Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Composers Then and Now
During this instructional activity students will have the opportunity to research the following composers: Kenny G, W.C. Handy, Johannes Brahms, and Amadeus Mozart. Students will learn to navigate the Internet to locate important facts....
Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame: w.c. Handy
This resource provides information about W.C. Handy.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: w.c. Handy
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features W.C. Handy, an African American composer who changed the course of popular music by integrating the blues idiom into then-fashionable ragtime music. Among his best-known works is the...
Education.com
Education.com: w.k.2 Worksheets
[Free Registration/Login Required] Choose from a variety of worksheets to help students practice writing to compose informative/explanatory texts.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Writing Workshop: Persuasive Writing
This site has a great unit that leads students all the way through the writing process while composing a persuasive paper. Includes a teacher guide, mini-lessons, assessment rubric, and worksheets to help out at each step of the way.
University of Toronto (Canada)
University of Toronto: Using Computers to Improve Your Writing
Tips from the University of Toronto on using word processing features as aids in composing and revising papers. W.9-10.6 Technology, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6, W.11-12.6 Technology
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Purdue University Owl: Teaching Resource: Writing Process: Power Point
A PowerPoint presentation that introduces the processes of inventing, composing, and revising written works. W.9-10.5 Writing Process, W.11-12.5 Writing Process
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Unlikely Diary Keepers
The writer will assume the role of a living creature (like an arthropod) or an abstraction (like a fraction). Writers will do research on what they have chosen as their roles, and learn new facts about these roles. The writer will...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Give That Character a Voice With Voki!
This instructional activity fuses fictional literature with technology through a project-based experience. Students will use the free online resource Voki to bring a fictional character to "life" and deepen their understanding of...
Curated OER
Web Gallery of Art: Composer Mihaly Mosonyi and His Wife
An image of "Composer Mihaly Mosonyi and his Wife", created by Henrik Weber during the 1840's (Oil on canvas, 84 x 69 cm).
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Features comprehensive biographical details on "the most successful composer of our time", Andrew Lloyd Weber. His play, "The Phantom of the Opera", is the longest running musical in Broadway history and he has won an Oscar, a Golden...
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Brian Wilson
Learn many biographical facts about composer and singer, Brian Wilson. As a member of American band, The Beach Boys, he helped define California "surf" music.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Writing an Opinion in Response to the Story
Students need to have lots of opportunities to share their opinions based on text. In this instructional activity, the teacher will read the story, Jack and the Beanstalk, multiple times before the students create their opinion. The...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Introduction to Opinion Writing
Students' opinions are a crucial step in the foundation of good writing. After reading 'I will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato', students will state their own opinion about a topic through writing.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Come Along Daisy
Students will engage in discussions about story details and write an informational piece about the events in the story "Come Along Daisy".
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Oh My! It's Apple Pie!
In this lesson, students will give an opinion on the best part of the story "Oh My! It's Apple Pie!" and validate why it is their favorite. Included are student samples, an assessment sample, templates, and videos of the lesson in action.
CPALMS
Cpalms: What's So Great About Kevin Henkes?
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, students will serve as researchers of author/illustrator Kevin Henkes. With prompting, students will read three books by Kevin Henkes. They will recall information from the text to...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Mice Squeak, We Speak
In this lesson students will write an informative sentence in response to listening to the story; "Mice squeak, We speak". Included in this lesson are examples of student work, videos of oral presentations, and puzzle pieces for new...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?
Learners will write an informative sentence in response to listening to the story "Does A Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?". Included in this lesson are videos of mother and baby animals, pictures of the lesson in action, and a video of...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Question and Answer Books
Beginning writers work through a Writing Workshop format to create Question and Answer books. A series of mini-lessons, graphic organizers, possible texts, and samples of student work are all provided.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!
Through the story, Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come, students find out about Henry and his new kindergarten class. As a class, they write about what it is like in kindergarten class.