EMC
The Inn of Lost Time Reader's Resource
Introduce "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namioka to your middle schoolers with a reader's resource page. It includes links to different activities, including a creative writing prompt about losing fifty years of your life, and a...
Curated OER
Student Opinion: When Did You Have a Great Conversation?
Conduct a classroom conversation about communication using this resource as a jumping-off point. For this The Learning Network activity, learners read an excerpt from The New York Times opinion piece, "The Flight From Conversation," and...
K12 Reader
Tell the Story - The Cows Go Shopping
Will Casey get a can of clover? After examining the provided writing prompt about Casey's trip to the grocery store, young writers must decide what happens next and tell their story with words and pictures.
Curated OER
Descriptive Prompt: Precise Language
Incorporate sensory details into a piece of descriptive writing. First, elementary and middle schoolers improve a piece of writing by using precise, vivid language, as well as appropriate word choice. They then listen to a variety of...
Curated OER
Shorter Writing Task - Year 5
Young writers are given a prompt to construct a story around: "Imagine you are spending a night under the stars." The following slides invite learners to use all of their senses to help them create an engaging and interesting story about...
Curated OER
Lesson: I Am the Wall
The Maya created amazing stone carvings and sculptures, but what were they for? Kids analyze the significance and purpose of a Maya stela and then write a creative piece. They imagine they are the stela, and write a story about what life...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing
Students complete activities to learn narrative writing. In this narrative writing instructional activity students are given writing prompts in order to better understand how to write in a narrative format.
Curated OER
Women Call Out: The Personal Narrative
After reading and discussing several personal narratives written by women in the 1920's, class members write a personal narrative of their own about a time in their lives they felt controlled. Sample narratives can be accessed through...
Curated OER
Student Opinion: Who Inspires You?
Inspire your class to write about role models and personal heroes with this resource from The Learning Network. Class members read a New York Times article excerpt about basketball star Jeremy Lin and how he inspired the author. After...
Curated OER
Building Original Narratives
Fourth graders act out and write original narratives. In this theater meets writing lesson, 4th graders work in groups to create original narratives; after students act out their story, they write it down as a narrative.
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Single Draft Narrative
Put it in your own words. Scholars work independently on their mid-unit assessments by responding to a writing prompt. They write about Miné Okubo’s life and the moments when Okubo became visible again.
Pearson
Practice Test English Language Arts: Grade 8
As teachers, it is our job to encourage learners to stand up for what they believe in and help them learn lessons from life's events. A set of practice questions designed for the ELA MCAS assessment features passages that teach positive...
Curated OER
Writer's Toolbox
Present the class with a slide show that will give them a great head start in writing expository and narrative texts. The information is highlighted for easy note taking, well organized, and presented in a kid-friendly manner. It...
Curated OER
Details, Details, Details
Writing can become one-dimensional if authors don't involve all their senses. First, scholars observe a strange object which, ideally, they can touch and even smell. Without using certain words (you can create a list or have the class...
Curated OER
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Imagine what it was like to be a slave in the United States in 1845. Eighth graders are given an opportunity to experience life from the point of view of Frederick Douglass as they read and discuss an annotated passage from Narrative of...
Curated OER
Creative Writing Skills: Write a Story 3
In this writing prompt worksheet, students use their creative writing skills to write a story based on the picture shown that includes the 4 specific events and people listed.
Curated OER
Creative Writing Prompt - New Inventions
In this creative writing activity, students pretend they are writing and illustrating an article for "New Inventions Magazine." They label the new weekly invention, draw it and write an entry about it.
Curated OER
Alien School - Creative Writing Prompt
In this creative writing worksheet, students write an essay about all of the teachers in a school turning into aliens. They pretend to look into the teacher's room to see aliens instead of teachers.
Curated OER
Scent-Inspired Composition
Our sense of smell has a wonderful way of bringing back memories. Unlock those memories with an olfactory-inspired writing prompt that challenges writers to tell a story about a specific smell and the memories it conjures.
Fluence Learning
Writing Informative Text: School Days
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...
K20 LEARN
Bear Tale: Author's Purpose - Informing Or Entertaining
After reading The Mitten by Jan Brett, scholars discuss the author's purpose. Small groups compare and contrast a book written to entertain and a book to inform, then create a T-Chart detailing the characteristics of each. Learners...
Curated OER
Story Opening One
In this finishing a story, "Story Opening One" worksheet, students read the writing prompt, use the questions to consider before writing a middle and ending for the story, and complete the story. Students write 2 parts of a story.
Curated OER
Tasty Topics
Learners analyze a graphic from an article and predict what the article might be about. After reading an article, they discover a journalist's experience of traveling across the United States to compare fast food restaurants. They...
Curated OER
Activity 3: Composing Personal Narratives
What was your most (exciting, maddening, nervous, thrilling, etc.) experience in school? A part of a unit on narrative writing, in this lesson plan class members review the elements of the form and then choose an event when they learned...