Celebrate Black History Month with this lesson, in which middle schoolers create an essay about a famous African-American. Writers conduct research online, take notes to write an essay in proper format, and use ideas, text, and graphics...

Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...

Students create a title page, organize information, and write the introductory paragraph to a research paper.  For this research writing lesson, students discuss the elements of the title page and outline, then write one of their...

Feel the freezing rush of an Alaskan sled dog race in this reading lesson. Using research about the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, seventh graders compare and contrast the depiction in the movie Iron Will. The lesson lasts for seven days...

A strong essay eliminates weak or unnecessary material. Determining what information contributes to an essay and what information should be deleted is a skill readers and writers of informational text must develop. Class members practice...

Was Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite? Tackle this question with primary source analysis and an essay. The packet includes historical background, a writing prompt, a combined outline and checklist, and ten primary documents paired with...

Writing the conclusion of an essay can often seem like a superfluous or daunting task. Support your young writers in understanding the various types and purposes of a conclusion paragraph, such as summarizing key points of a paper or...

Young scholars, 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.

Students discover how to determine the flavor of a jellybean using different key documents.  In this economics lesson plan, students discuss Virginia economics and begin an activity in which they will help decide on the what...

Based on Alex Haley's moving essay "My Furthest Back Person: The African," these 11 questions support comprehension and prepare readers for discussion of the text. Use this tool, and the essay, as a nonfiction addition to units on...

Third graders write essays after participating in mini-lessons that encourage better writing. They write using the model of a skeleton to which they add the muscles.

Practice makes perfect. A practice test designed for the ELA MCAS Assessment gives seventh grade learners the opportunity to answer reading comprehension questions and respond to essay prompts. Questions involve general fiction and...

Next time you assign your young historians to write a persuasive essay, use this document as a starting point and support them with a rubric, tips for writing a successful persuasive piece, and a general essay outline.

Take young scientists on an exploration of the cosmos with this cross-curricular writing exercise. Tasked with producing an expository composition describing a planet of their choosing, students perform research and...

A three-part writing assessment challenges scholars to think critically about schools of the past and present. Learners read informative texts, answer questions to prepare for a discussion, research in small groups, complete a Venn...

Let us be frank! Writers learn that crafting a thesis statement is not that difficult if one peals back the layers. After watching several videos about the elements of a thesis, class members read the article "Lettuce Club helps students...

Designed to help writers strengthen their elaboration, revision, and proofreading skills, this 48-page workbook is packed with information about and exercises in personal, narrative, persuasive, and report writing.

Wrap up your unit on The Cay with an engaging argumentative writing assignment. Writers must decide if they believe The Cay should be banned. The resource includes links to several articles, which have been addressed and examined in...

Refuse to alienate your scientific-minded young scholars during your creative writing unit. Learners explore how literary writing can reflect observable fact, and be based in actual science. The links include examples of fiction and...

After rereading the full text of Walter Mosley's essay "True Crime," groups complete an evidence collection tool worksheet, and then class members independently draft a multi-paragraph, evidence-based response that identifies how Mosley...

In this bullying essay worksheet, students find statistics on the internet about bullying and write an essay about their findings or write a letter to the principle explaining what should be done about bullying.

In this folk group essay checklist worksheet, students choose one of their groups from the Folk Group Inventory Worksheet (available separately) and write an essay about it. Students use this checklist to ensure the key features of the...

Third graders enjoy a train ride with The Little Engine That Could and discover how to create a five-paragraph essay train. This clever activity has students use each boxcar of the train as a template for a paragraph.

Second graders write as essay describing the cooperative group drawing they made or describing the process to draw a group picture.