Mesa Public Schools
Country Project
Give your young learners the chance to discover more about countries in their world community with a research project. Class members write reports on an assigned country and include such major features as geography, important historical...
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Creative God or Goddess
Who causes sinkholes? Or acid rain? High schoolers try their hand at myth-making as individuals create a god or goddess responsible for the modern-day phenomenon. They introduce their deity in an essay that reveals the name, parentage,...
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Following a Recipe
Students create a cookbook. In this recipe and writing lesson, students brainstorm the skills necessary to follow a recipe, watch a cooking show and write down a recipe used. Students use a word processing program to write a paragraph...
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Bears' House Vandalized, Witnesses Say Blonde Girl Spotted Fleeing from the Scene
Students explore journalism. In this expository writing instructional activity, students read several newspaper articles and note common features. After reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Jan Brett, students work with a partner...
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A River, Dead or Alive: Native Americans and European Colonists' Treatment of a River
Students write an expository paragraph about the uses of the Nashua River for the Native Americans and the European Colonists. In this river uses lesson plan, students determine the causes and effects of both parties using the river.
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Responding to Literature: James and the Giant Peach
Fifth grade reader/writers create an alternate ending to an episode in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach in which our protagonist "loses" the chance to magically solve all his problems. Prompts students not only to write creatively...
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Exposing Expository Text Structure in a Rainforest Setting
Students create a thematic booklet containing examples of different types of expository text structures. They explore a variety of expository text structures.
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More Details and Transitions
Provide young learners with the terrific transitions handout attached here. As a group, discuss the importance of putting ideas in an order that is easy to understand. Although this activity is designed to follow a writing activity from...
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Summarization Superstars
How do you read when you know you're going to be summarizing a text? Summarize a nonfiction text with your upper elementary schoolers. Your pupils independently read a nonfiction article and write a summary paragraph using the six-step...
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Elaborate It
Students read writing samples and discuss the differences between the writing with and without anecdotal examples. They write expository essays that include personal anecdotes.
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Developing Student Web Pages for Showcasing Research
Students employ information literacy skills to research topics. They develop topics using a graphic organizer. They draft, revise and edit research projects. They write an expository essay. They create a web page in Microsoft Publisher.
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Which Way is Up? The Tree of Life in Africa
Students read a book titled This is the Tree about a baobab tree and draw a picture and label the tree. In this tree lesson plan, students also write a paragraph explaining why they drew that tree.
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Organizing Ideas
Eighth graders investigate varous writing skills as part of larger course of study. The lesson is essentially a rough guide for conducting a class for writing. The main focus of the plan is organizing ideas using various strategies that...
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Paragraph Elaboration and Examples
Learners discuss the importance of elaboration and supporting ideas in writing. They are given a prompt and must complete it using details and examples.
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A Formal Analysis of Science Fiction
Students write a five paragraph expository theme. They explain in their theme how the story they read qualifies as science fiction. Students write using all the conventions of English correctly.
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Web Wilderness
Fourth graders write an expository paper using notes taken during a field trip or a guest speaker.
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Charlotte's Web
Fourth graders focus on fluency by reading the book Charlotte's Web. In this reading strategies lesson plan, 4th graders partner read, do guided reading, and independent reading to increase fluency. Students use Venn Diagrams, discuss...
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Disease and Culture through Literary Time
Students select books to read that include disease as a plot or theme component. They fill out a matrix for the disease in their novel and write a five-paragraph paper about their book. Students use the rest of the week's classes to...
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Personally Speaking
Seventh graders read, "The Witch of Blackbird Pond," and write an expository essay discussing choices they have in society today compared with the character Kit.
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Yummy Venn Diagrams
Develop a list of topic sentences using a Venn diagram. The class compares Ritz cracker to Oreo cookies, create a list of possible topic sentences, then composes an expository paragraph comparing the two food items.
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Evalating Expressions
Seventh graders investigate the concepts realted to using the Order of Operations. They write an expository paragraph to prepare for the direct instruction of the order or sequence to simplify numerical expressions.
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Book Review
Learners write a five paragraph theme that explains how the novel which they read in this unit effectively utilized various literary elements to portray the impact of a disease on a population. They then decide which three literary...
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Cause and Effect: Light Clusters and Geography
After viewing a map of lights at night over a variety of geographic formations, young topographers connect the location of light clusters to geographic features that encourage human settlement. They list causes and effects of large...
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Rootbeer Writing
Students utilize IBC Rootbeer, to make introductions, bodies, and conclusions within the paper become more delightful.