RSA Group
Write About This
Looking for an easy way to encourage youngsters to write about a variety of different topics? Users simply choose an image to write about from a large selection of beautiful photographs and then compose original opinion pieces and...
Curated OER
Boogie Woogie with a B: Using Alliteration while Exploring Patriotic Tunes
Are you looking for a way to bring writing into your history lesson - or history into your writing lesson? This cross-curricular activity is helpful and fun, no matter what class you're teaching! Using "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by the...
Curated OER
Fortune Cookies Motivate Writing
Fortune cookies are used as motivation for a story. In this creative writing lesson, young writers review the six traits process. They discuss interesting characters, setting, problem and solution in a story. Original stories based on...
Curated OER
An Introduction to The Catcher in the Rye
Who is J.D. Salinger? Give your class some information on the famous recluse before reading his only novel, The Catcher in the Rye. His life and works are detailed, and there are even a few slides dedicated to controversies and criticism...
Curated OER
Using Active Voice vs. Passive Verse in Writing
Need an active voice exercise? Learners rewrite a series of sentences to ensure that the subject of the sentence is doing the action. Beware the typos, especially in the title.
Thoughtful Learning
Adjusting Your Writing Voice
"Yo, what's up?" "Nuttin!" While such a dialogue might be appropriate between friends, it would be ill-advised in more formal situations. A mini-lesson asks young writers to consider how to adjust the voice they use to bring their...
Curated OER
Using Words: Verbal Communication
Written and verbal communication is the topic for today. The class goes over various facets of verbal communication, such as plain English, active voice, passive voice, cliché, and jargon. They then use those devices as they discuss...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Practice Book: The Boy Who Saved Baseball
An array of reading comprehension, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary activities are at your fingertips with a language arts practice packet. Second, third, and fourth graders work on various skills using reading passages and word banks,...
Little Stones
How Can Poetry Make People Think and Care?
Can beautiful words change the world? Literary scholars discover how to paint their visions of change using poetry in a series of three workshops. Each independent topic gives participants a chance to examine their feelings about...
ReadWriteThink
Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues
Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...
Curated OER
Tangerine: Writing Assignment: Paul’s Witness Account
As a final assignment in a unit study of Edward Bloor's Tangerine, individuals assume the voice of Paul Fisher and craft the witness report Paul mentions in the final pages of the novel. A great way to assess the writer's understanding...
Curated OER
Introduction to Writing Traits and Writing Strategies
Intended for an audience of teachers, this presentation lays out the six traits of writing, the writing process, and the teaching process for traits and strategies. If you are trying to understand the writing process more fully, you...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Family Voices In As I Lay Dying
Learners analyze William Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' and his use of multiple voices. In this William Faulkner lesson plan, students analyze Faulkner's use of multiple voices in narration. Learners examine the Bundren family through the...
Curated OER
Jeffrey and Sloth
Students listen to the story Jeffrey and Sloth and explore the six traits of writing. In this six traits of writing lesson plan, students practice doodling as a method of brainstorming ideas. Students then discover the importance of...
Tools for Schools
Book Creator
Build beautiful books in whatever style you'd like with an intuitive and adaptable app for constructing books. Kids can add images, drawings, text, and audio to make books about any subject. When complete, learners can wrap up the...
Curated OER
Honesty in Writing
Eighth graders analyze the conveyance of honesty in written products. In this writing skills instructional activity, 8th graders discuss bias and fabrication in writing. Students practice sincere writing as they write statements...
Curated OER
Honesty in Writing
Help your class construct an honest and clear writing piece. They explore tactics in advertising and identify deceptive language. They then write a statement about a community issue using honest language.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Songwriting Skill - Finding Your Voice: The Academy Is - “About A Girl”
The seventh in a series of nine exercises focusing on songwriting models for young lyricists on how to find and develop their unique voice. Class members suggest songs that they feel sound authentic and contrast the wording with songs...
Curated OER
A Call for Change
"Come gather round people, wherever you roam..." Bring the voice of Bob Dylan to your class with this lesson plan, which takes Dylan's song "The Times They Are A-Changing" and analyzes both the message and voice in the lyrics. Your class...
Curated OER
Following Instructions
Get scholars thinking about the scientific process with this fun experiment they can do at home. Learners practice reading directions as they underline each instruction in a procedural paragraph. They create a flow chart and record what...
Curated OER
Active and Passive Sentences
Work with active and passive voice in several different sentences. Fifth graders learn the difference between active and passive voice, and change nine sentences from passive to active and vice versa. Great practice in your writing unit!
San Diego Unified School District
On-Demand Persuasive Writing Samples
Young writers complete a timed persuasive writing assignment in which they argue for a club they would like to see established at school, and are then provided with real student samples of responses.
Curated OER
Creative Convincing
Young writers will love examining Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type for examples of good persuasive writing. Generally, when we write persuasive pieces, there are common words we use. Encourage your writers to identify these words and...
Curated OER
Walk in My Shoes: A Shoe's Perspective
Help learners write a creative story from the viewpoint of a shoe. The teacher brings a variety of different types of shoes to the classroom and each person chooses one. They then write a story from the point of view of the shoe,...