Illustrate the fine workings of how to punctuate the many situations where are quotations appear and are needed in this easy to understand PowerPoint presentation. It is designed for legal writers, so some the examples are for specific...

Though this presentation is designed for the Texas Academic Skills Program's (TASP) writing assessment, it could work for any class that is preparing to write a five-paragraph persuasive essay. Slides take intermediate writers through...

Full of tips about structure, audience, and evidence in a persuasive essay, this presentation would be a great way to start a writing unit in your class. One slide advises young writers to make up quotes and statistics in their essays....

Review where quotation marks belong and what they are used to indicate. From direct speech to in-text citations, young writers will find this worksheet quite useful. Several exercises at the bottom, along with a key, give learners...

Review subject-verb agreement with your class. Demonstrate the different verb forms when the subject is singular, plural, compound, and an indefinite pronoun. Not too long, this presentation is nonetheless thorough, especially for...

Prepare your scholars for the Regents' Essay Exam with these helpful tips. Advice from what one will need to bring, to how to develop a thesis are included. Writers are given a suggested timeline and sample questions as well. Reduce test...

Review the components of a well-written paragraph with your class. Be sure your writers include a topic sentence supported with main ideas and followed by a conclusion. Unity, coherence, and transition words are emphasized. Experiment...

This online resource is composed of a writing sample about teacher appreciation and a writing prompt for learners. You could use this as an in-class journal activity or you could have class members post their responses on the New...

Given the two-sentence skeleton of a news story about a car theft/joy ride, budding writers create their own version of the story varying diction and sentence structure to heighten interest and complexity in their writing. Resource...

Put children's descriptive writing skills to the test with these fun collaborative writing activities. Presented with the picture of an object, young writers are are tasked with creating a description that provides enough detail for...

Having a diverse and well-developed vocabulary make for both good readers and good writers. The class discusses basic grammar, such as nouns, verb, and adjectives. They then view a series of pictures and work as a class to create simple...

What is a ‘Zine? Although the referenced PBS video that launches this study of self-published magazines is not available, the activities detailed and the step-by-step directions for creating ‘Zines would engage young writers. This...

Get young writers in the practice of editing their work using this punctuation and grammar worksheet. They first read eight sentences with grammar issues, rewriting or checking off as correct. The sentence errors involve subject-verb...

Help your budding writers become familiar with letter shapes using a pattern worksheet. They examine three patterns, tracing a dotted line to continue them to the end of the page. For each, they also draw the pattern freehand below. This...

Before learners become writers they need to feel comfortable moving a pencil from left to right in various patterns. Use these exercises to give budding printers some fine motor practice. They complete three patterns by tracing a dotted...

Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...

Young writers work backward to analyze persuasive techniques. As a class, work through the provided persuasive letter: a plea to an imaginary city council to lift a city-wide ban on fast food restaurants and discount stores. Start by...

Stop the regurgitation of history facts that your writers submit to you as a report by presenting this PowerPoint that reveals how history essays should be done. The presentation covers topics from pre-writing to endnotes, and...

Ask your learners to synthesize what they know about Waiting for the Biblioburro by writing a well-organized paragraph. Young writers focus on using transition words and including specific details in their paragraphs. The plan allows for...

Explore the structure of narrative writing with this fun, collaborative lesson. Start by reading aloud a short story, asking small groups of learners to fill in key events on a large story board prepared on the class whiteboard....

Write about another time and place to live with an interesting writing prompt. It presents young writers with the challenge of choosing another time and place in the past and explaining what the advantages and disadvantages of that time...

Writers light up their manuscripts by embellishing the first letter in their text. The two-page assignment sheet includes colorful samples from twelfth and thirteenth century texts.

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...

Get to know a person in your class or a famous figure in history. With questions about the person's birthplace, parents, and what they are famous for. A space at the bottom prompts writers to list three things they have learned.