Writing Fix
Writing Fix: "Knot" the Whole Truth
The writer will analyze and discuss the tall tale format after reading Jerry Spinelli's tale of Cobble's Knot, told in Chapter 20 of Maniac Magee. Then writers will need to create an interesting character in a special situation which...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Sum of Its Parts
Inspired by Julianna's understanding (from the novel Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen) that "A painting is more than the sum of its parts," learners will describe a memorable place that evokes a certain feeling or emotion. Students will...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Historical Journal Entries
In this lesson plan, writers will create a detailed journal entry from the point of view of a character who never actually existed. The journal entry will be for a day in history that the writer has researched and found interesting...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: To Imitate Two Nature Writers
In this lesson each writer will compose and revise a "showing" description inpsired by an object or a place in nature. Long before drafting, students will discuss and compare the writing styles and techniques of published authors who...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Prose Poetry Paragraphs
Inspired by the vignettes of Sandra Cisneros, students will write about a familiar thing from their lives. Students will use the style of prose poetry to describe something familiar around their home, school or neighborhood. The final...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Make 'Em Laugh or Cry Or
After sharing chapter 19 of Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls as an example of emotion-evoking writing, the young scholars will write their own detailed and emotional paragraphs. Students can draw from background knowledge of a...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Your Own Faraway Place
For this lesson, students will build background by hearing an excerpt from The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, an excerpt where the main character, Milo, travels to a distant land that has a distinctive mood: melancholy. Next,...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Hurricane Blowing In
Using Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief as a model, writers will find a rhythm in their writing by varying sentence lengths while creating a scene to draw in their readers. The writer will paint a picture with words in order to describe...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Moving Through a Machine
After enjoying chapter 3 from Robert McCloskey's classic chapter book Homer Price students will work together to expand upon McCloskey's description of how the donut-making machine works. Focusing on a variety of transitions, students...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Puns and Punctuation
For this lesson plan, students will examine some Tom Swiftie dialogue puns, paying special attention to their punctuation. First in groups and then as individuals, students will create their own Tom Swiftie puns for their writer's...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Puns and Punctuation
A Writer's Workshop idea in which learners learn to use and punctuate adverbs and specific dialogue to create puns called Tom Swifties. Teacher instructions, student instructions, and student writing samples are provided, as well as an...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: "Lawd! Lawd! Lawd!"
Inspired by the character Charlie in Daniel Keye's Flowers for Algernon, the writer will craft sentences, using different dialects/sayings with correct dialogue punctuation. The writer will devote a page in his/her writer's notebook to...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Comparison/contrast Feet [Pdf]
A graphic organizer where students write similarities on one foot and differences on the other.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Square Compare and Contrast Diagram [Pdf]
A graphic organizer where students compare and contrast items by writing similarities and differences in overlapping squares, similar to the circles on a Venn Diagram.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Same and Different Ways of Thinking [Pdf]
A graphic organizer for students to use when comparing the thoughts of two different characters. A blank organizer and a completed sample are provided.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Problem Solving [Pdf]
A graphic organizer students can use to think about or solve a problem from three different points of view. A blank copy and a completed sample are both provided.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Personification [Pdf]
A graphhic organizer to help students brainstorm ideas for personification. A blank copy as well as a completed example are provided.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Diamond Poem [Pdf]
An explanation of each line of a diamond poem (diamante) followed by examples and a blank template for students to use while generating their own diamond poems.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: A Poem for Two Voices [Pdf]
This is a PDF lesson. After reading/listening to selections of "poems for two voices" from the book Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman and after young scholars compare and contrast two items, they compose a poem for two voices in the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: The Sketch N Write [Pdf]
This is a PDF lesson. After studying vocabulary words or concepts that have similarities and differences, students create a two-sided Sketch-n-Write for two or more words (or concepts). On the right-hand side of the Sketch-n-Write...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: 3 Voice Storyboard: Feeling [Pdf]
In this PDF lesson, students study topics on which people might have differing feelings; they then create three dialogue bubbles that represent three different viewpoints: one that loves the topic, one that dislikes it, and one with a...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/conrast: 5 Voice Storyboard: Perspect [Pdf]
In this PDF lesson young scholars study a topic on which people tend to have differing opinions; they create five dialogue bubbles that would represent five different viewpoints: one in complete support of the topic, one completely...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: Word Splash Sentences [Pdf]
In this PDF comparison/contrast lesson plan, students learn a word splash writing activity which asks students to craft meaningful sentences that utilize content vocabulary words. Students-alone or in groups-examine a collection of...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: Compare/contrast Essay [Pdf]
This PDF lesson focuses on writing a comparison/contrast essay, which is a great format for helping young scholars think deeply about two ideas or concepts with multiple similarities and differences. This type of essay has four-parts -1)...