Curated OER
Nonfiction Genre Mini-Unit: Persuasive Writing
Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.
Curated OER
Teacher Appreciation Week (Elementary)
Primary writers will create a persuasive essay about Teacher Appreciation Week. Additionally, they will select a quote from a famous person and write a persuasive essay about how it relates to one of their favorite teachers. In the end,...
Curated OER
Telling Our Stories of Giving - Writing to Persuade
After identifying the parts of a persuasive piece of writing, young writers explore different prewriting activities for the persuasive essay. They have the option to write a news article, personal narrative, or persuasive essay to...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing
Binoculars are used as a metaphor for good descriptive writing. Class members first view a small picture and then an enlarged view of the same image in which the details come into focus. Next, learners examine a paragraph lacking sensory...
Curated OER
Peer Editing for Expository Essay
You're class just finished writing an expository essay! Instead of having them do a self-edit, pair them up and give each person this guide. This is not your average peer editing checklist; it is a list of 35 things to look for in your...
New York State Education Department
Comprehensive English Examination: June 2015
Heroes rise from adversity. That theme forms the focus of the critical lens essay in a sample comprehensive English examination. The exam, which is part of a larger series of sample standardized tests, also includes two short response...
Curated OER
Put the Title of the Lesson Here
Eighth graders write a Compare and Contrast essay comparing the lives of similarly aged students at different Latitudes. They share their essays with epals, via e-mail. They may include digital photographs in their correspondence as well.
Homeschool Encouragement
Travel Printable for Kids
Help make children's vacations a little more meaningful with this collection of writing materials. Offering numerous writing paper templates, writing prompts, and coloring pages, this resource engages children in creating a written...
Museum of Tolerance
The Price of Personal Responsibility
A reading of Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention," Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" launch a discussion about the price one is willing to pay to...
Curated OER
Making the Personal Political
Students identify controversial topics on which they have strong opinions and model their own persuasive opinion pieces after the featured article. They compose persuasive essays on controversial issues that "hit home" for them.
EngageNY
Writing to Inform: Colonial Trades
Fourth graders who are studying life in colonial America engage in an instructional activity that has them create a "Help Wanted" ad that would have been written by a master craftsperson from back in the day. They utilize a graphic...
Curated OER
Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass, and American Non-Fiction
Students analyze American essayists Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass in an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing. In this essay history lesson, students identify methods for writing essays. Students read and analyze...
Curated OER
An Overview of the THEA Writing Test
Prepare your class for the Texas Higher Education Assessment (THEA) or any other upcoming writing test (such as the SAT) with this presentation. Complete with instructions on the composition and rubric of the test, as well as sample...
California Department of Education
Telling My Story
Crafting a personal statement for college admissions, job applications, or other post-high school programs does not have to be a nightmare. The "Telling My Story" packet describes the key components of successful essays and includes...
Curated OER
Creative God or Goddess
Who causes sinkholes? Or acid rain? High schoolers try their hand at myth-making as individuals create a god or goddess responsible for the modern-day phenomenon. They introduce their deity in an essay that reveals the name, parentage,...
College Board
2004 AP® English Language and Composition Free-Response Questions
Shall we agree to disagree? Scholars have the opportunity to choose a topic they feel is controversial in the world and express ideas about it. They complete essays that address the opposite views. In two other essays, they analyze a...
Curated OER
Women Call Out: The Personal Narrative
After reading and discussing several personal narratives written by women in the 1920's, class members write a personal narrative of their own about a time in their lives they felt controlled. Sample narratives can be accessed through...
Curated OER
Effective Writing is More Than a Five Paragraph Essay
Groups become experts in one aspect of the six traits of writing, prepare a PowerPoint presentation, jigsaw, and teach others about their trait. Writers then focus on these traits as they compose a persuasive essay about a person they...
Curated OER
Using Personal Pronouns Correctly
Complete personal pronoun practice activities. Pupils use correct personal pronoun form in sentences the teacher writes on the board. They review the function of a pronoun and the various cases and practice placing personal pronouns by...
Curated OER
Formal Writing Introduction
Give your class tips on formal writing. A paragraph format is outlined along with specifics for writing a conclusion sentence. A few transitions are listed to vary sentences and sentence structure. Pull this resource back out whenever...
Curated OER
Using Spatial Organization in Writing
In this using spatial organization in writing worksheet, students read the explanation of spatial organization, interactively explore a photograph, record their impressions, compare various impressions, then write an essay telling an...
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Personal Morals vs. Political Moves Document Based Essay
Was Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite? Tackle this question with primary source analysis and an essay. The packet includes historical background, a writing prompt, a combined outline and checklist, and ten primary documents paired with...
Curated OER
The Last Word: Using Critical Thinking and Analysis to Reach a Decision
Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...
Curated OER
How To Do an AHAP DBQ
How is an essay like a hamburger? Detailing the "meaty" parts of a well-written essay, this presentation takes students through the process of using a strong thesis statement to write a thorough and engaging response to a Document Based...