Curated OER
Objective: Clear Writing
This short presentation could be used as a warm-up for students who are studying the Roman Empire. A few vocabulary words are reviewed, then a writing task is presented: students must write a clear paragraph of a non-chronological report...
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Building Believable Characters
Students use descriptive strategies such as physical descriptions, background, and comparison of characters when writing narratives. They develop the topic with supporting details and precise diction to paint a visual image in the...
Curated OER
Dragonwings: Evaluate Chapters 10-12
As your class finishes the novel Dragonwings, use these culminating projects. A vocabulary list is given for chapters eleven and twelve and either an epitaph or letter activity concludes the book. The final project consists of creating a...
Curated OER
Composition in Journals
Carlos Fuentes’s The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait and Jaspre Bark’s Journal of Inventions: Leondardo da Vince serve as models for an assignment that asks class members to create a personal journal they will use...
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Getway to More Descriptive Writing
Middle schoolers use more precise descriptive words in their writing.
Curated OER
Beautiful Noise Poetry
"What a beautiful noise comin' up from the street; got a beautiful sound, it's got a beautiful beat..." Use Neil Diamond's "Beautiful Noise" to guide your class through a Six Trait writing activity, in which they write an original poem...
Curated OER
Creatively Creating Expository Essays
Students, after reading Fahrenheit 451, brainstorm inventions that could have been in the novel. They present their invention to the class and writing an expository essay about their creation.
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
Curated OER
A PLAY ON WORDS
After making predictions about Janell Cannon's story Verdi, middle schoolers read through the book and make a new list of descriptions, personality traits, etc. They select an animal and write a narrative story about the animal, paying...
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What Do You Think of Obama's Oval Office Speech on the Oil Spill?
Kids age 13 and older are asked to read the provided Times article and background information in order to construct a thoughtful blog response to Obama's first Oval Office speech. They work to address each of the related critical...
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
Every Dog Has Its Day
Students explore the use of imagery in writing. In this writing lesson, students create a writing piece that features sensory images without resorting to the use of clichés.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Informational Writing
Emerging writers identify an informational piece of writing. They are provided with examples of informational writing and view a PowerPoint on narrative writing. Then, they design their own informational writing with a brochure,...
Appalachian State University
Making Your Point Using Dialect
Explore the sounds, importance, and effectiveness of dialect in literature. Active participants read, listen to poetry, and explore dialect by developing a formal definition, discuss the benefits of its use, complete a Venn diagram and...
Curated OER
Writing a News Report
In this creative writing worksheet, students use the checklist to edit their fictional news report. Students use the checklist to prepare for their final written report.
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If I Could Talk Like the Animals. . .
Students read and discuss a film review of the animated movie Antz and then write a monologue from the perspective of a non-human organism.
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The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (Letter 24)
In this The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis worksheet, students read the story, define six key terms using only one or two words and answer ten comprehension questions.
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Programming and PB&J
Students use peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a method for learning computer programming skills. In this computer programming instructional activity, students write a detailed, step-by-step program for how to make a peanut butter...
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What's the Story?
Students write a group continuation story after reading the novel, The Giver. They write a continuation of the story of Jonas' and Gabe's adventures in Elsewhere, then share their story with the class.
Curated OER
Crazy Critters Teach Parts of Speech
Students create pieces of writing about a creature they have created. They examine the parts of speech and how they are used in their writing to see how they can write more specifically.
Curated OER
News View
Young scholars read and analyze three different news sources that describe the same event. They compare/contrast the similarities and differences of the news sources, and write an essay describing the main event.
Curated OER
Media Literacy Unit - Part 4
Seventh graders study how advertisers use techniques to sell their products. In this persuasive media lesson, 7th graders analyze media messages to find the advertiser's purpose. They examine different advertising techniques and their...
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Brainstorm This!
Students discuss the advantages and types of brainstorming as a prewriting tool. They experiment with different styles of brainstorming and produce prewriting samples for assessment.
Curated OER
What Makes Time Tick, or Has the Industrial Revolution Really Made Clocks Go Faster?
Students explore the concept of time both historically and in their own lives. Students count the number of times they refer to a clock and the number of scheduled and unscheduled activities in their lives. Students discuss how the...