Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Sentence Structures, Rhetorical Devices, & Transitions
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] The most effective expository and procedural texts contain rhetorical devices, transitional words and phrases, and a variety of sentence structures. Students will learn some...
CPALMS
Hopping Hippo Needs Help
[Free Registration/Login Required] During this MEA simulation, kindergarten students will be given a set of criteria. To help the character Hopping Hippo for her TV show, students will use the criteria to select shoes. Guided reading,...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: How Disruptions Affect Animal Populations
Students explore the effects that ecosystem disruptions can have on animal populations. They learn about the disruptions that have driven three species-the Madagascar fish eagle, the Iberian lynx, and the rowi kiwi, to the brink of...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Saving Crystal River
Explore the effects that an invasive species can have on the environment. In this interactive lesson, students learn how Lyngbya, a destructive form of algae, is creating environmental problems for the plants and wildlife in the Crystal...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Why We Should Protect Freshwater Mussels
In this interactive lesson, students will increase their understanding of the important role that freshwater mussels play in our watershed. Students will learn about freshwater mussel species, how mussels improve water quality in rivers...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: What Edison Teaches Us About Success
In this interactive lesson, young scholars examine Thomas Edison's character traits and how they contributed to his becoming one of the greatest inventors in history. In this interactive lesson, students watch videos to gather evidence...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Buster's Egyptian Adventure
Students join Buster Baxter on a ancient Egypt, in this geography lesson plan. Students learn about Cairo, ancient Egypt, the pyramids, the Nile River, and relevant vocabulary terms. Then students write about what they've learned in the...
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: Democratic Processes
In this activity, students write informative/explanatory texts describing various aspects of the political process in the United States. This self-paced module is aligned to College and Career Ready Standards for Literacy in Social...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Write Expository Text That Synthesizes Ideas
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] A learning module that teaches students how to bring ideas together in an expository text in four lessons: Introduction, Analyzing Our Sources, Pulling Out the Major Points...
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...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: Compare/contrast Essay [Pdf]
This PDF lesson focuses on writing a comparison/contrast essay, which is a great format for helping students think deeply about two ideas or concepts with multiple similarities and differences. This type of essay has four-parts -1) an...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Writing Lesson: What Skin Are You In?
Using two songs by India Arie as well as an excerpt out of Sharon Flake's The Skin I'm In, students will explore their own self image. After analyzing the qualities that each student feels that they embody, they will compare these to the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: An I Pod Inspired Writing Lesson: How Will You Be Remembered?
In this lesson, students will be exploring self image. They will be analyzing how they would like to ultimately be remembered by writing a eulogy, inspired by Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You." They will then explore a change that...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Teaching Students to Compose a Power Essay [Pdf]
The Power Essay, like the power paragraph, focuses on helping students understand the structure of a piece of expository writing. The "power" concept teaches students to organize their ideas according to levels of specificity and to...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago Changes [Pdf]
"Chicago Changes" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about how Chicago changed from a small town to a large city. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: determining...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: New Leadership [Pdf]
"New Leadership" is Harold Washington's Acceptance Speech as Mayor of Chicago on April 12, 1983. It is followed by an assignment which requires students to provide evidence from the text; it includes comparing Washington's election as...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Why Is Community Service Important? [Pdf]
"Why is Community Service Important?" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage is part of a report that the Obama-Biden campaign prepared about service and volunteering. It is followed by questions which require students to provide...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Changing the Ecosystem: Q & a [Pdf]
"Changing the Ecosystem: Q & A" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about how the loss of the prairie to farming and population growth impacts the ecosystem. It is followed by questions which require students to provide...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Prairie Ecology Questions and Activities [Pdf]
"Prairie Ecology Questions and Activities" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about prairie ecology the interdependence of its plants and animals. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Wacky "I Will Not" Chalkboard
Students can use this writing idea from the book Wacky We-Search Reports by Barry Lane to demonstrate understanding in any content area. Students use the idea of writing "I will not " sentences to show their knowledge of various...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Using Narrative for Expository Text
Lesson in which students read various narrative texts which provide a context for them to learn content-area topics. Narratives allow the students to begin to understand expository texts.
Daily Teaching Tools
Daily Teaching Tools: Project Exposition
This lesson engages students in expository writing. Four graphic organizers are provided to assist students in the expository writing process.
Joe Landsberger
Study Guides and Strategies: Expository Essays
This page has eight basic steps for writing expository essays: select topic, write the thesis, choose a method of development, organize, write topic sentences for body paragraph, write the body paragraphs, write an introduction, and...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Have You Made Your New Year's Resolution?
By using the children's book, Squirrel's New Year's Resolution, as an example, students learn to write responses to the story and explain their own resolutions for the year. Site requires registration, but it is free.