Provide young learners with the terrific transitions handout attached here. As a group, discuss the importance of putting ideas in an order that is easy to understand. Although this activity is designed to follow a writing activity from...

Middle and high schoolers hone their writing skills by reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. They fill out a graphic organizer (included here), and use the organizer to write an...

Students identify the attributes of informative brochures. In this written communication lesson, students examine sample brochures and persuasive essays to investigate the layout and the information presented. Students then create their...

Learners compose expository essays. In this written communication lesson, students examine paragraphs from sample expository essays and then discuss the attributes of well-written essays prior to writing their own expository essays.

Third graders explore how to write the five-paragraph essay.

Students read writing samples and discuss the differences between the writing with and without anecdotal examples. They write expository essays that include personal anecdotes.

Have your middle schoolers read through this outline about the Special Olympics program and then write a paragraph. This single-page assignment provides lines on which to write the expository paragraph. It makes good practice in writing...

Third graders study expository writing.

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...

Capture the interest of your reader with terrific topic sentences. To practice hooking the reader, your class will be given writing prompts, and they must create topic sentences for each prompt provided. Encourage them to use different...

Fourth graders write an expository paper using notes taken during a field trip or a guest speaker.

Students explore journalism. In this expository writing lesson, students read several newspaper articles and note common features. After reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Jan Brett, students work with a partner to write a news...

Give your young learners the chance to discover more about countries in their world community with a research project. Class members write reports on an assigned country and include such major features as geography, important historical...

Students develop a rubric or scoring guide to assess newpaper articles. They rate the story and write the reasons for the rating. An Essay Scoring Guide is attached for reference.

Eighth graders investigate varous writing skills as part of larger course of study. The instructional activity is essentially a rough guide for conducting a class for writing. The main focus of the plan is organizing ideas using various...

Students look into a mirror and draw their own self-portraits. Then they write a descriptive essay, describing the portrait and the features of their face.