstrel Man” opens a discussion of racist stereotypes, the minstrel tradition, and the musical, “The...

Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...

Amateur poets explore alphabetical poetry. They choose a topic and brainstorm vocabulary that relates to the topic using each letter of the alphabet. The class then generates ideas for a group alphabet poem. After creating one as a whole...