Curated OER
Persuasive Writing: Creating Book Reviews
By reading and analyzing examples of persuasive text, students can get a better idea of how to form their own essays.
Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory unit is a golden ticket for teachers looking for nicely written plans. Elementary and middle schoolers draw their impressions of characters, design and market their own candy creations, and use...
Theodore Roosevelt Association
Interpreting the Past; Assessing Its Impact on the Present
Even though the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt ended over 100 years ago, we can still learn something from his stances and policies that is applicable today. Class members first look over a list of prevalent political issues from the...
All About Explorers
How Could They Be so Wrong?
If it's on the Internet, it must be true ... right? Introduce young Internet explorers to the importance of fact-checking through a fun web-based activity. Pairs work together to read and analyze biographies about world explorers, then...
EngageNY
Claim, Reasons, and Evidence: Planning the Body Paragraphs
Planning is the key to success. Scholars continue planning their essays by adding reasons to their Planning My Argument graphic organizers. Additionally, pupils analyze a body paragraph from a model position paper, identifying the...
Novelinks
The Little Prince: Anticipation Guide
Begin your unit on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince with an anticipation guide that addresses the novel's themes. Kids read ten statements that discuss love, friendship, and growing up, and determine whether or not...
Curated OER
Inventing and Presenting Unit 3: Persuasive Speaking and Invention Promotion
Students write a proposal for a speech. Students prepare appropriate visuals for use in the proposed speech. Students produce one or more graphs that summarize the results from the experimentation. Students deliver an effective speech in...
Curated OER
Shakespeare: Henry V - Writing Task
Pairs of pupils choose a person who they consider to be a hero. They research that person, develop a speech, and deliver it to the class in hopes of persuading them that this person really is a hero. A vote is taken after the...
Curated OER
Writing a Political Leader
Learners investigate politics by writing a formal letter. In this U.S. Government lesson plan, students discuss political issues they would like to address and research their topic using the Internet. Learners locate an appropriate...
Curated OER
Design a New Dollar Coin
Students create a design for a new coin after researching people who have impacted history. Students must write a persuasive essay about why this person should be memorialized on the dollar coin and present their person to the class.
Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson's Library: Making the Case for a National Library
The United States Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. But such was not always the case. The library was destroyed during the War of 1812. In a persuasive letter to Samuel H. Smith, Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his...
Curated OER
The Federalist Debates: Balancing Power Between State and Federal Governments
Learners examine the pros and cons of state sovereignty vs. federalism, as argued by the Founding Fathers. They identify the basic positions of each side, complete a worksheet, and write a persuasive essay arguing for Jefferson or Hamilton.
Curated OER
Echo, Echo, Echo, Each can help others
Learners discuss and research arguments about philanthropy. In this persuasive speech writing lesson, students choose a needed project for the community and present the reasons for the project through an original persuasive speech....
University of Kansas
Newspaper in the Classroom
Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...
Curated OER
Acts of Defiance?
Learners contemplate, discuss and share responses to critical and analytical questions regarding impending war in Iraq. They write persuasive essays arguing the pros and cons of the United States waging war unilaterally.
Museum of Tolerance
Immigration Journeys
Through the journey of four stories of immigration, scholars complete graphic organizers and apply knowledge to create a visual representation of their findings on a large poster. Third and fourth readers write a letter to their...
Curated OER
Wrap it up!
Sometimes the conclusion of an essay can be the most important part. Whether your writers are ending with a proposition, lesson learned, or persuasive argument, teach them how to "end with a bang" with this helpful PowerPoint! This...
Curated OER
Physical Education Unit Plan: Soccer - Lesson 6
Here is the sixth in a 10-lesson series on soccer. It takes a look at the role of gender in the sport of soccer. In general, are boys’ sports and girls’ sports equal? Are men’s sports and women’s sports equal? Is there equality in...
Curated OER
Honesty in Writing
Help your class construct an honest and clear writing piece. They explore tactics in advertising and identify deceptive language. They then write a statement about a community issue using honest language.
Curated OER
Monster: Guilty or Not Guilty
Is Steve Harmon innocent or guilty? Examine the evidence with a worksheet based on Monster by Walter Dean Myers. As kids read the book, they note particular passages that they believe indicate whether or not Steve committed the crime.
Curated OER
Writing a Political Leader
Students peer edit a letter. In this editing instructional activity, students peer edit a letter written to a political figure by another student. Students discuss edits and revisions needed for improvement. This is a continuation...
WolfQuest
The Return of Gray Wolves to Yellowstone National Park: Right or Wrong?
Should gray wolves be removed from Yellowstone National Park? After researching the complex relationships between the various habitats and species at Yellowstone National Park, including humans, class members take a position...
Curated OER
Propaganda Techniques
Sixth graders locate examples of persuasive writing. For this persuasive writing lesson students work in a groups to identify and analyze the use of propaganda techniques. Students use newspapers to find editorials, or advertisements,...
Curated OER
"I Don't Pay Attention to Advertisements? (At least I don't think so?)"
Sixth graders study eight persuasive techniques that occur in a variety of media types. They write a persuasive essay and present it to the class. They create a "new product" for which they produce an advertisement using persuasive...