Sixth graders explore figurative and literal language. They study literary devices through short pieces of Shakespeare's work. Then investigate Shakespeare's works and life.

Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...

Twelfth graders hone descriptive writing skills by making a J. Peterman Catalogue. They bring to class a favorite piece of clothing or jewelry item and create their own description of it. They accompany each description with a hand-drawn...

Second graders practice their creative writing by using descriptive words.  In this language arts lesson, 2nd graders utilize their best descriptive writing to elaborate on one of 20 different bean bag characters.  Students...

Students use the descriptive writing process through the use of landscape scenes, the Paragraph Writing Strategy from the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning, and the 4MAT Instructional Model.

Students examine descriptive language. In a worksheet activity, they practice writing a one-page description of an event, trying to use descriptive words. They also describe a noun, e.g. rabbit, using descriptive language.

Students identify techniques used to communicate visually. They compare and contrast different visual techniques found in mass media. They apply their understanding by creating photographs that use a variety of visual literacy techniques.

Learners put themselves in the shoes of learners who integrated Little Rock High School in 1957-58. Note: The primary resources in this activity provide powerful and poignant descriptions of what those students faced.

Talk about technology in the classroom. This plan has all the resources needed to create a non-linear or branching story. Included is a step-by-step tutorial that walks middle schoolers through the project description, a model of a...

Ah, food idioms! Now that sounds tasty. Class members read and discuss various food-related idioms, create an illustration of a food-related idiom, and develop a class book or bulletin board to celebrate figurative language and National...

Stereotyping and discrimination are explored in this social justice lesson.  Students listen to the book Dragon of Brog, in which mythical characters experience discrimination. Then, they sculpt a magical character out of plasticene...

Sixth graders use a visit to the National Gallery of Art to inspire descriptive writing. They choose works of art and write descriptive word lists, paragraphs and Haiku.

Fifth graders read the Native American tale, "The Frog and the Crane," focusing on the use of onomatopoeia in it. In groups, they brainstorm list of words that are examples of the device. Finally, 5th graders write their own stories...

Students read about and discuss photographic principles and, under the direction of the art teacher, construct individual cameras from heavy black cardboard and thin sheet metal with a hole for the lens and black tape for the shutter.

Students at-risk in high school and primary grades pair up to read and write together. They create books modeled after authors and illustrators. They hold a parents' day to display their completed books.

The class defines similes after creating a KWL chart about them. Groups rotate through a series of stations in which they creatively complete similes. They create a picture booklet that contains similes. However, the booklet topic and...

What do Jeep advertisements and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath have in common? They both employ the art of the extended metaphor! Using the Six-Trait Writing model, learners begin to work on their own extended metaphors. Development...

Should the student population wear uniforms to school? Pupils express whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with a controversial statement, moving to a designated corner of the room to indicate their stance....

Students create a county and develop an illustrated travel brochure to persuade elementary students to visit their county.  In this persuasive writing lesson plan, students use descriptive language effectively in a travel...

First graders compare their local area with the Belize landscape. They construct maps of the school area, adding descriptive information. They write haiku poems about their favorite outside places.

The goal of this lesson is to have learners come up with a collection of fun and exciting activities they could all try over the summer vacation. Each child is charged with creating his/her own page of a class summer fun book. The page...

Students analyze characters from literature, then create illustrations of that character. They include written descriptive lines from the literature, then an interpretive depiction of the character.

Students define and give examples of five senses, compiling a list of sensory words to be used in a written descriptive paragraph.

Students solve and write riddles using similes and metaphors.  In this similes and metaphors lesson, students work in groups to solve descriptive riddles for famous landmarks.  Students are given pictures of landforms and write...