December writing activities galore! With everything from poetry to research to descriptive writing to writing about things that represent December, there's no way you will run out of options.

Review concepts of cloning and genetic engineering and participate in a round-table discussion based on the ethics and potential of cloning with your class. Each learner then writes a formal essay on the topic, stemming from the debate.

A fun instructional activity that utilizes toys and persuasion! After reading the article, which was written in 2005, pull some advertisements for toys currently being sold. These will be more relevant to your middle and high schoolers....

Explore how the informality of electronic correspondence has affected communications in the workplace. Writers develop pages for a basic writing guide that contains rules and examples to help correct common writing errors. A great way to...

Young journalists write diary entries from the point of view of a person involved in a historical event. They focus on including facts, clear narration, and accurate description of the individual's feelings. 

High schoolers examine the New York Times review of the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and explore the elements of scriptwriting. They read the article about the film adaptation screenplay and examine a...

Students write persuasively by convincing others of their point of view about music downloading.

Third graders explore their culture in comparison to Japanese culture by reading the book, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. They identify islands of Japan, create a Venn diagram comparing Japanese culture to American culture, and...

Students read and discuss "Defending Affirmative Action With Social Science," examining the admissions policies in public universities and colleges. They write persuasive essays either for or against the admissions policies in their state.

Words of appreciation make great gifts for special occasions, but people can't tie them up with a bow ... until now! Using the lesson plan, learners write gratitude messages to a chosen recipient. Next, they fill a box or paper bag with...

A Middle school special ed class uses the acronym SPAM to learn the 4 parts of writing. They employ 4 different colors to help them visually distinguish each part of writing in a given prompt. This instructional activity is vague and...

Personify your Inner Editor. After making a richly detailed paper doll of your Inner Editor, put him or her in your locker, under your bed or buried in a time capsule in your backyard, but not near where you like to write. Refuse to...

The written form for 345 is three-hundred forty-five, where as the word form for 70% is seventy percent. Here, young mathematicians read 10 sentences and write the word form of each number in the sentences.

Play a vocabulary game with words from an article about Savion Glover's contribution to the film "Happy Feet." Then, small groups of learners design and create original movie advertisements using vivid vocabulary to give Glover the...

Explore the inception and evolution of hip-hop music as a springboard for writing music reviews and researching other genres of music. Learners will read and discuss the Times' article, From Underground Music to Fashion Statement to then...

Explore connections within and between informational texts with this lesson about encyclopedia articles. Middle schoolers write encyclopedia articles focusing on topics in American history. They discuss how to determine credibility...

Why do people argue?  Use the article "A Holiday Medley, Off Key" to discuss the struggles that interfaith couples face when choosing to celebrate certain holidays. Then, in small groups, encourage learners to write dialogues that...

Study the impact and possible outcomes of the Exxon-Mobil merger in your language arts, social studies, or economics class. Secondary learners evaluate a series of graphs, write a paragraph interpreting the data, and engage in class...

Discover the environmental and economic impact of global warming. After reading an article, emerging environmentalists identify how different countries are responding to the Kyoto Protocol. They research emission laws and write a news...

Tis' the season to develop children's fine motor skills with this simple handwriting worksheet.

Get to you know your new class members with an ice breaker activity that uses their name and creativity. Scholars write their first name in cursive on a folded sheet of paper, cut around the curved lines, open the paper to view its new...

Investigate the future of the presidency in the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Clinton. The class brainstorms both sides of the argument, reads and discusses an article, then analyzes and writes a journal...

Middle schoolers study the components of a deck of cards and conduct an initial experiment in the probability of drawing various types of cards from a deck. They play two rounds of poker to discover the probability of drawing several...

Have you ever lost someone? Middle and high school learners journal about a time they experienced the loss of someone through death, divorce, moving, or another type of change. They share their responses and discuss an article relating...