EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 15
What do a cheetah, Audi commercial, and air have in common? They're all topics of an engaging inquiry-based, hands-on workshop for educators about background knowledge, reading strategies, the CER model, and argumentative writing. The...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Writing Lesson: Dancing With the Math Stars
This is a great math writing assignment. First, learners learn about the patterns and shapes of polynomial equations and their inverses by making their bodies imitate mathematical concepts, using popular disco & 80's dance moves....
Cengage Learning
Houghton Mifflin: Project Based Learning Space
Houghton Mifflin has created a comprehensive resource for project-based learning. This site is full of ideas, explanations, projects, and more.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Magical Animal Encounter
This writing lesson is fashioned after Harry Potter's encounter with a communicative boa constrictor at the zoo. Inspired by Rowling's original idea, students will be asked to create a three-part story about an original magical animal...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Unique Imaginary Friends
The writer will first create an original imaginary friend, inspired by Ted from Tony DiTerlizzi's wonderful picture book. The writer will then think of an ordinary activity done on a daily basis, like feeding the family dog. The writer...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Word Game for Kids: The Wacky Word Game for Kids
In this game, young writers click on the three word buttons producing nouns and verb until they find a combination they like for a creative writing. Students can launch a VERY creative story when some wacky nouns and verbs come together.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Left Brained Writing Prompt: A Day as Your Shoes
It's fun to personify articles of clothing as a means of inspiring creative writing from your young scholars, and this mini-workshop has students a) personify their shoes on a page in their writer's notebook, b) share their story ideas...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Showing Creative Problem Solving
After reading excerpts in which Buck solves a problem in Jack London's The Call of the Wild, students write their own three-paragraph animal stories imitating London's style and word choice. Teacher and student instructions are provided...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: The Rookie Project
This is a three-part writing project which includes a research paper, a creative short story, and a movie review inspired by the movie, The Rookie. The lesson is easily adapted to other appropriate films of similar themes.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Top Secret Rule Reasons!
In The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups, David Wisniewski uses a pattern throughout his book. A grown-up rule is shared, the grown-up reason for the rule is shared, and the "real" reason for the rule is revealed in a fantastic tale. This...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: My Adidas: Letting Your Possessions Tell Your Story
For this lesson, young scholars will listen to Run D.M.C.'s classic, "My Adidas", then they will think about everywhere their shoes have taken them and the story they have to tell. Using literary devices such as personification, point of...
Other
The Dream Flag Project
This creative and collaborative project is centered around the poetry of Langston Hughes, and incorporates art, multi-cultural ideas, and student performance. The site is full of examples, information, lessons and explanation.
Cengage Learning
Houghton Mifflin: Project Based Learning Space
Houghton Mifflin has created a comprehensive resource for project-based learning. This site is full of ideas, explanations, projects, and more.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Rolling With the Animals
After reading Duck on a Bike by David Shannon, the writer will plan an original story where an animal (other than a duck) finds itself in a human mode of transportation (other than a bike). Three other animals will react to the unusual...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A 6 Trait Writing Lesson: Emotional Recipe Write Ups
The writer studies the format of well-written recipes, paying particular attention to the type of verbs used in the paragraph of instructions which always follow the list of needed ingredients. Next, the writer thinks up a story or...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Word Game for Kids: The Opposite Game for Kids
In this word game, young writers explore antonyms (and prepositions), then create an original story about them. For ideas they can click the nouns and opposites buttons until they find a topic they want to write about.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Word Game for Kids: The Color Game for Kids
In this game, young writers select three colors by clicking the color buttons until they find a combination they want to write about. Then they let the carefully-chosen colors inspire an original story.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Clay Animation
This is a hands-on, technology-based project to incorporate creative writing and technology in the classroom. Clay Animation is one way of presenting a story in a nonverbal way. [Requires QuickTime.]
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Crazy Animal Game for Kids
Students use this writing topic generator to choose an animal and a crazy action the animal is able to do in order to give them something fun and creative to write about.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Imitating a Newspaper's Voice With a Funny and Original Idea
In this creative lesson, students will create a voice for a tabloid feature within a fairy-tale world.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Story Starting Participles
In this instructional activity, Roni Schotter's picture book entitled The Boy Who Loved Words is used as the mentor text. This Language Arts Common Core Standards-aligned instructional activity pre-writing task engages students in...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Squiggles
After reading "The Squiggle" by Carole Lexa Schafer, students use their own creative vision and talent to turn a squiggle into a masterpiece. They use crayons to color background and details, anything that helps make their squiggle into...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Noodle Alliteration
This lesson allows students an opportunity to explore the dictionary and thesaurus to write creative alliterations about pasta after reading Jack Prelutsky's poem, "Spaghetti, Spaghetti."
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Vocabulary Fashion Show
Inspired by Debra Frasier's clever vocabulary fair from her book, Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster, individual students will imagine what a vocabulary fashion show would be like. Assuming the role of a fashion show announcer,...