Living on the Titanic

Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth...

Master a well-organized thesis statement with a short activity for a persuasive writing unit. Young writers read five different introductory paragraphs about various topics, find the main ideas addressed in each thesis statement, and jot...

How do people solve problems in healthy ways? Writers explore a topic of interest in their multi-genre writing assignment exploring Zach's Lie. The final resource in a series of seven includes multiple scaffolds and organizers for...

How is a story different when told from various points of view? Learn about first and third person points of view with an activity based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Readers examine a passage written in first person,...

Use Jack London's The Call of the Wild to help young writers learn the difference between first and third person points of view. After they read a passage from the novel, they rewrite it in the first person point of view.

Encourage your class to revise their writing and check over their work by requiring them to complete an organization checklist. The checklist, created specifically for a accordion-style essay, asks writers to look over their formatting,...

Provide your young readers with step-by-step directions for crafting a friendly letter to their favorite author. After drafting and revising their letter, class members illustrate a favorite scene in the book and mail their letters to...

Shake it up! Shake your tablet to bring up a unique writing prompt for journaling or blogging with your class. Shake again and a new one appears. Prompts can come from different categories (sketches, scenes, texts, words, news) to help...

How did modern language evolve over the course of history? Discover the roots of the English language, spoken by over three billion people in the world today, and explore how historical conquests and intercultural exchanges are...

A lesson begins with a description of a diamante poem and the rules to follow while writing one. Scholars examine the ins and outs of synonym and antonym diamantes, then compose an original poem using their newfound knowledge.