Curated OER
Error Correction
Students are given an example of a biography and they are to find the mistakes. They are to use proofreading marks to mark the errors.
Curated OER
Except / Accept and Affect / Effect
In this commonly confused words learning exercise, students complete a ten question on-line interactive quiz. Students complete the sentences with either "except" or "accept" and "affect" or "effect".
Curated OER
Where No Student Has Gone Before
Young scholars 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...
Curated OER
Connecting Characters and Themes in Julius Caesar
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...
Curated OER
Leading into Good Writing
Discuss the importance of a lead in writing with your upper graders. They examine several examples of leads from literature and practice writing leads for pieces of artwork. They then select a topic from a list and write an introductory...
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Improving Students' Writing Skills
Are your writers making the same mistakes over and over again? Instead of editing their papers, consider encouraging learners to use this sheet to classify their errors. This helps them identify and address common problem areas they...
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Proofreading
Fourth graders explore the proofreading process. They practice proofreading for errors in sentence structure, usage, and mechanics. Students develop strategies for proofreading and differentiate between commonly confused words.
Curated OER
Creatively Creating Expository Essays
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.
Curated OER
Persuasion and Parallel Structure
Discuss the definition of parallel structure with your high school class. In small groups, they read a section of "The Declaration of Independence" to identify examples of parallel structure. Each learner writes an essay explaining the...
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Latin Roots Dict, Vent, Duct: Beginning Quiz
Learners fill in the blanks for 12 sentences with words derived from the Latin roots dict, vent, and duct in an interactive online quiz. A word bank provides choices from the beginning level at MyVocabulary.com. Alert quiz takers that...
Curated OER
Find the Error 37
In this grammar learning exercise, students read a newspaper advertisement and find the grammatical errors. Errors to choose from include: spelling, apostrophes, articles, punctuation, plural and singular verbs.
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Peer Editing Checklist
A handout to guide peer editors, this checklist delineates common problems with paragraph structure and specific proofreading items to check. It also provides encouragement about the collaborative part of the writing process. Formats...
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Teacher of the Year
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...
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Help Me Learn About the Holocaust
Young readers select a book from a provided list to use as the basis for an intensive class study of Holocaust novels. After completing their novels, groups create a multimedia presentation highlighting the elements of literature...
Curated OER
Analyzing Persuasion
A reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech launches a study of rhetorical devices such as hyperbole, allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, connotative language and parallel structure. Class members then...
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Sidewalks to Success in Middle School
Students write a brochure that educates incoming middle school students on how to succeed.
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I Am a Book
Third graders discuss books that have been banned and the things that they have in common. They explore the concept of freedom of speech and write poems based on their discussion.
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The Story of My Life
Learners complete autobiographical writing assignments throughout the school year that they save and rewrite to put into a published book during the last month of class. They include photographs, drawings and mementos of their lives in...
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The Problem with Prejudice
Third graders read and discuss "The Hangman" by Maurice Ogden and answer questions about the poem. They list things they can do to combat prejudice using each of the letters in the word and create a small poster with a slogan against...
Curated OER
WORDS FRANKLY SPOKEN
Students visit appropriate websites to discover quotes from Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac. Working in pairs, they choose three quotes on which to elaborate and then write two original quotes.
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
Preposition Pizazz
Young scholars examine examples of poems and identify the prepositions in them. They write original poems using prepositional phrases and create illustrations to go with them.
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Cite, Sight, and Site
In this cite, sight, and site worksheet, students choose the correct word to complete each sentence. Students choose cite, sight, or site for 45 sentences.
Curated OER
Persuasion and Use of Language
Students discuss connotative language, hyperbole, allusion, and rhetorical question. In small groups, they read one section of the "Speech to the Virginia Convention" and analyze these devices. Groups present their results to the class.