Your class participates in a variety of shared reading and writing activities related to the book Julian Secret Agent. They complete a class story chart, examine how to use punctuation for dialogue, write an alternative...

Students explore all the uses of commas by finding sentences using commas and describing how they are used by comparing the sentences to the rules for utilizing commas. They create a poster with five rules of commas and examples for each...

Students discuss the importance of using adjectives in writing. They separate into five groups, each group is given a bag with an object inside to describe using just one sense. They write a description of a Hershey's Kiss using adjectives.

Students write a sentence using three objects that they have in front of them. They identify where to place commas in their word series sentence, and read them outloud to the class.

Young scholars write dialogue. For this character development lesson students use direct or indirect speech to include a confrontation between two characters in their story. Young scholars portray the emotions of the characters in...

Elementary schoolers practice the skill of non-fiction writing. They study aspects of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, and write an essay which describes the tower and it's fascinating history. The article about the tower is included in...

What do the words alligator, armadillo, and cockroach all have in common? Each one is an English word with Spanish origins. Introduce young etymologists to the joys of discovering word origins with a lesson plan that asks them to create...

Looking for a lesson about differing sentence types? Use this lesson on compound and complex sentences in your grammar unit. After composing simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences individually and as part of a group,...

Students combine sentences to create compound sentences. They write about creating their own soda, then make their own soda, comparing and contrasting it with a national brand. They write a paragraph containing compound sentences.

Learners get in groups, take a list of words, put them into story form, and punctuate them. They present their story to the class and consider how punctuation changes meaning. Great excercise. 

Now is the time to identify the great teachers in your school! Discuss the characteristics of persuasive writing and analyze an example. Then, each pupil chooses a teacher who they feel should be named teacher of the year. They plan and...

Third graders relate the concept of individuality of geometric shapes to the individuality of topic sentences. They write and revise a persuasive argument essay using an established rubric.

Upper elementary and middle schoolers, in pairs, use PowerPoint to link a button to every comma within a piece of writing. The button links to a slide explaining why the comma was used. They present their slides to the class.

Students, after reading Fahrenheit 451, brainstorm inventions that could have been in the novel. They present their invention to the class and writing an expository essay about their creation.

Students listen to and discuss various fables, and identify the moral and central themes. They write their own personal fables and create illustrations to go with them.

Learners write a friendly letter. They write a friendly letter to author, Cynthia Rylant, after reading a number of her books, and watch a presentation by the teacher that describes how to write the letter. They word process their...

Candy conversation hearts make writing a sweet pastime. Fifth graders write narratives demonstrating a complete thought and correct punctuation. The trick here is that they must use the words on five candy conversation hearts as part of...

Students explore letter writing.  For this persuasive writing lesson, students write a letter to a local organization based on a topic of their choice.  Students employ the correct letter writing procedure as outlined in the...

Young scholars review the differences between defining and non-defining clauses, and then go on to a writing exercise which employs non-defining relative clauses to expand a basic story outline.

Students analyze folk and fairy tales. In this language arts lesson, students discuss the elements of a tale determining what the differences are between folk and fairy tales. Students then write their own tales using the graphic...

Fifth graders use the internet to research the Silver Star given to those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Using the information, they write a short report on one of the recipients of the Silver Star. In groups, they visit a...

Fourth graders prepare for the literary analysis. They locate, interpret, evaluate and analyze the relationship between a character and the theme. After a lecture/demo, 4th graders write topic and detail sentences, then correctly put...

High schoolers prepare for Youth Voices Forum by writing resolutions using actual format employed by United Nations. Students explore components of resolution, including formal language, and practice writing and critiquing resolutions.

Learners create a story about an unknown planet invaded by humans as a pre-reading activity for the novel, A Wrinkle In Time. They discuss good versus evil, and identify examples of the theme good vs. evil in books, film, and their own...