Curated OER
Making an Argument: Effective use of Transition Words
Work on using transition words in context by prompting elementary and middle schoolers to write their own persuasive essays using transition words. They explore new forms of transition words and examine how they are used in an editorial...
Curated OER
More Details and Transitions
Use details and transition words to enhance writing. Sixth graders examine their own writing and insert more details and transition words provided by their teacher. There is a list of 11 "Terrific Transitions," but brainstorm several...
Curated OER
My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C.
Although this legislative process lesson is designed to accompany a specific text, it is valuable independently. Young learners participate in a picture walk (worksheet included) through My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington,...
Curated OER
Clothesline Sleuth
What fabrics are our clothes made of? Where do those fabrics from? Lead your pupils to discover the answers to these questions and more. Class members have a chance to play with various fabrics, invesitgating the materials and labels...
Curated OER
Make Mine Turkey
Young scholars compare foods available for the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving with contemporary Thanksgiving foods. After reading information about the first Thanksgiving, pupils create a menu and compute the cost of a turkey dinner, using...
Curated OER
The Beet Goes On
Root vegetables inspire the series of activities included here. Class members participate in activities related to language arts, social studies, science, visual art, and math. At first, the long list might feel overwhelming; however,...
Curated OER
Wheat: From Field to Oven
How does wheat go from the seed to the table? While focusing on main ideas and supporting statements, class members read an excerpt about wheat production and complete a worksheet. The end goal is a display that shows the different...
Curated OER
Just Lookin' For a Home
What is a boll weevil? Your class can find out that and more by following the activities included here. Pupils read an article, sing a boll weevil song, add to the song with their own original lyrics, illustrate the song, study the...
Scholastic
Scholastic: Writing With Writers: Descriptive Writing
This page gives students specific guidelines & tips for a descriptive writing assignment. Students can publish descriptive writing here, as well. A thorough teacher's guide to descriptive writing is also provided.
SUNY Empire State College
Empire State College: Developing Ideas for Writing
Explains nine methods for developing ideas for writing, including freewriting, brainstorming, clustering/mapping, maintaining a personal journal, responding to a text, maintaining a response journal, responding to a specific assignment,...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Writing Fix Homepage
Have you ever needed someone to help you out with your writing? This site offers help to students and teachers. The lessons and resources are organized based on the 6 Writing Traits model. An especially interesting feature of the site is...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Nonfict Readers Analyze Structure/views[pdf]
This graphic organizer contains questions for students as they analyze any nonfiction text. Students will read closely to determine the text's structure, viewpoint, and tone. This graphic organizer is a copyrighted material that may be...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Comprehensive Questions: Nonfiction [Pdf]
Questions are provided to help students determine the main idea, topic, and fact versus opinion of a nonfiction piece. Students are prompted to write a summary of an informational text.
University of South Florida
Fcat Express: Selective Underlining
Site provides extensive assistance in preparing 4th grade students for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. This section focuses on identifying main ideas and significant details by selectively underlining them in a text.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Comics in the Classroom: Introduction to Narrative Structure
Contains plans for four lessons that teach students about narrative plot structures by using "The Three Little Pigs" fairy tale or a similar story. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Persuasion Map
A printable graphic organizer for students to use when writing on opinion or persuasive essay. Directions on how to use this type of graphic organizer as well as lists of teaching ideas, lesson plans, and other resources are also...
Other
4 Teachers: Persuade Star: Writing Persuasive Essays
This free online application is designed to help students in grades 5-12 write an online persuasive essay.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Can You Convince Me? Developing Persuasive Writing
Contains plans for four 40-minute lessons that teach persuasive writing to elementary students. In addition to student objectives and standards, these instructional plans contain links to PDF handouts and links to sites used in the...
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.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Metamorphosis Stories of Change
The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp. Students realize that the narrative impulse underlies even...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Introducing Text Structures in Writing 5th Grade
This instructional activity engages students in learning about text structures. Graphic organizers are provided to assist students in planning writings that have the following text structures: problem and solution; sequence; cause and...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Write an Expository And/or Procedural Text
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] You will learn how to write an expository/procedural text that synthesizes ideas from several sources.
Other
Storyboard That
Create your own storyboard with this interactive tool. The storyboard framework is a graphic organizer that helps structure students work into a linear and concise story. Although it feels easy at first, breaking down ones thoughts into...
Other
Reading Quest: Making Sense of Social Studies
Teaching students to read well in areas other than language arts requires teaching and reinforcing the kinds of reading strategies taught here. There are 27 strategies, ranging from brainstorming to word mapping. The site includes PDF...