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Invent a Holiday
Who wouldn't want to create their own holiday? Use the 12 elements of a holiday to have learners of all ages create their own holiday. These days, it seems like we make any excuse for a holiday! Consider having some fun with your kids...
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Character Map #1
Here’s a great graphic organizer that can be used with any narrative. Readers select a character and record feelings, descriptions, behaviors, and personality traits. The template could be used for group work or as a prewriting activity...
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Acting as a Pre-write Tool
Second graders use acting to help them in a prewriting activity to develop a story. In this prewriting lesson plan, 2nd graders form a character map and brainstorm ideas for their story.
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Telling A Story
In this ESL storytelling worksheet, students read ten questions about a story and invent their own answers. Students write the story and then complete 2 pages of questions about what they have written.
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Developing a Topic for Writing Using an Idea Web
Teach your upper graders how to use an idea web to develop a topic for writing. After reading a variety of stories about friendship (a list of stories with the theme of friendship is included), model using an idea web. Class members...
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Story Pyramids
Young writers generate descriptive words. They use pictures of various landscapes (from books, magazines, or the Internet) and complete a story pyramid. The pyramid (included here) asks to describe the main character, the setting, and...
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Dear Peter Rabbit
Write dear old Peter Rabbit a letter with this lesson. First, youngsters listen to the story Peter Rabbit and analyze the story elements. Then they complete a story map graphic organizer in order to write a letter to Peter Rabbit using...
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Lewis and Clarke Composition
Students write a narrative story about the Lewis and Clarke Expedition. In this narrative writing lesson plan, students write a narrative story including themselves in the expedition. Students include aspects of narrative story writing,...
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CREATE A NEW RHYME
Third graders develop basic narratives. They retell a focused story and create a basic publication using available resources (e.g., pictures, colors, computer, copier). They experiment with different forms of creative writing (e.g.,...
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The Desert is Theirs: Adapting to Our Environment
Students determine how animals and people adapt to the desert environment. In this desert lesson, students review vocabulary about the desert and how humans have to make changes to accommodate their environments. They listen to and...
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Nudging Questions
Students choose one topic to write about. They brainstorm ideas about their topic or incident. They use sensory details to visualize their topic. They answer a variety of teacher directored nudging question to help them describe their...
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Autobiographical Talking Sticks
Students begin the lesson plan by developing a map of their lives. Individually, they take this information and write a personal narrative. They create symbols to represent the various times in their lives and introduce them into their...
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Comparison Contrast Essay
Students compare and contrast the experience of the migrant worker as depicted in The Grapes of Wrath with the experiences of migrant children as depicted in the narratives and poems provided.
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Creating A Classroom Newspaper
Learners participate in a culminating project to create a classroom newspaper. They use the skills of prewriting, writing, revising, editing, drawing, and scanning. This is all done so that students can master all the facets of creation...
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Lesson Five:Determining Ideas and Adding Details
Second graders create their own writing pieces. In this narrative instructional activity, 2nd graders use a graphic organizer to come up with ideas and details. They practice writing topic sentences.
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WRITING AN ARTICLE FOR A CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE
Students engage in the writing of a magazine article. They focus upon the reading of a children's fiction book and create an informative narrative. They create main ideas and supporting details for the article. The supporting of main...
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Picture the Process!
Young scholars read "Chasing Vermeer," and then study the author's writing process. They make connections between the book and the author's real life experiences. They then write an original mystery story, following the writing process.
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The Kansas State Capitol
Second graders research the Kansas state capitol building. In this historical landmark lesson, 2nd graders explore the Kansas state capitol. Over three days students explore the Governor's office, Senate and House of Representatives, and...
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Creative Writing
Fourth graders participate in an observation hike in this lesson. They orally share observations from their hike, and develop a paragraph in a shared writing exercise. Finally, the write their paragraph about process writing in their...
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Daughters Come of Age in Women's Fiction
Introduce your young readers to fiction written by women authors. For each story, they explore the way these daughters discover and claim their own identities. Individually, class members use the literature to examine their role in their...
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Children Around The World
Students read a multicultural book called "This Is the Way We Go to School" by Edith Baer and Steve Bjorhman. They become culturally aware of the different nationalities around the world and different ways that they may do things on a...
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Heraldry and Biography
Help learners discover more about their backgrounds. This family history activity includes links to sites about heraldry and family names. Begin by sharing your family history with the class and then allow high schoolers to do some...
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Writing to Persuade
Middle schoolers discover effective writing techniques to create persuasive essays. In this writing instructional activity, students investigate ways to express facts and points of view through persuasive essays. Finally, the middle...
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Transforming Fairy Tales
Students use the computer to write, draw, explore the Internet, and combine all of these elements. They write their own fairy tales, use computer software to create drawings of the characters for their tales and use the Internet to...