Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Identify a Nonfiction Writer's Main Idea and Supporting Examples
Use this page to quickly identify the central idea of a text and organize ideas for writing an informational or explanatory text. The activity is split into two parts. In the first part, pupils note down the main idea and supporting...
Curated OER
Episodic Writing Using Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
Help your middle-schoolers expand their writing skills with this lesson on episodic writing, which focuses on story details, idea development, and organization. After reading "The Eighth Picture: End of Summer" from Patricia Reilly...
Smekens Education Solutions, Inc.
Introducing the 6 Traits to Students
Put together an English language arts unit on the six traits of writing with this helpful collection of resources. From fun songs to differentiated writing exercises reinforcing each of the traits, great ideas are provided for developing...
Curated OER
Organizing Writing/Composing a First Draft
Does your language arts class have a hard time with writing transitions? Use this organizational writing lesson to create three effective transition sentences that middle schoolers will use in their research of renewable resources.
Curated OER
Project Organizer: Follow an Explorer
This is both a great idea and a great way to help your class organize a themed project. They use these worksheets to assist them in writing a creative historical narrative about the life and travels of an explorer. They'll compare and...
Curated OER
Writing Worksheets Can Help Students Organize Their Thoughts
Teachers can help their students organize their ideas with the use of writing worksheets.
Curated OER
Convey Ideas in Writing
Use the platforms of the 2004 presidential candidates to bring persuasive writing to your class. Young voters identify the three issues most important to them in the election and research the issues and candidates' positions. They write...
TV411
Whip up a Storm of Writing Ideas
Need a key to unlock writer's block? Introduce your writers to four easy steps that will release them from their mental prison. The brainstorming worksheet, designed to set free their imaginations, even has an answer key.
Making Evidence-Based Claims: Grade 7
New ReviewThe most effective way to support an argument is with clear and relevant evidence. As seventh graders read and listen to Cesar Chavez's California Commonwealth Club Address, they work through five sections of a textual analysis unit,...
Curated OER
The Presidential Quotation Report
Famous quotations by American Presidents are the focus of this Six Trait writing activity, which could be used in a U.S. History class or in language arts. After reading the picture book Theodore by Frank Keating, have your 7th graders...
Curated OER
Counting Up/Down Stories
Mirroring Jerry Spinelli's style in Wringer, chapter 5, pupils use the "counting up/down technique" to recall an important moment in their lives. In the book, the character is being punched, and between blows he remembers details that...
Curated OER
The Last Word: Using Critical Thinking and Analysis to Reach a Decision
Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...
Curated OER
Writing and Presenting a Fable Using Research
Elementary and middle schoolers research animal facts and use them in a fable. First, they pair-share to find animal traits to use in writing a fable. They then complete a prewriting worksheet. After going through the writing process,...
Curated OER
Organizing Writing/Composing a First Draft
Seventh graders access an organizer from an earlier lesson and transition sentences to begin a new essay. In this organization and composing lesson, 7th graders work in small groups to create a draft of an article about natural...
Curated OER
Animation Pre-Production
Does your class love reading cartoons? Use their talents and interests to examine the process of writing a story they wish to tell through a cartoon. They develop the beginning, middle, and end of a story based on their original...
Curated OER
Getting Ready to Write
Students 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 choose a...
Curated OER
The Heart of Your Paper: 11 Methods for Writing a Topic Sentence (or a Thesis Statement)
Help your young writers produce high-quality topic and thesis statements that go beyond basic wording and really illustrate complex ideas and critical thinking skills. From however and compound sentence statements to using rhetorical...
Curated OER
Information Reports
Students practice essay skills. In this essay skills lesson, students select an essay subject and take notes for their topic. Students create a web for their essays. Students organize, write, revise, and publish their essays.
Curated OER
Organizers for Students
Students . In this organization lesson plan, students have a general discussion about sports cards and make a chart to answer the questions. Students read the baseball card story from USA Today. Students watch a web video about sports in...
Curated OER
Short But Sweet
After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...
ReadWriteThink
Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation
I Have A Dream ... that after the lesson, all individuals master the reading, writing, researching, listening, and speaking skills the biography project helps them develop. Martin Luther King, Jr. serves as a topic example for a model...
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...
Curated OER
Paragraph Construction
What is a paragraph? This question drives the PowerPoint. Viewers discuss important elements of a solid paragraph, transitions between paragraphs, and strategies for editing. Show this presentation and then look at an example paragraph...
Curated OER
Your Story
Students discover ways to learn about the past. In this writing lesson students use a writing web to organize their ideas about how we learn about the past. The students then start a time capsule about their lives.