University of North Carolina
Thesis Statements
Phrases such as "This paper is going to be about" and "I am going to tell you about" do not make for effective thesis statements. A handout from the UNC Writing Center helps writers break from those phrases to craft effective thesis...
ESL Holiday Lessons
Mardi Gras
Take a trip to Mardi Gras with a festive reading packet! After class members read an informational article about the history and celebration of Mardi Gras, they think about the structure of the passage by unscrambling words, filling in...
Penguin Books
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Young Readers Edition
As the saying goes, you are what you eat. A useful set of lesson plans encourage young readers to take a second look at their eating habits. Pre- and post-reading questions bring in reflective writing and discussion while extension...
EngageNY
End of Unit 1 Assessment: Drawing Evidence from Text: Written Analysis of How Percy’s Experiences Align with “The Hero’s Journey”
Do your best on the test! Readers finish up by completing the end of the unit assessment. Using the assessment, writers describe how Percy's experiences in The Lightning Thief align to four parts of The Hero's Journey. After completing...
K12 Reader
Adjectives Add Interest
A world without adjectives would be a sad place indeed! Make sure adjectives stay around by teaching your class about what they are and how using them can make a boring story truly interesting. Learners put this idea into practice by...
K12 Reader
Inference in Literature: The Wizard of Oz
We're off to see the wizard! Practice making inferences in literature with two sample paragraphs from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Each passage provides questions about the pleasantness of the place it describes, and kids...
Anchorage School District
“Dressing Up” an Introduction
Are your pupils ready to move beyond a thesis statement by adding additional detail to their introductory paragraphs? Provide this handout to give your class some ideas for spiffing up their work. The page includes a sample paragraph...
Curated OER
Biography Newsletters
Have your pupils just finished reading biographies? Extend their study by having them craft a biography newsletter about the subject of their biography. Using a word processor, they create, revise and edit their report, and add graphics...
Curated OER
Think of an Ending
Good endings are hard to find. And write. This, the final instructional activity in a six-part series devoted to study of the ingredients of a good story, focuses on crafting endings. Class members draft ideas about what should happen to...
Curated OER
Our Special Keepsake
Third graders observe the procedure for writing a single paragraph. They listen to a story and write a single paragraph response including a topic sentence, with supporting sentences.
Curated OER
Young Learner's Writing Workshop 1
Young scholars become familiar with writing an essay in English. They are given an overview of basic essay writing styles. Students develop skills that are used when analyzing texts as the basis of their essays.
Curated OER
Agony Aunt Writing Exercise
In this English vocabulary skills worksheet, students correct the grammatical mistakes in 10 sentences, fill in the blanks in a paragraph with the appropriate words, and write a paragraph that requires them to give advice.
Curated OER
October 25th Writing Prompt
In this daily writing prompt worksheet, students learn that Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881. Students draw a picture of their favorite place and then write a paragraph describing the place.
Curated OER
The Golden Rules of Story Writing
In this story writing skills worksheet, students consider 6 guidelines for authoring their own stories. Students use the guidelines as they write their own stories.
Curated OER
Story Writing Plan
In this story writing guidelines worksheet, students examine the 4 sets of considerations for writing stories. Students use the guidelines to write their own stories.
Curated OER
Organizational Patterns: Comparison and Contrast Writing
Middle schoolers write an essay comparing and contrasting their school experiences. Through guided practice, they create an outline of their elementary school experience and middle school experience. Using their outlines, students...
Curated OER
May 1st Writing Prompt
In this daily writing prompt worksheet, students learn that the first week of May is Teacher Appreciation Week. Students describe a great teacher.
Curated OER
May 2nd Writing Prompt
In this daily writing prompt worksheet, students learn that the first week in May is National Postcard Week. Students create their own postcard to celebrate the week.
Curated OER
May 19th Writing Prompt
For this daily writing prompt worksheet, students reflect on Mother's Day and sharpen their writing skills as they write a paragraph using 1 of the 4 sentence starters provided.
Curated OER
School-Home Links: Writing Paragraphs
In this multi-paragraph writing worksheet, students write a story about their kitchen. In the first paragraph they write about the way the kitchen looks. The second paragraph students write about what they do in the kitchen. The third...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Thank You, Mr. Falker: Identifying the Superpowers of Reading
Third graders read excepts from the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker in order to gain practice in understanding an unfamiliar story by focusing on the details. They use a worksheet, embedded in the plan, which directs them to certain...
Curated OER
Picture It-Robot Writing!
Fifth graders use their listening skills to sketch draft pictures of robots described in paragraphs read by their teacher. They transfer their robot sketches to word processing documents using software drawing tools.
Curated OER
Descriptive Paragraphs
Third graders gain the necessary skills to write a descriptive paragraph. They see the evaluation and decision making process that are used in good wriitng. The bible is used to see illustrations and then used to paint a picture in...
Curated OER
Creative Writing Using the Senses
Fifth graders, utilizing a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meanings, eat a sweet treat and then list eight different adjectives for each of the five senses. They then describe a sweet with at least then adjectives...