Other
What Makes an "Amazing" Fable Captivating?
Students become the authors, producers and actors in their own multimedia fables, after they study fable characteristics for this lesson.
Other
Tate Online: Tate Tales
Let your imagine run wild when you select a painting from the Tate Gallery collection. Interpret the painting by making up a story about it. Let the painting inspire you to new heights of creative writing and then add it to the story...
Other
The Dream Flag Project
This creative and collaborative project is centered around the poetry of Langston Hughes, and incorporates art, multi-cultural ideas, and student performance. The site is full of examples, information, lessons and explanation.
Other
Nottingham Trent University: Kids on the Net
Visit this site for children's writing made by kids. Kids on the Net aims to help children develop a useful and informed approach to the Internet and how to use it for writing.
Other
Bedtime Story: Whimsical Stories for Reading
Awesome site with hundreds of stories by published and unpublished authors to encourage reading stories together and out loud. Each story also has a section titled "What's it all about" which gives background information along with...
Other
Washington Calligrapher's: Calligraphy Typeface Design
This brief page from the Washington Calligrapher's Guild gives several illustrations and explanations of calligraphy, lettering, and design. Teachers could use this as a short reference with examples.
The English Teacher
The English Teacher: Teaching Basic Poetry
This lesson plan-tutorial uses "Beware do not read this poem" by Ismael Reed to teach students how to read and appreciate poetry.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Found Poems/parallel Poems
Students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: November Is National American Indian Herigage Month
ReadWriteThink offers a very thorough lesson plan that encourages students to create their own pourquoi stories. Included are downloadable pdf files needed to incorporate the lesson.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Family Memoir: Getting Acquainted With Generations Before Us
This very detailed lesson plan includes readings, discussion questions, handouts, interactives and a rubric, all aimed at helping students construct a themed memoir while documenting the artistic process they used to create it.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Designing Museum Exhibits for "The Grapesof Wrath"
Integrating various creative formats with solid, researched fact, allows students to show what they have learned. The resulting "museum" can be shared with an audience in any of a number of ways. Includes handouts, rubric, and...
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Lesson Plan: Writing Folktales
With this lesson plan, students examine the American tradition of folk tales and tall tales, then write and illustrate their own original tale. Provides links to more information, an assessment rubric, extension ideas, and a list of...
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Poetry for the Elementary Classroom
Site contains a narrative and three lesson plans. These plans are designed to assist students with various aspects of poetry. This site discusses strategies which enable students to effectively, memorize, recite, and correctly pronounce...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Rolling With the Animals
After reading Duck on a Bike by David Shannon, the writer will plan an original story where an animal (other than a duck) finds itself in a human mode of transportation (other than a bike). Three other animals will react to the unusual...
Teachnology
Teachnology: Lesson Plan: Wordless Books: Creating a Storyline
This lesson plan asks students grades 3-5 to use wordless picture books as a springboard to write an original story based on the pictures.
Other
Write4 kids.com
This site provides a great deal of information on writing children's stories. Contains "Advice, instruction, insider tips, insight and inspiration."
TES Global
Tes: Leaflet Self Assessment to Support Holes by Louis Sachar
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students will create a leaflet that will persuade classmates to read the book Holes, a young adult book written by Louis Sachar. These rubric resources will used for peer assessments and self-assessments.
TES Global
Tes: Creative Writing Lesson Plan: Speed Writing
[Free Registration/Login Required] During this guided creative writing lesson plan, students will develop written pieces and writing stamina. Students will write for short timed periods with the goal of writing progressively more...
Caro Clarke
Writing Advice: Don't Get It Right the First Time
How much of your novel have you written? Do you keep starting it and never finishing it? Learn the answers to these questions in this novel-writing advice piece.
Caro Clarke
Not Stopping the Reader: How to Avoid Stumbling Blocks
This is the eighth article in a series that focuses on helping the new novel author. This article looks at how the author can avoid creating stumbling blocks that disrupt the flow of the novel.
Caro Clarke
Explaining Too Much: Why More Is Less
This is the eleventh article in a series that is designed to help the new novel author. This article focuses on how to eliminate needless information in your novel. The key is to not explain too much about the action.
Caro Clarke
Historical Fiction: Who Rules?
This is the fifteenth article in a series designed to help the new novel author. This article focuses on the genre of historical fiction and the role of the author. Is the author a researcher or a story-teller?
Caro Clarke
The Doldrums: When the Wind Leaves Your Sails
This is the 16th article in a series that gives advice to the new novel writer. This is a particularly interesting and helpful article on how to deal with periods in writing when your enthusiasm wanes.
Other
National Novel Writing Month
Here's an interesting creative writing challenge. Write a 50,000 word novel between November 1 and November 30. NaNoWriMo has been orchestrating this challenge for several years now and the site has plenty of directions on the process,...