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Writing Connections: Link Writing to Pupils' Daily Lives
Engage your learners in writing a set of instructions that relates to their experiences.
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Shakespeare and Poe Teach Six-Trait Writing
A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...
Anchorage School District
Writing Reference Sheet
Print out this handy reference page double sided and distribute it to your class. Individuals can use the page to aid them as they work on their topic sentences, transitions, conclusions, and paragraph structure. There is plenty of...
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Preparing for High School and Beyond
Eighth graders might be intimidated about going to high school and they may not think they'll ever go to college. Ease those fears while making college readiness an eighth grade reality. In teams, pupils fill out several worksheets while...
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Comprehension Instructional Routine: Sequence of Events in Text
If you're looking for a detailed lesson on event sequencing from informational text, you've found it. There is an entire script for you to draw from as you explore order of events and sequence words. Scaffolding is key here; learners...
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Connectors Exercise: Transitional Words
Transitional words and phrases make writing smooth and ease oral fluency. This resource gives English  learners a chance to practice using common connecting words and phrases like above all, firstly (sic), instead, etc. Answers are...
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Using Compare and Contrast Key Words
Compare and contrast while challenging your class with this higher-level thinking and reading comprehension lesson. After observing the teacher model comparing and contrasting bats and birds, learners read passages about two towns. They...
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Although, Despite, and In Spite of Exercise
Class members read example sentences using although, despite, or in spite of properly, use them to fill in the blanks to complete sentences, and create personal examples. Students answer 21 questions.
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Signal Words: But and Because
Use two of the most common signal words to teach your learners how to predict what might happen next while reading texts. Although there are many, but and because are the signal words selected for this sheet. Consider pointing out how...
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Signal Words in Expository Text
Signal words are one way that authors make the relationships between their ideas clear. Allow your learners the chance to investigate cause and effect in texts by identifying signal words. They locate and analyze cause-and-effect...
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Persuasive Writing - Anticipating Opposing Views
Persuasion, when used effectively, is a powerful and effective tool. In groups, young writers develop a persuasive letter about something that they would like their parents to allow them to do. Then, independently, they use proper...
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Dance Sequences and Phrases
A series of lessons about dance would be a great addition to your physical education class. Straightforward as well as creative, it teaches the basic skills of dance movement. A rubric helps guide the dancers to let them know what steps...
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The Bing, the Bang, and the Bongo: The Five-Paragraph Essay
Create a five-paragraph essay easily with the bing, the bang, and the bongo method! Learners write an introduction with the thesis containing three parts. Your three body paragraphs then expand upon each part of the thesis. An example is...
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Compare and Contrast
Practice comparing and contrasting with this straightforward worksheet. Young writers compose several different compare and contrast paragraphs about several topics (transportation, sports, relatives, subject areas, a dog and cat). The...
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Why Transition?
Help your class transition into better writers with this lesson, which guides them through the process of adding transitions to increase sentence fluency and organization. The activity is designed for a classroom with a SMART board, but...
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Paragraph Construction
What is a paragraph? This question drives the PowerPoint. Viewers discuss important elements of a solid paragraph, transitions between paragraphs, and strategies for editing. Show this presentation and then look at an example paragraph...
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Transition Words
Do your emergent writers need extra practice using transitions? After reading a brief definition, learners select a transition from the provided word bank that best completes the sentences in each set. No answer key is provided.
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The Five-Paragraph Essay: A Framework for Expository Writing
Looking for a PowerPoint presentation that models the framework for the traditional five-paragraph essay? Look no further. Here, the brief explanations are clear and concise, and color codes indicate the thesis sentence, the topic...
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Beat the Clock
Tired of wasting time trying to get your class to split up into groups? Engage in an activity to help your charges manage time. Learners reflect on a time they were left out or rejected, and then practice forming groups of three within...
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Signal Words Exercise: Harry Potter (But)
Have your class complete 20 sentences about Harry Potter that contain the signal words "but" or "therefore." If students have not read any Harry Potter books they can make something up that makes sense.
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Writing Transitions: However, Nevertheless, Still, Despite That Nonetheless, Even So
Use a writing transitions worksheet to help your class sharpen their writing skills as they read several examples, and rewrite seven sentences using the words however, nevertheless, still, despite, nonetheless, and even so appropriately.
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Signal Words: Exercise 3 Harry Potter
Practice predicting what will happen next in a reading by learning to identify words that give hints about what is going to happen in a story. Learners complete 12 sentences that contain the word despite with information about events in...
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Speak Up for Recycling
Are you looking for ways to enhance a persuasive writing or speech unit? Use this lesson to prompt your young writers to investigate a school recycling program. After conducting research, they present a persuasive, well-organized speech...
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More Details and Transitions
Use details and transition words to enhance writing. Sixth graders examine their own writing and insert more details and transition words provided by their teacher. There is a list of 11 "Terrific Transitions," but brainstorm several...