Curated OER
Rough Draft and Peer Edit of Oral Book Review
Pupils write a rough draft book review over a book they have finished recently. Using their peers, they revise and make suggestions to correct spelling and grammatical errors. In groups, they practice giving their book report to the...
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A Year (a Day or a Week) In My Life as a Shorebird
Students describe the basic life history of one shorebird common to their area. They use the writing process which includes brainstorming, rough draft writing, peer editing, and re-writing to create a factually and grammatically...
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The Physics of Sports: An 8th Grade Physical Science Project
Explore the relationship between sports and physics in a cross-curricular lesson. Middle and high schoolers prepare a multimedia presentation based on a chosen sport. They answer five physics vocabulary questions about how the laws of...
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...
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The New York Draft
Students investigate the draft that originated in New York during the time of the Civil War. They examine the primary resource of a newspaper article from the time in order to gather information. The students check the grammar of the...
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The Writing Process
Show your young researchers how to find information, brainstorm a topic, map or outline their own stories, and create rough drafts. This lesson also shows learners how to peer edit, conference with the teacher, and write their final...
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Persuasive Essays
Follow this outline to write persuasive essays with your 11th grade college prep classes. Using the internet, they research a topic, citing their sources correctly. They work with a partner to peer edit their rough drafts, checking for...
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Language Arts: Laws of Life
Students participate in the iEARN Project by completing a questionnaire about values and lessons they have learned. They read sample essays by other students in the project about their views on the laws of life. They then write and post...
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The Underground Railroad as an Act of Civil Disobedience
Students write an essay from rough draft to final copy about the Underground Railroad. Civil disobedience is researched from a variety of sources. There is a prewriting exercise that is included in the lesson. The whole writing process...
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My Favorite Book
Class members select a favorite book and write and present a book review. They view and discuss a sample PowerPoint presentation, then write a rough draft for their own slide show book review. They create a six-slide presentation to...
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Revive Reviews With Student-Created Study Guides
Students work cooperatively in small groups to practice note-taking and outlining skills which are applied as student create unit Study Guides for their classmates. They demonstrate critical thinking skills as they decide the most...
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Using Adjectives to Write
Fifth graders examine how to write a story using comparative and superlative adjectives. They listen to the book "Pig Pigger Piggest" by Rick Walton and identify the comparative adjectives used in the story. Students then write a rough...
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Color Poems
Learners listen as the teacher reads several poems from the book "Hailstones and Halibut Bones," "My Many Colored Days," and a teacher created poem. Students choose a color and share some brainstorming ideas with the class. They write a...
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Writing Similes
Fifth graders identify and write similes. They define simile and discuss different examples, and with the help of a thesaurus, write original similes that compare the colors of crayons to objects or feelings. Students copy their rough...
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Famous Person Report - Computer Applications
Students choose famous person to research online, use at least two different sources to find information, prepare rough drafts and document sources, meet in groups for peer feedback, review with teacher, and turn in final report.
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Using Each Trait to Improve Student Writing
High schoolers examine examples of the qualities of good writing skills and discuss how each of the traits add to the process of good writing. A variety of excerpts from literature provide samples for the exploration.
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Spooky Story
Second graders write a Halloween story. In this combined technology and writing lesson, 2nd graders create a Halloween picture using KidPix, insert it into Microsoft Word, and then write a story to correspond with the picture.
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Apples Personified
Students write a creative writing piece by personifying apples. In this creative writing instructional activity, students view a PowerPoint about the writing process and brainstorm about apples. Students write a rough draft about their...
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PenPal Letters with Imported Pictures
Students brainstorm components of a friendly letter and create a rough draft to type or type directly on computers using Microsoft Word. They then examine how to take pictures of each other using the digital camera and scan pictures of...
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Key Pals
Second graders analyze the proper form of friendly letters and write emails to a key pal. In this friendly letters and email lesson, 2nd graders discuss sending friendly letters and view examples of the letter format. Students then...
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Message in a Bottle
Sixth graders write a short story about being stranded on a deserted island. After a brief geography review of locations at various latitudes and longitudes, 6th graders draft their story about being stranded. They use sensory and...
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Goal Setting -- Mission Statements
Young scholars read examples of mission statements related to goal setting. Individually, they research accomplishments of their hero and how they overcame fear. To end the lesson, they write their own mission statement on how they...
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Writing Away For Information
Students review the format used to write a friendly letter which they will use to write an e-mail. They use questioning techniques as they write a letter of inquiry using a number of drafts. Using a word processing program they develop...
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War With Iraq
Students research a variety of magazine articles on the issue of Iraq and conflict resolution. Students chart the costs and benefits of the military action. Students prepare a rough layout and draft some content findings on the...