A language arts instructional activity helps young writers identify elements that make up historical fiction. First, it guides them through elements of fictional pieces with vocabulary cards. Then, pupils work collaboratively to...

Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...

Oh the joys of love! As a special Valentine's Day assignment, budding authors research the life of one of the most romantic poets, Keats. They read the letter, "To Fanny Brawne, 13 October 1819," then compose a love letter of their own....

Working on revision? Check out this resource on Common Core standard W.9-10.5, which focuses in particular on the writing process. After reading some information about the specifics of the standard and how to implement it in the...

What is the root of the conflict between ranchers and environmentalists? Middle schoolers write their impressions of what an environmentalist is and does. They read the New York Times article "In New Wild West, It's Cowboys vs....

First graders engage in this interesting lesson on letter writing and writing skills. In it, youngsters listen to the Jan Brett story, The Mitten, as a warm-up. They think of other animals of the world they could ask Jan Brett to...

Review story elements with your class. They will use examples from a story to develop critical-thinking questions. Then they use a graphic organizer to describe the setting, character, and plot of the story, focusing on how they...

Examine the results of recent opinion polls on where people stand on the issue of the death penalty. In groups, middle schoolers examine various cases dealing with this issue and discuss the judgments. They write their own argument for...

Middle schoolers read and review informational texts, analyze cause and effect, and distinguish fact from opinion. They assess a "one-minute mystery" you read aloud for cause and effect relationships. Resource includes complete set of...

Students identify where vegetables originate from. In this agriculture lesson, students use a search engine to find out where certain vegetables originate from. Students plot the information onto a world map.

Get your class to use the scientific process to solve a scientific problem. They utilize the Natural Inquirer magazine to identify a research question which they write an introduction to and collect data to answer. They use graphs,...

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

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

After reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (and possibly shedding a few tears), middle schoolers work on their own sixteen-word poems with a Six Trait writing activity. They focus on word choice in this activity to capture an...

Young writers craft letters to the government stating their opinion on different topics. They pick an environmental or ocean issue, research it, and craft their formal persuasive letter. Ensure your learners include supporting facts and...

Using a constructivist approach and a graphic organizer, small groups work together to begin a paper, comparing and contrasting the novella Night and the movie Life is Beautiful. Assuming that your learners have studied both of these...

Take young authors through the writing process with a worksheet on editing. Given three sentences with unnecessary words, pupils cross out the extra words and write the rest of the sentence in the space provided. An excellent way to...

Investigate the choices people make between economic growth and personal growth and development using the ethical/decision making model. Small groups create and present a position paper describing their feeling for or against the...

Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...

Read to understand! Sounds great and your third graders will read to understand several interesting facts about Great Britain. They read, identify key details in the text, and write to answer five comprehension questions. Learning to...

Elementary schoolers are charged with writing an article for their peers. A class discussion yields topics about which learners consider themselves to be an expert. The teacher models how to construct an article by using facts he or she...

Consider the possibility of a new U.S. draft with this lesson, which encourages class debate and persuasive arguments. Middle and high schoolers discuss how such a draft might be enacted and how they would feel about it. They write...

While reading the book Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls, the class ties together the core reading objectives, which are making predictions, comprehending new information, reading for author's purpose, independence in reading,...

Novice writers often struggle to determine what style of essay to write when given a prompt. This worksheet helps to identify an appropriate form based on the language of the question. For example, key words like prove or justify...