Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Teaching Expository & Persuasive Texts: Writing Expository Essays
In an expository essay, a type of informational text, the writer clarifies or explains something by using facts, details, and examples in a clear and concise way. To write an effective expository essay, students need a basic...
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Crayons and Cuties in Kindergarten: Launching Persuasive Writing in Kindergarten
A kindergarten teacher shares how she introduced persuasive writing in her classroom. After a discussion about "problems" that need to be fixed in their school, the class decided they wanted to write the principal a persuasive letter...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Visiting Relatives Prompt
This review discusses Ralph Fletcher's book entitled Marshfield Dreams and Cynthia Rylant's book called The Relatives Came. The author suggests that these books be used as mentor texts. In the suggested activity, learners will engage in...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Summarizing Mathematical Learning With the Important Book
In this lesson, The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown is used as a mentor text. Students will create an illustrated paragraph about a particular math topic. Students will use the mentor text and attempt to adapt the author's style to...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Bird Verb Poems
In this lesson plan, the mentor text entitled Birds, written by Kevin Henkes, is used. Learners will do the art link included on the site first. Then students will work as a class to record verbs found in the mentor text. Then learners...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Serendipitous Crazy Illustrations
For this lesson, Flotsam, written by David Wiesner, is used as a mentor text. Students will analyze the author's use of crazy illustrations and word choices. Students will then use a game on this web site where they will click to...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Self Portraits: "I Come From" Poems
In this lesson, When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant Mentor and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox are used as mentor texts to help students realize what are important in the characters' lives and in their own...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Complex Pirate Sentences
In this lesson plan, Melinda Long's picture book entitled How I Became a Pirate is used as the mentor text. Students will record their favorite complex sentences from the text and share them. Students will also use interactive buttons to...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Three Voice Important Book Passages
A lesson plan made for young scholars to write from various perspectives regarding the same topic. The mentor text entitled The Important Book is used, as students become more familiar with voice, point of view, persuasive techniques and...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Writing to Your Favorite Author
In this lesson, the book Dear Mr. Henshaw, written by Beverly Cleary, is used as a mentor text. Each student will generate a list of questions for his/her favorite author. Then each student will write a letter to the favorite author and...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Perfect Day With Scaredy Squirrel
In this lesson, the mentor text entitled Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt is used to get students thinking about how they spend their days. Then students will write the hour and minute hands on blank clocks and will writing complete...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Writing for Math Class: Follow the Path of Five Dollars
For this lesson, Pat Brisson's book Benny's Pennies is used as a mentor text. Students will discover ways to spend money that meets specific criteria. Students must explain their process for their spending choices, and then they must...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Voice Building Poetry Lesson: Comparison & Contrast Poems
In this lesson, students examine multiple mentor texts to help drive them toward the final persuasive writing assignment: comparison and contrast poems written from a parent and a child's perspective. A short story, two poems, and a song...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: I Pod Inspired Writing Lessons: I Say to You Today I Have a Dream!
Inspired by MLK's passionate "I Have a Dream Speech," the mentor text "Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.", by Doreen Rappaport, and U2's Pride (In the Name of Love)", students will write speeches that detail...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: If You Give a Student an Animal
For this lesson plan, the book If You Give a Moose a Muffin, written by Laura Numeroff, is used as a mentor text for word choice. The content focus of the lesson is to teach the students to take ownership of scientific and descriptive...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Unique Metaphor Collections
In this instructional activity, the first chapter of the novel Girl with a Pearl Earring is used as a mentor text. Students will identify metaphors and then create their own unique metaphorical descriptions that they will begin to...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Serendipitous & Interesting Story Titles
In this lesson plan, The Paper Bag Princess, a book written by Robert Munsch, is used as a mentor text. Young scholars will reflect on how nouns can sometimes be used as interesting adjectives. Students will collect these ideas in their...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Story Starting Participles
In this lesson plan, Roni Schotter's picture book entitled The Boy Who Loved Words is used as the mentor text. This Language Arts Common Core Standards-aligned lesson plan pre-writing task engages young scholars in writing a collection...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Argue Better Than a Pigeon
In this activity, the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems is used as a mentor text. Students will learn how to evaluate the validity of a mathematical argument. Students will practice writing and revising their own...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Personified Number Stories
In this lesson, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is used as the mentor text. Students will explore numbers and the properties of these numbers. Students will then write a math story, using the explored numbers, and incorporate...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Smart Math and Writing
In this lesson, the poem "Smart" from Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein, is used as the mentor text. Students will write a map of the poem and then analyze it to discover what happened when trades with money were made and...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Requesting a Task Force to Prevent Child Endangerment
In this lesson, Roald Dahl's book The Witches is used as a mentor text. Students will attempt to save themselves and the other children. Students will analyze real population statistics from world-wide and details from the story to...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Rain Drop Shape Poem
This lesson plan uses the mentor text by Wendy Cheyette Lewison entitled Raindrop, Plop! This lesson plan, which has a focus on word choice, engages students in brainstorming descriptive words and phrases about raindrops. At the end of...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Snowball Note Making and Summarizing
In this lesson, students will engage in this post-reading strategy for a nonfiction or a fiction piece. Each student will take notes on a four-square square graphic organizer about something they already knew, something they found...