A learning module that gives students practice writing a short story in four lessons: Introduction; Before Writing-Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Brainstorm; Writing Prompts; Point of View; and Quick Tips for Writing a Timed Response.

This series of 12 downloadable activities teach students some basics of story writing, using books or videos from the PBS "Arthur" series as a springboard. Activities include creating story maps, asking questions about characters and...

Editor Amy Ehrlich compelled ten well-known children's authors to write narratives, and she compiled these memoirs in her book, When I Was Your Age. The collection of narratives varies, but an underlying theme is the way in which...

In groups, learners brainstorm to create a product, develop an advertisement for the product, design and present a slideshow, script a commercial for the product, and present the commercial in a 5-10 minute video.

This instructional activity focuses on selecting a writing topic including your approach to the assignment, understanding the assignment, purpose of the assignment, strategies for finding a topic, and how to narrow a topic to fit the...

Inspired by Mem Fox's Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge which includes four metaphors for memory, this writing prompt asks students to think of an original abstract noun. Students will brainstorm details as they come up with ideas for...

Contains plans for a poetry lesson that asks students to write poems after brainstorming metaphors and other ideas as a group. Ideas are groups by different themes, like letters of the alphabet. In addition to objectives and standards,...

In this instructional activity, The Paper Bag Princess, a book written by Robert Munsch, is used as a mentor text. Students will reflect on how nouns can sometimes be used as interesting adjectives. Students will collect these ideas in...

Contains plans for four 50-minute lessons that ask students to use their five senses for poetry prewriting. In addition to student objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to PDF handouts and sites used in the...

This process seems very involved, but there are good ideas for getting started on your creative writing if you're stuck at the brainstorming stage.

Inspired by the embarrassing situation Byron finds himself in during chapter 1 of Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, students will think of their own embarrassing moments they might write about. Using the...

For this lesson, students will listen to the book called The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang, but before reading, students will listen for the "different" way to solve the problem on each page. After reading, students will focus on one page...

This review discusses Looking Back, a memoir written by Lois Lowry. The song "Photograph", performed by Nickelback, and "In Color" by Jamey Johnson, are suggested as sources to assist with extending the students' understanding of memoir....

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson makes readers think seriously about this question: "What if I had to spend an entire day with someone with whom I had a conflict?" This question presents young writers with a great launching pad for developing...

Teaching students to read well in areas other than language arts requires teaching and reinforcing the kinds of reading strategies taught here. There are 27 strategies, ranging from brainstorming to word mapping. The site includes PDF...

This site explores what graphic organizers are and why they are such valuable instructional tools. Five main types of organizers are addressed: webs, charts, trees, chains, and sketches.