Improve your fifth graders' persuasive writing skills in four weeks. Working independently, in peer editing groups, and with instruction, writers work over the 17 sessions to craft an argumentative essay. They craft a...

Should students be paid for doing well in school? That is the question at the heart of an argumentative writing unit that walks writers through the steps of crafting a persuasive essay. The carefully scaffolded scripted plans provide...

Ninth graders synthesize their inquiry paths, research process, and claim formulation with a writing assessment at the end of the unit. Learners write a one-page perspective about their conclusions from the research process and outcomes...

Whether you are teaching mainstream, advanced, or intervention language arts classes, you will find something helpful in a thorough writing packet. It includes prompts, rubrics, responses, helpful hints, graphic organizers, and many...

William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...

A three-part assessment promotes reading comprehension skills. Class members read literary texts and take notes to discuss their findings, answer comprehension questions, write summaries, and complete charts. 

It's no secret that children can be very opinionated, but rather than fight against this natural tendency, embrace it with this primary grade writing project. After a shared reading of a children's book about...

Everyone has a different point of view, even when it comes to the enormity of the universe. Two separate text passages explain the scope of a galaxy, prompting young readers to write an essay about each author's argument and how the...

Having prepared for an analysis essay about one of the characters from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, tenth graders demonstrate their understanding in a mid-unit assessment. They focus on either Jing-Mei or Waverly in an informative...

Here is a must-have resource for studying fairy tales, myths, and folktales with your class! It includes instructional ideas, activities, and materials to support a month-long review of these three unique genres of writing.

What's the difference between a position speech and a position paper? Scholars use a rubric to analyze a model essay about Michael Pollan's food chains to understand what makes them unique. Additionally, pupils create anchor charts...

Models and exemplars help pupils learn. Scholars read a model argumentative essay to prepare for an upcoming writing assignment. As they read, they work with partners to complete a worksheet analyzing the essay's structure. 

Put expressions, equations, and inequalities to work! Young scholars solve problems using various strategies. Meant as a snapshot of the Smarter Balanced Assessment, a set of seven questions includes topics from writing expressions to...

Third graders research and study animal adaptations and then use their findings to write narratives that include scientific criterion. This lesson is all about literacy and science! The lesson is completely designed for addressing Common...

A three-part writing assessment challenges scholars to think critically about schools of the past and present. Learners read informative texts, answer questions to prepare for a discussion, research in small groups, complete a Venn...

Rid yourself of unsupported analytic writing forever with a mid-unit assessment focused on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." As ninth graders formulate an essay based on evidence from the first seven lessons in the unit, they...

Should the work of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences be funded by the government? Middle schoolers weigh in on the status of federal funding for programs that protect the environment with three text passages...

A thorough unit on literary analysis and character development culminates in a final writing assessment. Prompted to compare the parent-child relationships in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and H.G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights, high...

The lesson guides young academics through the steps in producing a 10-page research paper on any topic in American history. Historians begin by formulating a thesis and gathering resources, then move on to creating an outline, and end...

Follow the format of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with a journal-writing activity. Readers choose a character and examine the character's life and circumstances through brainstorming, research, and discussion before...

The art of writing a letter has not been lost to email and texting! Teach kids how to format a friendly letter with a presentation about the parts of a letter, as well as prompting them to write a letter about their favorite holiday.

What makes a community? How communities differ? Young scholars research different types of communities, small rural towns, and large crowded cities. They respond to writing prompts, and write essays in groups to understand the wide...

Lesson 16 in the series of 28 is a mid-module assessment. Learners simplify expressions, write and solve equations, and write and solve inequalities. Most questions begin as word problems adding a critical thinking component to the...

Transitions are the glue that link paragraphs together. Pupils listen to a mini lesson plan on sentence structure and transitions and use what they learned to revise their informative consumer guides. Next, they self-assess their writing...