Curated OER
Thesis Statements
At 32 slides, one would think this presentation on thesis statements is a bit too long, but it is the most important component of a well-written essay! Help your developing writers craft concise, interesting theses with this PowerPoint....
Curated OER
Fast Fact-Finding
Ever wonder why the sky changes color so often? Readers examine an informational excerpt from John Farndon's How the Earth Works. They underline key points as they read and then answer five response questions. Prompts review main...
EngageNY
Selecting Evidence and Partner Writing: Aligning “The Hero’s Journey” and The Lightning Thief (Chapter 5)
Around and around we go! Scholars work in groups to connect The Hero's Journey and The Lightning Thief with a Carousel of Quotes activity. They then independently reflect on the two texts and answer questions about how they...
Curated OER
The Five Ws of Journalism
Students write a mock article. In this journalism lesson, students define the word "article" and learn the five W's of article writing. Students complete a worksheet and write a paragraph using what they have learned.
Curated OER
Paragraph Lesson
Learners write paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details. In this paragraph writing lesson, students fix sentences and paragraphs. Learners also write a paragraph that includes an introduction, supporting details, and a...
Curated OER
Multi-sensory Writing
Students use their senses to help describe special place they have been. They write short sensory-image essay that incorporate all five of their senses, and identify sensory language while reading different pieces of literature.
Curated OER
Strip-Teasers: A Collaborative Writing activity
Young writers engage in a fun writing activity. They write three different sentences on three strips of paper. Then they get into groups of three, and take a look at all nine sentences that have been written. Their task is to write a...
Curated OER
How to Write A+ Essays!
This instructional activity, which promises to improve the essays of your middle schoolers, contains a list of characteristics an essay should include. It breaks it down into the introduction, thesis statement, body, etc. There's also a...
Curated OER
Career Planning and Research
What do you want to do when you finish school? Most high schoolers have an idea of what they'd want to do, but little idea of how to achieve this goal. After researching a career of their choosing, learners identify qualifications,...
Curated OER
Learning to Organize Writing
Encourage focus and organization in the writing of your second, third, and fourth grade classes. Learners are asked to select a room in their house and narrow in on how it looks, smells, or feels. After writing a short paragraph...
Curated OER
Using Color as a Pre-Writing Tool
To better understand how to compose a clear and well-organized paper, learners read short passages, write summaries, and make colored graphic organizers. This is a fully developed three-day lesson plan with suggested assessments.
Curated OER
Writing Author's Purpose
Write in all three authorial purposes (persuasive, informational, entertaining) with this lesson. Young writers consider a time when a friend of theirs helped them out and gave them advice on something. They write a short paragraph (no...
K5 Learning
Sharks
"Dun dun... dun dun." A shark! After second graders read a four-paragraph passage about sharks, they respond to four reading comprehension questions that use the text as a basis for the answers.
Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day lesson integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The lesson activates...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing vs. Explanatory Writing
The class discusses the different purposes an author has for writing. The focus of the discussion is on writing to tell a true story and writing to give information about a specific topic. There are writing purpose sorting cards embedded...
Curated OER
Let's Put You in a Louisiana University
Considering a college search project? After picking a possible career choice, and determining if that career needs a technical college or university education, individuals examine a wide variety of sources and select three schools...
Virginia Department of Education
Analyzing and Planning Persuasive Writing
Young writers work backward to analyze persuasive techniques. As a class, work through the provided persuasive letter: a plea to an imaginary city council to lift a city-wide ban on fast food restaurants and discount stores. Start by...
ESL Holiday Lessons
Thanksgiving
Near Thanksgiving, learners complete activities surrounding the holiday. Some of the activities include a passage, matching phrases, fill in the blanks, correct word choosing, multiple choice, sequencing, unscramble the sentences, write...
University of North Carolina
Thesis Statements
Phrases such as "This paper is going to be about" and "I am going to tell you about" do not make for effective thesis statements. A handout from the UNC Writing Center helps writers break from those phrases to craft effective thesis...
Curated OER
Freedom for the Chilean Miners
Have your class read this seven paragraph article about Chilean miners who were trapped and freed from a mine. There are five comprehension questions, a verb-to-noun matching exercise, a role-play suggestion, and a creative writing task...
Curated OER
Taste Treat Writing
Students use their 5 senses to write a paragraph about yummy treats they sample. In this writing lesson plan, students use a graphic organizer to organize their tastes and how they can write about them and then write.
Curated OER
The Hamburger Essay - AKA The Sandwich Essay
Learners discuss how a five paragraph essay has five basic parts. They compare this to a well-made hamburger. They create a mind map of a five paragraph essay using the graphic of a tasty hamburger sandwich.
Curated OER
Activity 5: Creative Writing/Expression About Child Labor
Middle schoolers research child labor using Internet resources. They present the information in a creative writing piece and post it on Chalkboard.
University of North Carolina
Should I Use “I”?
Despite the formal nature of academic writing, personal pronouns frequently appear in high school and college papers. While your first instinct may be to cross them out, sometimes it's okay to use them, an idea covered in a handout that...