Curated OER
The Argument
After brainstorming, middle schoolers write an expository essay for a writing project. They focus on supporting points, organization, and writing conventions to develop a well-integrated paper. In addition, they revise, proofread and...
Curated OER
Don't Let the Earth Down
Although recycling is definitely beneficial, reducing our waste and conserving our natural resources should really be the focus of environmentalists. Encourage the future generation to create a public service announcement about a...
Curated OER
A Way with Words
How do facts and opinions impact the news? After reading "How to Cover a War" from the New York Times, middle schoolers evaluate the claims in the article. They also consider the media's responsibilities in reporting during wartime....
Ereading Worksheets
Persuasive Essay Examples
Your young writers will practice identifying the hook, position statement, and main points of two examples of persuasive writing.
Curated OER
Seedfolks Final Writing Assessment
Wrap up a study of Seedfolks with a final essay. Writers can draft their essays by following the steps and filling in the organizer provided here. The packet begins with a prompt, includes a few basic requirements, and provides an...
TV411
Learn the Steps to Clear Essay Writing!
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...
Curated OER
Transition Words and Phrases: Road Signs for the Reader
Therefore! However! Furthermore! Explore the power of transition words and phrases. Signal your readers by suggesting the relationship between different thoughts or points. Help them demonstrate an understanding of word relationships.
Curated OER
The Missing Link
What is the missing link? Provide your class with this incomplete essay (it's missing transition words), and have writers place words from the transition word bank into the essay. Also, since only three of the five paragraphs are...
Curated OER
Telling Our Stories of Giving - Writing to Persuade
After identifying the parts of a persuasive piece of writing, young writers explore different prewriting activities for the persuasive essay. They have the option to write a news article, personal narrative, or persuasive essay to...
Curated OER
Making a Formal Argument $5 or a Lottery Ticket
What's better: having a lottery ticket or a $5 bill? This question is sure to engage your middle schoolers. There's an example answer provided and, unlike the other worksheets of its kind, there is a space to write both a rough and final...
Curated OER
Advanced Making a Formal Argument An Apple a Day
Give your middle schoolers an opportunity to create an opinion and provide details to support it. They respond to the statement "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." There is an example answer provided, but consider removing it from...
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
Symbiosis: Help, Hinder or Destroy
Use background information and vocabulary to familiarize your students with the concept of symbiosis and the role agriculture plays in the shared relationship. They then write the vocabulary in their lab books or journals, and read the...
Curated OER
Fruit or Vegetable?
Watermelon is a vegetable? A tomato is a fruit? Believe it or not, this debate is decades old. Groups examine rulings by the US Supreme Court, the USDA, and state statutes before developing their own criteria to use when labeling the...
TES Global
Blendspace: Fallacies
A thirty-part learning module with links to texts, images, websites, and videos about common fallacies found in arguments.
University of North Carolina
Unc: Writing Center: Comparing and Contrasting
This handout will help to determine whether a particular assignment is asking for comparison/contrast and then to generate a list of similarities and differences, decide which similarities and differences to focus on, and organize your...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Write a Persuasive Text That Supports a Position
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] You will learn to write a persuasive text that responds to the views of others by using evidence that differentiates between fact and opinion to support your viewpoint.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Organization Appropriate to Purpose, Audience, and Context
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] You will be able to write an essay that is organized appropriate to audience, purpose, and context.
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Purdue University Owl: Organizing Your Argument
This Purdue University OWL (Online Writing Lab) explains how to organize information in an argumentative essay. Several examples are provided to show how each piece of evidence is elaborated.
iCivics
I Civics: Persuasive Writing
In this library of mini-lessons, students will learn how to "argue on paper" or write persuasive essays using a fictional case about a school dress code rule against band t-shirts.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Write a Persuasive Text That Supports a Position
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] A learning module that teaches students about writing a persuasive text to support a position in four mini lessons: Introduction; Just the Facts, Ma'am. Kung Fu Fighting:...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Write Expository Text That Is Logically Organized
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] A learning module that teaches students how to write an organized expository text in five lessons: Introduction, The Type of Burger: The Controlling Idea, Toppings: The...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Out of Proportion
Students are asked to explain how natural disasters affect environmental health.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Help Students Generate Ideas Through Prewriting
Learn how to model a range of prewriting techniques and introduce several mnemonics to help students organize their writing.