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Transitions
Transitions are the focus of a presentation that includes information about the importance of transitions and types of transitions. Included is a list of commonly used transition words.
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Lesson Plan 17: Novel, Take 2
It's all about using peer resources in this writing process lesson, which includes a fantastic novel revision worksheet packet. Learners have read a partner's story draft the night before, and groups have a "lightning round of praise"...
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Compare and Contrast
Practice comparing and contrasting with this straightforward worksheet. Young writers compose several different compare and contrast paragraphs about several topics (transportation, sports, relatives, subject areas, a dog and cat). The...
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...
Road to Grammar
Health
Are your English language learners feeling unwell? Provide them with the tools to express how they are feeling and to talk about health in general. Included here are discussion activities, vocabulary, listening activities, grammar...
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Adventure Writing: Oregon's Landscape as a Setting
Students identify geographical features of different regions encountered by migrants on the Oregon trail. Students research how the Oregon landscape may have affected life and 19th century westward migration. Students write a narrative...
Anchorage School District
Transition Words Wall Poster
Vary and bury transitions in an accordion paragraph with the help of a poster that lists common and more advanced transition sets. To provide your students with this instructional aid, first download the template, then enlarge it to...
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The Death Car: Exercise on Conjunctions and Transitions
In this conjunction and transition worksheet, students must combine two sentences using the appropriate conjunction or transition.
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Writing: Laying and Covering the Foundation
Your middle schoolers can become stronger writers with a lesson covering the basics. They compose effective thesis statements and introductions, discuss different ways to capture a reader's attention, and compare a poorly written...
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Tips for Improving Transition
Vary, bury, pull, fit. These tips for improving transitions in writing are found on a template designed as a teacher resource. A clever way to make memorable these suggestions for improving transitions in writing, the language in the...
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Introduction to Writing
Learners write an essay during this 14 week series of ESL writing lessons. In this series of 14 lessons, advanced ESL writing students complete an essay. They focus on prefixes and suffixes, synonyms and antonyms, and vocabulary...
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Social Studies: Essay Outline
Here is a resource intended for a social studies class, but great no matter the subject. It's a complete outline for an essay. It includes space to write ideas related to the thesis, supporting details, transition sentences and words,...
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Paragraph Structure
Make sure your writers have the buns and the meat in their paragraph burgers with paragraph exercises. The resource gradually leads up to individuals writing their own paragraphs, starting with identification exercises, moving on to a...
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I OBJECT! Understanding Transitive Verbs
In this grammar worksheet, students learn how to use transitive verbs in sentence writing. They then use what they read to answer the 17 questions on the worksheet. The answers are located on the last page of the packet.
Anchorage School District
Writing Effective Summaries
Drafting a strong first sentence for a summary is an important step. Writers can use the formula presented on this handout to get started. The resource lists three steps to put together a strong topic sentence, as well as tips and hints...
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The Paragraph
Review the components of a well-written paragraph with your class. Be sure your writers include a topic sentence supported with main ideas and followed by a conclusion. Unity, coherence, and transition words are emphasized. Experiment...
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...
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Same Theme, Different Story Using Fox by Margaret Wild
Middle schoolers work with themes in this instructional activity, which is based on Fox by Margaret Wild. Because the book has multiple themes, it is a great way to transition into exploring literary analysis and writing stories. A Six...
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Scrambled Stories II
Review story elements with your class. They will use examples from a story to develop critical-thinking questions. Then they use a graphic organizer to describe the setting, character, and plot of the story, focusing on how they...
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Convince that Jury (Inspired by Roald Dahl's
What happened to a murder case when the police eat the murder weapon? After reading Roald Dahl's dark and ironic short story "Lamb to the Slaughter," students write a persuasive essay to convince a jury that the wife who killed her...
Curated OER
The Writer’s Toolbox: What You Need to Master the Craft
All the tools (and directions) you’ll need to build an essay are included in a resource designed for learners and educators. The packet can be given to class members or divided into sections and used as part of a series of lesson on the...
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Transitions – Review Worksheet
In this transitions review worksheet, students practice their grammar skills as they rewrite 7 sentences using the appropriate transitions.
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The Bing, the Bang, and the Bongo: The Five-Paragraph Essay
Create a five-paragraph essay easily with the bing, the bang, and the bongo method! Learners write an introduction with the thesis containing three parts. Your three body paragraphs then expand upon each part of the thesis. An example is...
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Using Compare and Contrast Key Words
Compare and contrast while challenging your class with this higher-level thinking and reading comprehension lesson. After observing the teacher model comparing and contrasting bats and birds, learners read passages about two towns. They...