Pennsylvania Department of Education
Informational Writing: Lesson 2 of 5
Introduce expository writing to your elementary learners. Young authors write a three-paragraph informational paper using the steps of the writing process. They follow guided lessons to experience each of five steps. Included are tons of...
Curated OER
Picture the Process
Students read Chasing Vermeer and relate the book to the author . In this writing process lesson, students view Blue's Photo Album and see how the author writes and revises her work. Students discuss the process that all good writers...
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The "Write" Stuff: Strategies and Conventions for Imaginative Writing
Fifth graders develop and practice the steps involved in imaginative writing. They follow the steps/worksheets included and write imaginative stories of their own.
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Getting Ready to Write
Young scholars watch an online slideshow that shows Cornelia Funke's transition from an illustrator to a writer. They discuss her writing process from the way she gathers ideas to how and where she writes. Next, they work in groups to...
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A Handmade House Book with Student Writing
Use this lesson for your bookmaking project. First, young writers work on making an accordion fold house book. After composing a variety of pieces of writing, they can use their book to store their writing. The structure is ideal for a...
Nancy Fetzer's Literacy Connections
Expository Paragraph
Upper elementary and middle school writers learn how to craft an expository paragraph by following the six steps detailed in a 48-page instructional guide. Learners learn how to write six different types of informational paragraphs: to...
Curated OER
Writing with Writers
Learners participate in Writing with Writer's, a step-by-step set of directions aimed at improving different genres of student writing. They identify the characteristics of different genres and follow a specified writing process to...
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Civil War Essay
Upper graders explore equality by writing an essay. They read the story Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco, and discuss the meaning of the story and its relevance to Civil War events. Learners investigate the five writing process steps and...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
The Writer’s Toolbox: What You Need to Master the Craft
Strengthen your high schoolers' writing with a series of steps for writing successfully. With sections on organizing an essay, choosing a topic, crafting a thesis statement, and revising a draft, the lesson encourages your class to...
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Pretty Plants Point of View
Young poets use Kidspiration to draw a flower, personify the flower, and write a poem from the flower's point of view. Sharing these poems in small groups will reinforce learners' knowledge of personification.
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Writing a Political Leader
Young scholars investigate politics by writing a formal letter. For this U.S. Government lesson, students discuss political issues they would like to address and research their topic using the Internet. Young scholars locate an...
Scholastic
Lesson 1: What Are Barriers?
Scholars discuss the concept of a barrier with a short passage on Jackie Robinson. The writing process begins with a paragraph and several other sentences about Robinson's unique traits that made breaking a barrier possible.
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Making a Magical Story
Fourth and fifth graders use their knowledge of developing character, dialogue, and setting to produce an original story. An excerpt from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is used as inspiration to get everyone's creative juices...
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Dr. Seuss and Read Across America
What important facts about Dr. Seuss influenced the Read Across America movement...? This is the driving question of a research project that requires scholars to find information about Dr. Seuss' life and work. Class members write a...
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All About Me
Students explore autobiographical stories. They write about a personal experience that is significant and memorable. Students specifically explain the chosen events. They define autobiography and share their stories.
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Determining Ideas and Adding Details
A handy TFDC (topic/fact/detail/conclusion) graphic organizer (included) allows young writers to outline and record their main ideas and supporting details in the prewriting phase. They then continue to add details to the topic sentences...
Curated OER
The World Around Me
Combining visual and language arts, here is a resource that prompts middle schoolers to write stories based on pictures of their surroundings. They use digital cameras to take pictures of favorite areas in the school. Next, they choose...
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Five Paragraph Essay
Students create a standard outline, using a word processing tool, while they are learning about the basic writing device of the 5 paragraph essay.
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Making Movies to Demonstrate a Process
Young scholars use Windows Movie Maker to complete a how-to description activity. In this how-to and technology lesson, students create a slide show using Windows Movie Maker. Young scholars bring in the materials for the demonstration,...
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Lesson Plan 4: Creating Main Characters
Creating a good main character is a must when writing a creative narrative or novel. Elementary aged writers create main characters for the novel they are writing. They first use themselves as a models, then create a character as a...
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The Canadian Expedition
Fifth graders research and write a pen pal letter about the geography of a Canadian town. Students create a script for a phone call with their pen pal and perform it with a friend for the class.
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Transforming Negatives to Positives
Young scholars write diamonte poems that correspond to the double-exposed photograph they created. In this poetry and multimedia artwork lesson, students use the photographic process to create a double-exposed photo then create a...
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All About Me Books
Students examine literature of emergent readers, categorize books into types of literature common for primary readers (wordless, pattern, alphabet, number, rhyme, etc.), and write a book about themselves to give as gifts to their new...
Curated OER
Successful Paragraphs
Students write a five sentence paragraph with varied sentence beginnings. In this paragraph writing instructional activity, students use a teacher modeled procedure. They complete a worksheet about their favorite things, happenings, and...