Curated OER
Persuasive Letters and The Tell Tale Heart
Students write persuasive letters based on "The Tell Tale Heart." They brainstorm topic sentences, main ideas, and details. They analyze the character and determine if he is innocent or guilty. They create a map listing their reasons to...
Curated OER
Maize to Maquiladoras: Movement from Mexico to Arizona
Students label maps of Arizona and Mexico of the products that moved from one place to another. In this Arizona and Mexico lesson plan, students also summarize the effects of the movement on life in Arizona.
Curated OER
Report Writing in Primary Grades
Students listen and restate facts from a text. They gather and organize information as a class. They create a report and present it to their classmates.
Curated OER
Bears' House Vandalized, Witnesses Say Blonde Girl Spotted Fleeing from the Scene
Learners explore journalism. In this expository writing lesson, students read several newspaper articles and note common features. After reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Jan Brett, learners work with a partner to write a news...
Curated OER
What is an Expository
Young scholars explore what qualities an expository has. They identify qualities of an expository in TEAMs after each book has been read. They explain the definition of an expository and why we write them.
Curated OER
Making Real-Life Connections and Introducing Expository Text
Third graders write directions. For this real-life connections lesson, 3rd graders write the steps for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After writing, students share their papers and actually make the sandwiches following...
Curated OER
Researching and Writing About Another Country's Holiday: Documenting and Communicating Information
This lesson is a culminating lesson which follows students researching, collecting citations, evaluating and selecting text, graphic materials and visual aids. In this concluding lesson, 5th graders discuss the assessment task and how to...
Perkins School for the Blind
Tactile quilts that tell a story
Learners with multiple disabilities need to engage in projects that push them to know their full potential. They need to be able to express themselves in a variety of ways, and this very thoughtful lesson does just that. They make a...
Curated OER
Gandhi's Voice: Writing as Nonviolent Resistance
Ninth graders identify how Mahatma Gandhi used writing as a means of nonviolent communication. In this nonviolent resistance lesson, 9th graders watch a film about Gandhi as a writer and identify characteristics of nonviolent activism....
Curated OER
Greeting Card to A Character
Young scholars create a greeting card from one character to another after finishing a novel. Individually, they use their imagination to write the paragraph using the text to support their ideas. They share their greeting card with the...
Curated OER
How Do Storms Influence Our Lives?
Students investigate the various ways storms influence our lives. They conduct Internet research, identify the characteristics of different storms, plot storm coordinates, and write a report on a particular storm.
Virginia Department of Education
Deciding the Mode
Are your young writers having difficulty distinguishing between expository and persuasive writing? Discuss the difference between the two, and how some prompts can be responded to in either fashion. Included here is a simple lesson plan...
Curated OER
Who Am I? - Brainstorming
Students brainstorm lists of places, events and relationships that define them. They search for clip art and pictures in magazines to illustrate the items on their list and create a graphic timeline of their lives.
Curated OER
Video Biographies
Who was Alexander The Great? How did Abraham Lincoln’s early life influence his political life? Learners select a historical figure to use for video biography. After developing research questions and collecting information, pupils search...
Curated OER
Creating an Instructional Manual
Ninth graders create an instructional manual about using a mechanical device. In this technical writing instructional activity, 9th graders create a PowerPoint presentation that includes the step by step process of how to use the...
Curated OER
No Plagiarism, Please!
Third graders listen to a lecture on how to take notes and discuss the skills of paraphrasing and correctly citing resources. They prepare note cards according to the format presented in class.
Curated OER
Natural Resources and Ancient Cities
Students explain how the availability of natural resources has affected human settlement patterns. They recognize the interactions of human populations on environments and compare the growth of two ancient cities in relation to natural...
Curated OER
Cultural Ideas of Fashion
Students examine the role of fashion and adornment in society. They discover the factors that influence different types of clothing. They also discuss how clothing reveals cultural clues about a society.
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2
Identifying the theme or central idea of a text is a skill many young readers struggle with. It is also the second standard for reading literature in the Common Core. This resource, one from a series of Common Core lessons, can provide...
Curated OER
From Whose Perspective?
Students critically analyze news coverage of Palestinian-Israeli violence by comparing information from a variety of news sources. They compose expository essays reflecting on how to obtain accurate, unbiased, and credible information.
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Five Paragraph Essay
Eighth graders are introduced to the mechanics of writing a standard-form essay. They draft, edit and polish a five-paragraph essay about spending the day as an animal of their choice.
Curated OER
Develop a Paragraph
In this paragraph writing worksheet, students review the definition of a paragraph and then read the opening sentences for a paragraph on cooking. Students cut out the sentence strips and arrange the sentences in the order of topic...
Curated OER
Keywords: A Memorization Strategy
Here is a fabulous, five-page lesson plan on how keywords can help a reader with his/her reading comprehension. After a teacher-led discussion, pupils pair off with each other and work together to identify the main idea in a passage of...