Curated OER
Using Each Trait to Improve Student Writing
High schoolers examine examples of the qualities of good writing skills and discuss how each of the traits add to the process of good writing. A variety of excerpts from literature provide samples for the exploration.
Curated OER
The "Write" Stuff: Strategies and Conventions for Imaginative Writing
Fifth graders develop and practice the steps involved in imaginative writing. They follow the steps/worksheets included and write imaginative stories of their own.
Curated OER
Precise Vocabulary
Students complete acting exercises as a part of a precise language activity to help them build vocabulary and improve their descriptive writing skills. For this theatre and writing lesson, students create and act out a sentence with two...
Curated OER
Ready, Aim, Focus!
Use photography as a tool to improve writing skills. Provide pupil pairs with a digital camera and challenge them to capture images of the classroom they find visually striking. Each class member then composes a descriptive piece about...
Curated OER
Publish a Book
Help your autistic learners to create a story and publish a book. They write simple stories, then turn their stories into books. A picture is drawn for each page of the book and the story is written below. Note: This is a good activity...
The Kennedy Center
Fairy Tale Variations
Here are two great lessons that work together and are inspired by the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Young writers and actors will retell the story of "The Frog Prince" through games, improvisational script writing, and...
New York City Department of Education
Theater Units for Lower and Upper Elementary Levels
Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons,...
Curated OER
Comic and Film Strip Writing
Students write a funny story and illustrate it in a comic strip. In this comic strip lesson, students study comic strips and determine the plot of each story. Students then write a short story and illustrate it using a comic strip...
Curated OER
Write to Music
Students improve their creative writing skills. In this writing skills lesson, students learn about picture captions, story writing, critiques, poems, reports, letter writing, creative writing, and a rap poem.
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Letter Writing
Students improve their letter writing skills. When given instructions and a model for writing a letter students compose a letter with 90% accuracy in form and editing one out of two trials.
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Writing a Masterpiece
Students analyze art and write about it to improve their writing skills. In this art and writing lesson, students analyze the Degas painting and discuss it. Students review how to write a quality sentence and then write about the...
Curated OER
Writing Through Art
Examine the works of visual and performing artists with upper graders. Using the works, they identify the comparisons among the techniques used. They will also review the six traits of effective writing and keep a writing journal...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Characters from a Box
Character analysis is a skill we use when we read literary works or want to write a good story. Learners will use drama to practice character analysis while focusing on the details that make characters act the way they do. They'll each...
Curated OER
Becoming Part of the Action
Young scholars improve visualization skills through role play, texture identification, and storytelling. They discuss connections between a painting and their own lives.
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Drawing Lesson Improves Communication Skills
Students work in pairs to improve their communication skills through a drawing activity. They draw a figure on their papers and describe to each other what was drawn.
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Writing to Photography/Photography to Writing
Students improve their' writing by incorporating photography into descriptive and narrative writing exercises. They write descriptions of various professional photographic collections. Later they use their own and other classmates'.
Curated OER
Life Cycle of Butterfly
Second graders investigate life cycles of insects by writing a story. In this butterfly life lesson, 2nd graders create a checklist of the many steps a caterpillar takes before growing wings and flying. Students utilize...
Curated OER
Neighborhood Rubrics
Young scholars use a rubric to analyze their neighborhood and write a persuasive essay about changes that should be made. In this writing lesson, students use a rubric to grade their neighborhood and brainstorm improvements. Young...
Curated OER
Historical Figure: A Monologue
Fourth graders develop their speaking skills. In this monologue instructional activity, 4th graders watch their instructors model a monologue regarding Abraham Lincoln. Students apply these skills as they research a historical figure...
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Sunflower Measuring and Counting
Youngsters improve their measuring and counting skills using sunflowers. They view pictures painted by Van Gogh. Everyone works in groups to measure sunflowers and record their findings, and they all use sunflower seeds to create...
Curated OER
President for a Day
Students explore the duties of the US President. In this history lesson plan, students use research to gain information about presidents. Students utilize various forms of research, pictures, library books, textbooks, newspaper,...
Curated OER
Calendar Art
Students assemble and decorate a calendar. This is a lesson to be used at the beginning of each month to make a calendar for the month. Math concepts for this lesson consist of each student writing numbers on the calendar.
Curated OER
The King of the Birds vocabulary
Science and language skills come together in The King of the Birds. After reading, discuss the names and types of birds in the story and write given sentences to portray the difference between comparative and superlative adjectives....
Curated OER
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Lesson: Immigration
Many of your class members will have heard of Executive Order 9066 and the Japanese internment camps of World War II. Some may even recognize the terms “Issei” and “Nisei,” but few will have heard of Enemy Alien Hearing Boards, of the...