Curated OER
Writing the Essay
Relate the structure of the essay to the structure of a building. The class compares an essay to a building, with the writer being the architect, the introduction being the foundation, and so on. They use the visual representation of a...
Education World
Take Five: Writing a Color-Coded Paragraph
Use a traffic light to model a very basic paragraph plan. The Go, or topic sentence, is written in green and expresses an opinion about the topic. Information that supports the opinion of the Go sentence is written in yellow and the...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing: Using Exact Words
Review the narrative writing process with your emerging story writers. They read a sample narrative and identify five vague verbs that could be replaced with a more exact, exciting verb. Then they write a personal narrative making sure...
State University of New York
Going Back in Time Using “George Washington’s Socks”
After reading Elvira Woodruff's George Washington's Socks, young readers and writers embark upon writing their own historically based story, with a focus on developing ideas and details throughout the piece. In small groups, class...
Curated OER
Writing a Personal Narrative
What is the difference between a news story and a personal narrative? This plan has learners write a personal narrative using the topic of service projects in their community. Consider completing a cross-curricular extension by bringing...
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Traditional Writing vs. Collaborative Writing
Students examine language arts by completing a group activity. In this writing styles lesson, students define and discuss the differences between collaborative writing and traditional writing while answering questions in a Smart Board...
Curated OER
Characterizations: Indirect and Direct
Connect literature to narrative writing by researching descriptive writing techniques. Elementary and middle schoolers identify the importance of a narrator and voice in the storytelling process. They read writing samples and identify...
Curated OER
Friendly Letter Writing and Sentence Structure
Explore communication through writing by analyzing individual sentences with young writers. They practice writing compound sentences and identifying sentence fragments. The next step has them learn the five parts of a friendly letter....
Curated OER
Brochure Writing
What do you use a brochure for? Middle schoolers or underperforming high schoolers identify the attributes of informative brochures. Either bring in a few brochures you've collected or use the sample brochures attached here. While...
Curated OER
Precise Vocabulary
Students complete acting exercises as a part of a precise language activity to help them build vocabulary and improve their descriptive writing skills. In this theatre and writing lesson, students create and act out a sentence with two...
Curated OER
Writing with Writers
Students participate in Writing with Writer's, a step-by-step set of directions aimed at improving different genres of student writing. They identify the characteristics of different genres and follow a specified writing process to...
Curated OER
Car For Sale!
Car For sale! In this GED prep lesson, writers develop a classified advertisement to sell a car. After a discussion of precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language, sellers draft their ad for review, revision and...
Curated OER
Colorful Creative Writing Rebus
Learners read rebus samples from various sources. They write poems about colorful places, including detailed descriptions of people, scenery, and objects. Students create small, relevant illustrations to communicate meaning using symbols...
Curated OER
Writing Traits Instruction
High schoolers assess and critique a wide variety of writing samples for each of the traits of writing strands from literature, composition writing, reading and assessment tools. They create and design a descriptive definition piece of...
Curated OER
"My Animal"
Learners determine which animal best represents them write reasons why. This is a nice culminating lesson for students who have been working on descriptive writing.
Curated OER
Don't Let the Earth Down
Writing a persuasive argument starts with a clear thesis. Using this resource, your class will write a persuasive paper on a conservation issue. They will then transform their argument into a 30-second public service announcement. If...
Curated OER
Writing a Personal Narrative
Young scholars learn characteristics of an effective personal narrative. In this personal narrative instructional activity, students discover ways to show rather than tell, adding richness and detail to their writing. Young...
Curated OER
Editing to Eliminate Fragments
Students practice their writing skills. In this writing revision lesson, students read the provided writing samples and make corrections to the sentence fragments that are evident in each of them.
Curated OER
The Writing Process
Fifth graders analyze well written and poorly written essays and define the four steps in the writing process. In this writing lesson plan, 5th graders edit poorly written essays.
Curated OER
Writing Example Paragraphs
Sixth graders explore language arts by writing basic paragraphs. In this writing techniques lesson plan, 6th graders define an "example" paragraph and discuss techniques to prove a point in one paragraph. Students practice writing their...
Curated OER
Review Steps in the Writing Process and Explore a Poem
Students practice their persuasive writing skills. In this writing process lesson, students write essays that meet the requirements of the included text element worksheets and analyze poetry of their choosing.
Curated OER
Putting It Together in Writer's Workshop
This lesson about writing can be taught in small groups or large group settings. They examine basic writing techniques and practice using them to improve their writing.
Curated OER
Picture This
Learners create a descriptive paragraph conveying ideas utilizing a personal photograph as a prompt for their writing. This concept includes the writers emotions, personal issues, education, art and photography. They share insights to...
Curated OER
A School Yard Journal
Fourth graders create journals with explicit descriptions of objects found on the school yard. In this descriptive writing lesson plan, 4th graders read some of Lewis and Clark's journal entries before they explore the school yard,...