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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I'm a Changed Pig - Personal Narrative

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young writers explore character arcs, conflict, and narrative in this complete and ready-to-use lesson plan from Scholastic. As a class read The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig and discuss the dramatic change the pig undergoes...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

KORN-TV Newsroom

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Role-play to learn. Writers pretend to be a team of news writers. They research information about genetically engineered corn and the impact of biotech food products. Then create a video, Powerpoint, or oral presentation to present their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hot Dog Writing

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Use a hot dog as a metaphor for good reading, and make your class drool! Writers identify the parts of a paragraph, linking them to parts of a hot dog. Then, they translate this knowledge into a well-written paragraph. While a check-list...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reliving History through Slave Narratives

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scripting The Great Train Robbery

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Take writing prompts to another level in this activity, which allows pupils to create scenes of dialogue based on the 1903 silent film, The Great Train Robbery. Useful for a language arts/history cross-curricular activity, the...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Parallelism, Including Correlative Conjunctions and Comparisons

For Students 7th - 10th
After reading the first reference page about parallel structure using correlative conjunctions, young learners rewrite nine sentences with errors in parallelism. Even the strongest writers in your language arts class could benefit from...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Metaphor Meanings

For Students 7th - 8th
Help your young writers decipher the literal meanings of metaphors. After reading several metaphors, learners write the real meanings that the phrases are describing. Use this resource in a figurative language lesson, or when preparing...
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Worksheet
2
2
K12 Reader

What Is a Simile?

For Students 3rd - 6th Standards
As fun as a barrel of monkeys, this figurative language worksheet will engage your students in learning to write similes. Asking them to first think of adjectives describing the six nouns listed on the page, this exercise has young...
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Worksheet
1
1
K12 Reader

Using Similes

For Students 4th - 6th Standards
Your class will find using similes as easy as pie after completing this figurative language exercise. Provided with a list of incomplete similes, young writers must use their creativity to fill in the blanks with nouns that accurately...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Appositives and Present Participle Phrases (-ing word groups)

For Students 8th - 9th
Combine sentences with the help of this grammar resource! Learn how to combine sentences using appositives and present participle phrases. The first page focuses on combining two sentences and creatine one. On page two, writers practice...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"The Midwife's Apprentice"

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Here is an inventive, and educationally rich way to conduct a literature study of the book, The Midwife's Apprentice. After the book has been read, learners get into three groups. One group is assigned the task of being the writers....
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Lesson Plan
Poetry Out Loud

Creating "Golden Shovel" Poems

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Get even your most reluctant pupils reading, writing, reciting, and maybe even enjoying poetry! A four day lesson, young writers learn about Golden Shovel poems: a poem format that uses borrowed words from other poems as the last words...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Reading Poems From the Academy of American Poets Chancellors

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Start a lesson on poetic voice with a peer to peer discussion on what characterizes the strength in the voice with which a writer chooses to express himself/herself. In pairs, readers are tasked with reading and creating T-charts for...
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Worksheet
2
2
K12 Reader

Limited Resources

For Students 6th - 8th
Here's a comprehension exercise that asks readers to include direct quotes in their analysis of an article on ways to conserve natural resources.
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Worksheet
Novelinks

The Dark Is Rising: Biopoem

For Students 5th - 9th Standards
How well do your learners really know the characters in Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising? A biopoem activity prompts readers to investigate the characters and their traits. Line by line, writers add the characters' relatives,...
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Lesson Plan
University of Wisconsin

BEAM: Background, Exhibit, Argument, Method

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Thinking of assigning a research paper? Get writers off on the right foot with a lesson that introduces the BEAM research model. Writers brainstorm the background of their topic, explicate the aspects of their topic, consider the...
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Website
University of North Carolina

Qualifiers

For Students 9th - Higher Ed Standards
A lot of writers really struggle very much with adding a lot of qualifiers and intensifiers in their writing. Part of a larger series to improve writing skills, a handout on the topic provides tips to help reduce a reliance on these...
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Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Space Travel Guide

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Scholars showcase their narrative writing skills with a science fiction writing assignment. Six pages present writers with a question to answer accompanied by a detailed picture to draw. All together, pages create a space-travel guide.
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Lesson Plan
Orange County Department of Education

The Glass Slipper Shatters

For Teachers 9th Standards
High school freshmen craft their own definition of honesty. They provide an example from their lives and reflect on the outcomes of their honest behavior. They also identify a time when they may have been dishonest in a relationship and...
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Worksheet
Scholastic

Developing a Main Character

For Students 3rd - 7th
Asking kids to craft their own stories? Get them starting with a character planning sheet that asks them to identify the character's likes and dislikes, his or her strengths and fears, a goal the character wants to achieve, and the...
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Worksheet
3
3
Scholastic

Active Beginnings

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Help your pupils build narratives and stories that capture the attention of their readers with this set of worksheets. The first focuses on active introductory sentences, the second on exciting transition words and phrases, and the third...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Magical Creatures Talk

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Invite your young writers to take the reins with writing dialogue. Using two characters of their own creation, kids work with partners and then individually to write short conversations.
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Lesson Plan
iCivics

Separation of Powers

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
In a fun and informative simulation, your learners will act in groups as lead chefs, menu writers, and nutrition inspectors in deciding a new school lunch menu. They will then compare and contrast their experience to the interaction...
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Handout
2
2
San Diego Unified School District

On-Demand Persuasive Writing Samples

For Students 6th - 7th Standards
Young writers complete a timed persuasive writing assignment in which they argue for a club they would like to see established at school, and are then provided with real student samples of responses. 

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