Curated OER
Understanding Cause and Effect
Identify the author's organizational pattern for expressing ideas. After reading an article on the California Gold Rush, middle schoolers determine the author's purpose for writing a passage of informational text. A full list of...
Curated OER
Writing Prompts for High School
Are you teaching a high school language arts class and stumped for writing topics? Five pages of writing prompts for all kinds of writing should help you out. Many of these prompts refer to texts that are not included in this resource,...
Curated OER
Expository Writing (Informational Brochure)
Design an informational brochure to urge people to move to a specific community. The purpose of this activity is to expose pupils to expository writing. After creating the brochure, they write a three-paragraph persuasive or...
Curated OER
Introduction to Cause and Effect
Teach your special education students about cause and effect with this SMART board activity. After analyzing real-life examples of cause and effect -'What happens when you eat too much? What happens when you don't get enough sleep?"-...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Causes and Effects of Climate Change
It's time for your class to literally show what they know! Pupils illustrate what they learned about the causes and effects of climate change by filling out a graphic organizer to complete the 5-part series of lessons. They discuss them...
Curated OER
Cause and Effect Relationships - Silence of the Bees
Why are bees disappearing? Explore cause and effect relationships with this interesting question. As the detailed lesson plan indicates, start by brainstorming some of the possible effects the disappearance of bees would have on the...
Curated OER
Writing: Laying and Covering the Foundation
Your middle schoolers can become stronger writers with a lesson covering the basics. They compose effective thesis statements and introductions, discuss different ways to capture a reader's attention, and compare a poorly written...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Causes and Effects of Climate Change
Wrap-up a unit on global climate change with a lesson that examines the causes and effects of climate change. Learners fill out a chart that represents what they think causes climate change—natural and human-based—and what they think...
Curated OER
The Iditarod Race Compared with the Movie, Iron Will
Feel the freezing rush of an Alaskan sled dog race in this reading lesson plan. Using research about the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, seventh graders compare and contrast the depiction in the movie Iron Will. The lesson plan lasts for...
K20 LEARN
Introduction to Expository Writing
Move beyond the five-paragraph essay with a lesson introducing young writers to various forms of expository writing. Class members examine description, cause and effect, problem solution, sequence, and comparison forms. They create an...
Curated OER
Motion in the Ocean
How does the formation of currents and waves in the ocean happen? High schoolers will learn about the primary causes for ocean currents and waves by calculating a wave's amplitude and nautical mile speed. Then they will complete a...
Curated OER
Causes of the Civil War
Eighth graders write an essay describing one of the main causes of the Civil War. In this Civil War lesson plan, 8th graders discuss the Civil War and then write an essay on it.
Nancy Fetzer's Literacy Connections
Expository Paragraph
Upper elementary and middle school writers learn how to craft an expository paragraph by following the six steps detailed in a 48-page instructional guide. Learners learn how to write six different types of informational paragraphs: to...
Curated OER
Problem Solution Writing
Students, after brainstorming possible problem solving activities, choose from one of the many and write what the problem is and a solution to solve it.
Curated OER
Expository Writing (Informational Brochure)
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...
Curated OER
The Cause & Effect Model
Students analyze the plot of the story, "The Little Engine That Could" to provide a model for writing creatively, developing critical essays, producing themes, and making predictions.
Curated OER
Amos and Boris: Text Study
Twenty insightful questions follow a read aloud of the story, Amos and Boris by William Steig. Scholars then show what they know through completion of a cause and effect chart, reading fluency assessment, and a written explanatory or...
Curated OER
Memoir
After reading and analyzing two narrative memoirs, middle schoolers engage in a variety of activities, including writing an essay, developing a story map, and creating character charts. They then compare and contrast story maps, and...
Beacon Learning Center
Challenging the Human Spirit
High schoolers select a theme-related essay topic from Night, by Elie Wiesel, or The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, and develop an essay that relates the theme to modern-day personal experiences. The essay follows a preset rubric...
Curated OER
You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Until It’s Gone: The Changing American Landscape
Students examine the changing American landscape. In this cause and effect activity, students listen to rock music that exemplifies urban growth in America and the interconnectedness of America today. Students write cause and effect...
Curated OER
Election of 1860
Learners determine how the presidential election of 1860 led to the American Civil War. In this election of 1860 instructional activity, students discover details regarding the election and hold their own mock debate and election....
Curated OER
WWI Document Based Essay
Learners read various primary source documents on World War I. After reading each document, they answer discussion questions. Using the internet, they identify the causes of World War I as layed out by President Wilson and his reasons...
National First Ladies' Library
Recovery! Coping with the Effects of a Natural Disaster
Students explore natural disasters and the devastation caused by them. Using specified websites, learners examine how people rebuild after a disaster. In groups, they design and rebuild a community and conclude by writing an essay...
Curated OER
King Phillip's War: A Primary Source, Exploring Options, and Sachem's Speech Writing Activity
Students study the causes and effects of King Philip's War. In this Native American history lesson, students examine the options that the Native Americans had in 1676 New England. Students weigh the pros and cons of the situation and...