Students read stories and explore the importance of sequential order. In groups, students are given sentence strips. Students holding the sentence strips, place themselves in a logical order to make a story. Individually, students...

Students listen to a read aloud of Kevin Henkes, Owen, while listening for the beginning, middle, and end. They listen as the teacher describes the need for story organization and write down the story sequence. Finally, they create a...

Fifth graders explore and examine the book, "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs," by Jan Scieszka. They assess that an author's voice and individual style is an important part of keeping a person interested in a story. Each student,...

Learners listen to a story, "My Mama Had A Dancing Heart." They discuss the feeling they had after reading the story and define "mood." Students brainstorm a list of moods and discuss the mood of each character. Afterward, they write a...

Students, after brainstorming what the concept of idioms are, listen for idioms while the book, "Chocolate Moose for Dinner," is read to them out loud by the teacher. They then write a short narrative incorporating at least one idiom...

Fifth graders listen as the teacher reads "Voices in the Park." They discuss the character's feelings and write vivid descriptive words to indicate how the character feels about his experience. Students select one character in the story...

Students read "Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge" to explore the flow of ideas. They record events different character of characters in the story. Students write a story, concentrating mainly on the flow of ideas from event to event or...

Students explore and study the literary genre of internal conflict while reading the book, "Stellaluna," by Janelle Cannon. They discuss the main character and make a chart of different situations where the main character experienced...

Examine the contributions of African-Americans in the worlds of art and literature. Over the course of a few days, young scholars will read and analyze a poem, a short story, and a piece of art. They complete a range of...

Introduce your young writers to the five-paragraph expository essay format with a four-page worksheet that uses color codes to model for writers how to craft the essay. Although designed to prepare writers for the GED, the approach can...

For many emerging writers, essays are completed step-by-step. With the help of this lesson, learners will narrow down a topic, develop a thesis statement, develop a preliminary outline, conduct Internet research, and understand the...

Are your young writers having difficulty distinguishing between expository and persuasive writing? Discuss the difference between the two, and how some prompts can be responded to in either fashion. Included here is a simple lesson plan...

Young writers identify and generate words using the strategies of phonics on the Making Words computer program. Words are typed instead of having to use tiles or paper. Extension activities such as playing the memory game, drawing...

Which picture should go first? Which one is next? Which picture finishes the story? Have your class cut out, sequence and write a narrative based on a set of unsequenced pictures. After binding, writers share their creations and their...

This lesson, which promises to improve the essays of your middle schoolers, contains a list of characteristics an essay should include. It breaks it down into the introduction, thesis statement, body, etc. There's also a list of things...

Are you planning to have a guest speaker talk to your class? Prepare in advance and help your class transform into an engaged and thoughtful audience. Before the visit, young writers work cooperatively to brainstorm what they want to...

It's time to write! First, lead your emerging writers in a power writing activity. It takes six minutes and focuses on creative brainstorming. The class is given two words (duck and apple are suggested, but alter the words for different...

How is a story like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Use making a sandwich as a metaphor to remind your writers that a good, solid beginning, a rich and rewarding middle, and an ending that brings everything together spices up a...

Read biographies and use the internet to research stories of courage.Young writers compare and contrast characteristics that societies value. They write reports about their family and community's heroes.

Investigate the techniques used in a persuasive argument. Young writers compose a persuasive argument persuading their principal to take their class on a trip to the location of their choice. They then create a persuasive web site.

Class members use e-mail and the merry-go-round story format to create a science fiction story. Each writer begins by selecting one of three prompts, crafting the introductory paragraph and sending the paragraph to the next person on the...

Groups become experts in one aspect of the six traits of writing, prepare a PowerPoint presentation, jigsaw, and teach others about their trait. Writers then focus on these traits as they compose a persuasive essay about a person they...

Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...

Combine your friendly letter lesson, grammar lesson, and technology lesson with this fun activity! Young writers compose letters to friends, and then convert the text to Webdings font. Their friends then decode the letter based on a key....