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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Descriptive Prompt: Precise Language

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creative Writing Workshop (Middle, Reading/Writing)

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Bring this lesson into your unit about creative writing and precise language. First, middle schoolers create a piece of writing with the help of their classmates. In the second part of this workshop, they edit their own piece of writing....
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Lesson Plan
New York State Education Department

TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 4

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Why is it important to use precise language? Participants explore this question in the fourth activity in a series of 15 on effective instruction. Perfect for all content areas, the activity promotes appropriate language choice through...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shakespeare and Poe Teach Six-Trait Writing

For Teachers 5th - 8th
A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Creative Presentation

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Bring writing to life with this lesson in which elementary and middle schoolers create a display of the imagery they identify in a series of Gary Paulsen books. They read the suggested materials, identify imagery and descriptive...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Narratives

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Add to the narrative writing experience. Elementary or middle school writers listen to the teacher read a descriptive passage, then reread the same passage silently. They highlight sensory details and figurative language, then orally...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Grab Your Reader: Great Leads

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Get your readers' attention with this Six Traits of Writing lesson plan. First, young writers draft ideas in an organized manner utilizing words, sentences, and multiple paragraphs. They also use voice to fit the purpose and audience and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reliving History through Slave Narratives

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Writing Unit: Writing a Film Poem

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Film poems? To concluded a poetry unit, writers select one of their own poems and create a film that brings to life the sounds and images of their work. Included with the detailed unit plan are daily lessons, student examples, a list of...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Rikki-Tikki Colorful Verbs

For Students 5th - 8th
Study and practice the vocabulary in Rudyard Kipling's famous story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." Pupils underline verbs in a passage from the story, taking special note of vivid or precise verbs. They then write original sentences for five...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Car For Sale!

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Car For sale! In this GED prep activity, writers develop a classified advertisement to sell a car. After a discussion of precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language, sellers draft their ad for review, revision and...
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Lesson Plan
Brigham Young University

Socratic Seminar for Cold Sassy Tree

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Tired of giving the same old multiple-choice tests, and have the urge for a new assessment? Then bring the precision of a Socratic seminar into your classroom. Even if you did not read Cold Sassy Tree the organization and explanation on...
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Handout
California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc

Poetic Devices

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Have everything you need to know about the elements of poetry with a nine-page handout. Split into four categories—word sounds, meanings, arrangement, and imagery—budding poets may reference terms, read definitions, descriptions, and...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Revising With Precision

For Students 5th - 6th
In this revisions worksheet, students fill in blanks in sentences, 15 total, with "vivid and precise" word. Students are instructed that they may use a thesaurus. 
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Lesson Plan
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Core Task Project

Whatif by Shel Silverstein

For Teachers 3rd - 4th Standards
What a skillful way to incorporate Shel Silverstein, a wonderful author, into the classroom. Composed of three tasks, children are led through a series of text-dependent questions that force them to unveil the meaning of Silverstein's...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Awesome Animals

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders write descriptive narratives about animals. In this descriptive writing lesson, the teacher models how to write a paragraph with interesting sensory words and exciting verbs. Students choose a picture of an animal they want...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment, Part II: Storyboard Draft, Sections 2 and 3

For Teachers 5th Standards
It's time to demonstrate knowledge. With the instructive resource, pupils complete the second part of the end of unit assessment. They develop sections two and three of their storyboards about an invention, add visual elements, and then...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

When You Reeeaaallly Want to Say Something

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Kids paraphrase an entry from The Elements of Style, and then revise a sentence. They use the Visual Thesaurus and find synonyms for the phrase very pretty, brainstorm a list of intensifiers (as alternatives to really and very), then...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Latin Roots spect, sta, vert: True/False Quiz

For Students 8th - 11th
Secondary etymologists assess their mastery of words derived from the Latin roots spect/spec, sta/sist, and vert/vers. Using true/false format, learners agree or disagree with how the words are used in context sentences. Handy for SAT...
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Interactive
Curated OER

Word Roots 6: PLIC, FAC, COGN Advanced Definition Match 3

For Students 8th - 12th
Instruct your class in vocabulary and word roots and use this online resource as practice. For each word provided, learners choose the letter from a drop-down menu that corresponds with the correct definition for that word. Use it as a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Show, Don't Tell: Details to Make Writing Come Alive

For Teachers 6th - 9th
After each of three viewings of a 45-second video, aspiring writers employ vivid adjectives and precise, strong verbs to "show, don't tell." First they compose a single sentence, then three, and finally a five-sentence paragraph. Repeat...
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Worksheet
Read Works

How to Say “I Ruff You”

For Students 7th Standards
Who says you need a human to be your valentine on Valentine's Day? Give your dog-loving readers an inspiring perspective on how a sister givdes her brother a valentine from the family dog. They then answer 10 questions thatd involve...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Business Letter

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students create a business letter using "Letter Generator".  In this letter writing lesson plan, students use a computer program to learn what the proper business letter consists of.  After the instruction, the students are self guided...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

BBC Learning English, Vague Language

For Students Higher Ed
For this conversational English worksheet, students choose vague words and phrases to complete the dialogue provided. This exercise explores language to use when one can not or does not want to be precise.