In this lesson, students will engage in revising their writings to incorporate sensory images. Students will brainstorm topics of places, away from their home, that are special. Then students will choose and then write a descriptive...

After reading song lyrics to Brad Paisley's "A Letter to Me" and the personal essay "A Letter to My Younger Self" by Brian Elroy, students write a poem, lyric, or letter from George Washing to his younger self. Then students write a...

After students are given time to think about the topic -"Alone Time with an Adult I Care about," they are given ten to fifteen minutes to write between five and ten sentences on the topic. They ten are told they will revise their...

In this lesson students use the format and structure of a mentor text such as A. Lincoln and Me by Louise Borden to write an interesting biography about a historical figure with an emphasis on idea development, voice, and writing...

In this activity, sentence fluency is the focus. The mentor text entitled Mrs. Wishy Washy is used to help young scholars explore how using repetition techniques can enhance the meaning of a story. After reading the text, students will...

In Robin Pulver's Punctuation Takes a Vacation students will see the value of punctuation and how it is necessary to use in writing. For younger students, use this book as supplemental reading material before beginning this lesson on...

After reading the book I Stink! by Kate McMullan, learners look at the structure of this "guess who I am" book as well as some similar stories. Then students complete a graphic organizer and write their own guess-who stories.

In this lesson plan, the mentor text utilized is Deborah Guarino's book, Is Your Mama a Llama?, with the focus of sentence fluency. Each student will think of an animal that that has the same initial sound as his/her name. Using the...

Research paper writing is a lofty goal for kindergarten young scholars, but this lesson will expose them to the process without being overwhelming. Students will divide into teams to learn about ocean creatures and then write a research...

A site for both students and teachers to explore the writing of a research paper. Find teacher resources, student interactive mini-lessons, and a review of types of research resources.

This lesson focuses on teaching the vocabulary used in the rubrics for 4 of the 6 Traits of Writing. It requires students to learn the vocabulary used in the rubrics and to define the traits so they understand what is expected of them...

Students learn how to write poetry through ten Writing Workshop mini-lessons. Students complete the graphic organizers provided while learning to notice details, write similes and metaphors, and create patterns in their writing.

It's fun to personify articles of clothing as a means of inspiring creative writing from your students, and this mini-workshop has students a) personify their shoes on a page in their writer's notebook, b) share their story ideas out...

Six mini-lessons designed to teach beginning writers age-appropriate revisions they can make in their Writers Workshop pieces. Lessons include printable graphic organizers, revision sheets, student work samples, and more.

In this lesson, the book entitled The Greedy Triangle, written by Marilyn Burns, is shared. After sharing this read-aloud book, students will illustrate pictures that incorporate the triangle. Then will write three reasons why a triangle...

In this instructional activity, the mentor text entitled Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt is used to get students thinking about how they spend their days. Then students will write the hour and minute hands on blank clocks and will...

Inspired by Carly Patterson's song, "Here I Am," students will write personal narratives, focusing on one to three experiences in their lives which have shaped them. After filling out a survey about themselves and discussing some of the...

In this lesson plan, students discover the riddle of sausage stories and learn to original write sausage sentences and then move up to sausage stories. Read and discover the riddle!

Six mini-lessons teach young writers how to borrow ideas or patterns from popular children's books to use in their Writing Workshop pieces. Text ideas and student samples are provided.

After observing and naming elements of an animal's habitat, and reading The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer, students write fictional stories about finding and caring for a wild animal. A printable graphic organizer, a teacher example, and...

After reading the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, young scholars have the chance to express the way they feel when they have a bad day. They will make personal connections as well as...

In this lesson students listen to the songs "Over the Rainbow," sung by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and "Color Me Blind," sung by Extreme and read an excerpt from the book Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill. Then students work...

In this RAFTS lesson students read W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" and then complete a grammar activity, or use the interactive fortune creator, to develop a writing prompt for a short essay about the fate or luck involved with their...

In this lesson, the book Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, written by Melanie Watt, is used. Students will develop a question, collect data about the question, and then write a sentence about the findings of the data. [Requires Adobe...