Join the newspaper business with a series of lessons and exercises focused on elements of journalism. The packet focuses on distinguishing fact from opinion, writing effective headlines, sequencing events, and editing and...

Whether you are teaching a newspaper unit in language arts, covering the First Amendment and censorship in social studies, or focusing on writing ethics in journalism, a unit based on the foundations of journalism would be an excellent...

Take the time at the end of the school year to learn from your youngsters about their experience in your class. Designed for elementary pupils, this survey asks students to comment on such elements as activities/lessons they did and...

Explore the backgrounds, qualifications, and platforms of the presidential candidates for the 2000 election. Though the lesson is outdated, the activities within the informational text could be good practice for your young learners as...

How much does your class know about the relationship between climate change and carbon dioxide? Science scholars explore the nature of greenhouse gases and rising ocean temperature through demonstrations, research, and experiments. The...

Groups research participatory democracies and compare the role and rights of citizens in ancient history with those in recent U.S. history. Guided by a series of questions, individuals compose a persuasive essay in which they discuss the...

Scratching your head when it comes to engaging writing prompts? Check out a list of prompts designed for middle school classes, which includes topics for persuasive writing, expository writing, how-to essays, personal narratives, and...

As part of their reading of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members consider what it would take to survive living on their own. Using the provided worksheet, individuals list their needs and decide where they would...

Collect evidence and reasons and fill them in on this page to prepare for presenting an argument. Learners can evaluate what they are missing and make sure they fill in each line and bubble before considering their argument complete.

Add to children's enjoyment of the award-winning novel Maniac Magee with this fun collection of resources. From sequence of events and fact or fiction worksheets, to writing newspaper articles and creating advertisements based...

Listen to the sound of children's fingers flying across their keyboards as they perform these fun typing lessons. From creating alphabet books and multimedia presentations to researching presidents and writing class...

Think about the roles of hunters and squaws in Elizabeth George Speare's The Sign of the Beaver. Whose work is more important? Young writers compare Attean and Matt's reaction to each gender's role, as well as arguing their opinion...

Who do the kids in your class look up to? Have them describe their heroes with a writing prompt. The prompt encourages kids to explain why this person is important to them, and what actions the hero has done that make him or her a...

Explore cultures from around the world with an engaging pen pal resource. Through a series of classroom activities and written correspondence, children learn about the favoritec pastimes, schooling, geography, and weather that is...

Organization can take a paragraph from mundane to first-rate. Try out a graphic organizer for an accordion-style paragraph, which includes a topic sentence, three reasons with details and transitions, three explanations, and a concluding...

Young readers work on evaluating claims in a piece of informational text with the article "In New York, It's Open Bag or Find Exits" from the New York Times. They analyze current search procedures implemented to fight terrorism...

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....

Write a review of the film adaptation of Holes. After viewing the film, your young reviewers make recommendations about viewing the film. Using details to support their opinions, they highlight the important parts of the movie without...

Therefore! However! Furthermore! Explore the power of transition words and phrases. Signal your readers by suggesting the relationship between different thoughts or points. Help them demonstrate an understanding of word relationships. 

What is the missing link? Provide your class with this incomplete essay (it's missing transition words), and have writers place words from the transition word bank into the essay. Also, since only three of the five paragraphs are...

Work on using transition words in context by prompting elementary and middle schoolers to write their own persuasive essays using transition words. They explore new forms of transition words and examine how they are used in an editorial...

Work through nine links to videos, images, and graphic organizers to learn about persuasive writing.