Fifth graders run a school newspaper on a school website and discover how to use various literary forms as they relate to the writing process. In this school newspaper lesson, 5th graders synthesize information from different sources,...

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 engage in the writing process. In this drafting instructional activity, students research different types of genres to find which they enjoy reading and writing. They review the drama in a story and discuss different story...

Introduce your young readers to the book review. Groups of writers practice the basic steps of writing a book report and complete an Accordion-Book Summary activity. The lesson includes book report basics and directions to make...

A handout to guide peer editors, this checklist delineates common problems with paragraph structure and specific proofreading items to check. It also provides encouragement about the collaborative part of the writing process. Formats...

Are you actually feeling really tired of reading wordy, redundant, long, lengthy sentences practically all the time over and over again? Introduce writers to this handout and exercise to teach to tighten up their prose! Provides two ways...

Beyond Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, tall tales can be a great way to teach young writers about word choice and voice in their writing. Using Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee  and the Six-Trait Writing process, they begin to write...

Which came first—the painting or the poem? In this case, it is the painting. Scholars closely examine a work of art and then craft an ekphrastic poem in response. A carefully scaffolded nine-page plan leads young poets through the process.

Keep the art of letter writing alive in this age of Tweet and Twitter! The 10 activities detailed in this resource lead pupils through the process of crafting classic forms. A list of and links to famous letters is also included as part...

Combine participial phrases and creative writing with this instructional activity, which is equally helpful for writing skills and conventions. After a mini-instructional activity on participial phrases and reading the picture book...

If you are interested in having a basic framework for teaching expository, narrative, persuasive, and descriptive writing, this resource may help; however, you will have to find information on the different forms of writing to share with...

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...

"I'll just wait for the movie version." How often have you heard that line? Transform passive viewers into active readers of visual images with an understanding of the three stages of the filmmaking process. This 28-packet packet is...

Encourage scholars to share their love of reading with informative and engaging book reviews. Here, you'll find a series of guides that walk learners through the review writing process. Included in the collection is information about...

Second graders create a graphic organizer on Kidspiration about themselves. They write a personal narrative using the information from their graphic organizer. They share their project with the class.

Are you teaching a high school language arts class and stumped for writing topics? Five pages of writing prompts for all kinds of writing should help you out. Many of these prompts refer to texts that are not included in this resource,...

Students practice persuasive writing. In this writing lesson plan, students understand that there are different ways to write. Students build a list of words that can be used for persuasion. Students develop statements to use for...

Fourth graders identify the benefits of using a field guide for nature observations. They then field trip to a natural setting to prepare for writing. They record their observations, and write a journal entry using the steps of the...

Practice descriptive language in this activity, which prompts elementary and middle schoolers to write detailed descriptive sentences describing a seashell. They write a description of a shell, create an illustration, and other students...

After researching an issue introduced in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, writers develop an original thesis statement and craft an analytic essay using evidence collected in their research.

"Tell me a story!" Young storytellers use this planning sheet to block out their narrative, identifying the main idea, characters, setting, events, and ending they will incorporate into their tale.

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...

Focusing on writing an introduction, this presentation provides a variety of techniques for how to begin. Although the question marks on slide six obscure the writing, the other slides are clear and legible and display good examples for...

Reinforce the importance of the writing process with this publication lesson. Elementary and middle schoolers compose a parts of speech book which includes one page each for nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,...