Curated OER
Pizza Biography
A biography writing lesson plan with a tasty twist! Kids create a "visual biography" in which each pizza slice represents a paragraph, and toppings represent supporting details. They learn research techniques, note-taking skills, and how...
Curated OER
Walk in My Shoes: A Shoe's Perspective
Help learners write a creative story from the viewpoint of a shoe. The teacher brings a variety of different types of shoes to the classroom and each person chooses one. They then write a story from the point of view of the shoe,...
Curated OER
Who Wrote That?
Scholars creatively respond to writing prompts. They respond to writing prompts that reveal clues regarding their personalities and then use the prompts written in class to guess the prompts that belong to their classmates.
Curated OER
Truth and Lies Games
Students participate in a get to know you activity. In this social instructional activity, students write three statements about themselves. One is true and the other is false. Students read their cards and their peers decide what is...
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Creative Outline for Your Short Story or Book
Middle schoolers discuss the information listed about how to make an outline for a short story or book. They then begin writing their short story and edit it and revise before turning it in to be graded.
Curated OER
Lesson: The U.S. Westward Movement
Students research the U.S. Westward movement. In this U.S. history lesson, students research the topic, complete a creative writing activity for the lesson, and a design activity for the lesson.
National Math + Science Initative
Reading an Informational Text: "It All Started with Sputnik"
Sputnik was one of the greatest scientific advancements of the 1950s, and this reading lesson does it justice. Pupils start off with pre-reading questions and a video. They then read an excerpt from an article, which is accompanied by...
Curated OER
Critical Thinking & Writing: Brainstorming
Have your young writers organize their thoughts before writing. They generate ideas through various brainstorming activities prior to writing a mock feature news story for USA Today. A series of USA Today articles debating the level of...
Curated OER
Invent a Holiday
Who wouldn't want to create their own holiday? Use the 12 elements of a holiday to have learners of all ages create their own holiday. These days, it seems like we make any excuse for a holiday! Consider having some fun with your kids...
Paging Supermom
Postcard Template
A basic postcard worksheet could be a creative addition to your novel unit, pen pal project, or any other activity involving writing letters or sending mail. The template provides two postcards, each with lines for a message, a space for...
Curated OER
Multiplication/Division Number Series
Expand mathematical thinking with these prompts for scholars to use writing as they approach math. First, they use the numbers 3, 5, and 15 in an original multiplication number story, followed by a related division story. Encourage...
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Apples Personified
Students write a creative writing piece by personifying apples. In this creative writing instructional activity, students view a PowerPoint about the writing process and brainstorm about apples. Students write a rough draft about their...
Curated OER
The Great Alphabet Challenge
For this writing sentences activity worksheet, student practice their language skills as they craft groups of sentences in which first letter of each word starts with successive letters of the alphabet. Three examples are provided.
Curated OER
Understanding Story Elements-Who, What, Where
Students create a rap using story details. In this creative writing lesson, students examine the use of rap lyrics to list important details of stories. They view a video example, and use their notes to create their own raps based on...
Curated OER
Using Imagery
Show, don't tell! Pairs work together to change a list of telling sentences into showing sentences using picture words that create vivid pictures in the readers’ minds.
Curated OER
Maniac Magee Comprehension Questions
Supplement your Maniac Magee lesson plans with a packet of student materials. Included here is a variety of questions about the text. Pupils complete multiple choice and short-answer questions and choose from a variety of extension...
Curated OER
Found Poems
Students summarize articles found in the newspaper and use key concepts to write a poem. In this reading comprehension and writing lesson, students work with a partner to choose a current newspaper article. Key concepts and vocabulary...
Curated OER
2002: The Year In Review
Students research and create a book highlighting significant events and trends throughout the world in the year 2002. Then, through creative writing, they respond to the events or trends themselves and how they affected our world.
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Adjective? What's an Adjective?
Mount a variety of pictures (fantasy, rustic, portraits, action) on large sheets of paper and post them around the classroom. Groups rotate from poster to poster, adding adjectives to describe each of the pictures. Writers use these word...
Curated OER
Tech Integration Project Lesson Accelerator: Project Overview
Talk about technology in the classroom. This plan has all the resources needed to create a non-linear or branching story. Included is a step-by-step tutorial that walks middle schoolers through the project description, a model of a...
Curated OER
Exploring the Constellations, a WebQuest Activity
Students explore space science by participating in a class WebQuest. In this constellation identification lesson, students view star charts based on the four seasons and identify the changes our sky goes through in the course of 12...
Virginia Department of Education
Identifying Audience and Purpose
Use a fun and creative activity to introduce junior high learners to how writing changes for different audiences and purposes. The activity begins with a reading by the instructor where teens visualize a food fight in the cafeteria. In...
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Picture Perfect Poetry
Do your language arts students love to draw? Use this instructional activity to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several...
Curated OER
Talking About Sports
Doing research on a sports team can be a way to have students practice a variety of skills. Find fabulous ideas for activities or lessons that you can implement with your class!