Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth...

Beverly Cleary is the fabulous author focused on, in this author study. Students conduct Internet Research in order to find out as much as they can about Ms. Cleary. They then use their findings and the Garageband program to create a...

Show your pupils how to use guiding questions to help them focus their research into a topic. Using the framework provided by these questions, researchers explore a topic, collect interesting facts, and prepare a PowerPoint presentation...

Determine the author's purpose in writing a memoir. Eighth graders work in groups  to elicit author's purpose in memoirs, taking care to note how subtle the message can be hidden throughout the work. This lesson is a good way to...

Oh the joys of love! As a special Valentine's Day assignment, budding authors research the life of one of the most romantic poets, Keats. They read the letter, "To Fanny Brawne, 13 October 1819," then compose a love letter of their own....

Everyone loves Arthur, the friendly aardvark! Emerging readers explore Arthur books by Marc Brown. They use the Internet to research Marc Brown and share information with their class. They work independently to conduct research and then...

Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing instructional activity! This cross-curricular Ornithology instructional activity incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry,...

Celebrate inventions such as lightning rods, bifocals, and stoves with a Ben Franklin Day. Young historians conduct research and write a paragraph about an accomplishment of Benjamin Franklin including an illustration...

Analyze magazines as a class, looking carefully for the target audience, advertisements, and topics presented. Small groups then work as a publication team and receive a magazine that they have to "sell." Each individual has a different...

Authors write about what they know, and that does not exclude songwriters. Invite partners to explore the story behind a song. They analyze and discuss the lyrics, conduct research online, create a poster, and put together a two-minute...

Fifth graders use technology to research and collect data. They develop awareness and appreciation of authors and genres. They organize information for presentation.

Fourth graders research authors on the Web each month in based on the themes in their reading book. They create an author booklet which includes a picture and biographical information.

Looking for a great lesson on how to write a biography? Here, middle schoolers draw from magazine articles, novels, historical figures, and current events to choose a person, or character to write about in a biography. They follow a...

Examine artwork, research literature, and create art pieces for a monument to a literary figure. Young scholars analyze the sculpture Model for a Monument to Alexandre Dumas père and compare it to other well-known monuments. They...

If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...

Put your class in the shoes of someone - or something - else with this lesson, which encourages writers to keep a diary from the perspective of a living creature or an abstraction. Use Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm and the Six Trait...

Complete research on Pourquoi tales and then lead your students in creating their own. This lesson accompanies another on Pourquoi Tales on our site and deals more with the writing process. Your class will put the tales together in a...

While reading the book Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls, the class ties together the core reading objectives, which are making predictions, comprehending new information, reading for author's purpose, independence in reading,...

Eighth graders create an in-depth research report on a state. They conduct Internet research, write a comparison essay about New York State and their assigned state, create a 3-dimensional map, and develop a Powerpoint presentation.

Students summarize information from their research on to note-cards. In this technical writing lesson students examine examples of note-cards that contain main ideas from research previously conducted.  They will then compose their...

Students distinguish various books by David Shannon from other authors, compare three of Shannon's books for similarities, list various possible settings for stories, integrate Shannon's pattern of writing into their own, and formulate...

Students listen to several of David Shannon's books and identify patterns in the text. They write and illustrate a story of their own in the style of David Shannon, and share their books with classmates.

Examine the power of persuasion and have learners consider how it influences events in their own lives. After reading and analyzing informational texts to understand the author's purpose, class members take a written test and craft a...

Explore early writing systems and their significance in understanding the development of past civilizations. In groups, learners research early writing systems and then present their findings to the rest of the class. They teach their...