Explain a natural phenomenon in an original myth. After researching the phenomenon they have chosen, young readers use factual information to include in their myth.  They find synonyms and new phrases to create vivid images as they...

Whether you are planning a unit on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, or simply want to improve your pupils' descriptive writing, this lesson could be a good addition to your class. Using the Six-Trait Writing process, pupils...

What a great way to explore the scientific process! Learners conduct an experiment in which they use sugar and water to illustrate the concept of solutes and solvents. With this hands on approach, they are bound to remember what they...

Where do directors and set designers get their ideas so that the set they build creates the mood and atmosphere the director wants for a production? From the script! Introduce theater high schoolers to the script analysis techniques used...

Students write their own fables. In this writing fables lesson, students use handheld computers to write a fable. The class designs a spreadsheet to organize common elements of fables. Students also edit each others' work.

How do you help a child with dyslexia succeed as a writer? Here is a resource for those who need guidance in creating writing lessons for their students with dyslexia. It discusses research-based strategies that can be used and...

Young historians use their planning graphic organizer to prepare a personal narrative draft on expert trades. Since the instructional activity is considered the mid-unit assessment, learners respond to a writing prompt related to the...

Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...

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...

Explore narrative writing by participating in a role-playing activity. In this perspective instructional activity, learners define first and third person in writing and discuss how it changes the mood of the reader. The first activity...

Combine participial phrases and creative writing with this lesson, which is equally helpful for writing skills and conventions. After a mini-lesson on participial phrases and reading the picture book Dancing in the Wings, pupils use a...

Chapter II of John Milton's Paradise Lost provides the text for a series of comprehension questions crafted using Bloom's Taxonomy.

Writers complete editing and polishing the final draft of their research paper and submit the document for assessment.

Incorporating To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, narrative writing, and friendly letters, this lesson plan is ideal for any number of units in your classroom. First, read chapter 10 of the novel, noting Scout and Jem's reactions to...

You can cover literary elements, writing organization, and proofreading skills in this SMART board activity. Using student paragraphs from a previous assignment, the class reviews the best examples of writing. A SMART board activity...

One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...

Readers of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida place themselves in the story and craft a persuasive letter to a character in Victor Martinez's National Book Award-winning novel.

After analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence they have recorded on their argument outline tool, writers draft their essay's first body paragraphs, ensuring they have properly cited their source material.

Go with the flow. Scholars learn how using transition words and phrases helps their scripts flow smoothly. Readers think about connecting each section after determining the sequence for their readers' theater manuscripts from To Kill A...

Pupils plan for a historical fiction narrative based on their previous research on expert trades from the Colonial Era. Individuals use the four-square graphic organizer to organize the information they want to be detailed in their four...

Young scholars investigate the life of African Americans in the North during the American Revolution. They analyze how authors use various techniques to write biographies, read about Sojourner Truth, conduct research, and write an...

Hear ye, hear ye, it's time for a writer's roundtable! Scholars clarify their thinking about their narrative writing project by engaging in a fishbowl discussion about their plans. As members within the inner circle discuss the topic,...

Young orators demonstrate what they have learned about persuasion and persuasive devices throughout the unit by analyzing a persuasive speech and then crafting their persuasive essays. Class members engage in a role-play exercise, use...

Research the history of the Boston Tea Party. Learners read the book The Boston Tea Party and write down important facts. They use the Internet to continue their research and construct an art project of a boat that contains a tea bag.