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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.
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I Nominate My Friend
Students review letter writing skills and the use of descriptive language, and practice writing persuasive letters, with help from teacher and peers. Letters are then written to nominate friend for Friend of the Year.
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Persuasive Letter Presenting the Case For Meeting the Need
Eighth graders choose from various works of literature, and participate in many activities regarding their chosen book. Students write persuasive papers and oral presentations discussing the needs of others.
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My Name Is Me!
Students write about themselves. In this personal writing lesson, students write their name vertically down a sheet of paper and think of a self descriptive word that matches each letter of their name. Students write a descriptive...
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Photo Essay
Students examine the process of writing a photo essay. They examine and select a personal photo or photo from a magazine, and brainstorm a story that can go with the photo. They identify an emotion to go with their picture, then write...
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Mouthwatering Adjectives!
Third graders write descriptions of food items in order to create a restaurant menu. They use adjectives to describe mouth-watering and vivid food and compare it to a boring adjective-lacking menu. They design and share their menus with...
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Sensory Descriptors
Students feel items in a bucket and describe them using descriptive words. In this sensory descriptive lesson plan, students use words such as smoothe, rough, and bumpy.
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Varied Word Choice
Fifth graders examine how to use a variety of word choices when writing. They discuss how using more descriptive words leads to a more varied word choice, watch a teacher-created PowerPoint presentation, and using a Thesaurus replace...
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Picture Me with Words
Students search in newspapers for words that describe them or what they like. They gather the words and use them to create a self-portrait. They read "boring" sentences and rewrite them using more descriptive words. They write 10 word...
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Listen to Grandfather - Say and Write Korean Words
Students create a calligraphy piece using Korean words. They use han'gul script and write with a brush after learning the words. They pay attention to line and space as they create their work of art.
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How Does Meiosis Lead To a Fetus?
Students discuss the stages of meiosis. In this life science lesson, students create an illustration of each stages. They write a short story about a character that went through meiosis.
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Write All About It
Fourth graders use research skills and the writing process to create a newspaper. Although students work in groups to complete the final draft of the newspaper, each student is responsible for doing his or her own research and writing...
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Change Over Time
Learners write a personal narrative that is designed to help them reflect on the nature and meaning of change in their lives.
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Why Transition?
Help your class transition into better writers with this lesson, which guides them through the process of adding transitions to increase sentence fluency and organization. The activity is designed for a classroom with a SMART board, but...
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Breaking News
Learners organize a newspaper article using a worksheet that helps them study the vocabulary of news articles. They write newspaper articles about mythical creatures invading contemporary Los Angeles.
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Mi Perro Perdido (My Lost Dog)
Students receive a map of the school and a set of directions in Spanish for each pair that lead them to a specific place on campus. They use the directions and maps to leads them to pieces of colored paper that have been hidden. Each...
Novelinks
The Cure: Guided Imagery
Prepare class members for a discussion of Sonia Levitin's dystopian novel The Cure, by leading them on a guided imagery exercise designed to encourage visualization of written descriptions.
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Plagarism and Crediting Sources
Before the activity begins, the teacher writes a paragraph about a favorite toy from his/her childhood. The paragraph is read to the class, and each of the sentences are closely looked at for details and support of the topic sentence....
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Arthur and His Pals
Arthur, the main character in Marc Brown’s books, is the star of this lesson. Pairs of researchers select one character from the Arthur series and use the internet to access Brown’s web site and learn more about their chosen character....
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Egg Hunt Reinforces Math, Language Skills
It's amazing what you can do to reinforce math skills while leading an egg hunt! Learners of all ages will benefit from playing this simple game.
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Meet the Corps of Discovery
Students assume the persona of one of the members of Lewis and Clark's expedition team. They research a member of the expedition team, write a first-person introduction of that team member, and share that introduction in a 2-3 minute...
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Prequel to Antigone
Trying to find a way to begin your Antigone unit? Use this lesson plan to introduce your class to the background of Oedipus and Antigone, as well as the historical context. They view a PowerPoint presentation about Oedipus and the story...
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The Dust Bowl: Out of the Dust
Is your class going to read the novel, Out of the Dust? If so, you can prep them with a presentation that provides both images of the Dust Bowl and quotes from the book. Tip: Have learners use the images to compose descriptive...
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Smoking Danger Demonstration
Students watch a demonstration to show the harmful effects of smoking. During the demonstration, they discover how tar and nicotine attaches itself to the lungs. They write a brief summary of the demo and what information they gathered...