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Writing
DLTK

St. Patrick's Day Creative Writing Prompt

For Students 2nd - 4th Standards
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day and encourage creativity with a writing prompt. Young scholars to compose a narrative that details what they would keep at the end of a rainbow.
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Writing
DLTK

St. Patrick's Day Creative Writing Prompt #2

For Students 2nd - 4th Standards
Make narrative writing festive with a St. Patrick's Day-themed writing prompt! Sscholars provide a detailed account of Sean the Leprechaun and an amazing event that happened to him on a joyful spring morning.   
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Lesson Plan
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The New York Times

Looking for Answers: Making Sense of the Boston Marathon Bombing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How should America respond to acts of domestic terrorism? What motivates or prompts a terrorist attack? After reading an opinion piece on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, your learners will critically analyze factors that could have...
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Writing
Curated OER

Did You Know?

For Students 1st - 3rd Standards
What would happen if you woke up one day and had become a housefly? What kinds of things would you do? Use the facts at the top of a worksheet to write a paragraph or short story about being a housefly.
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Lesson Plan
Channel Islands Film

Telling Your Own Story

For Students 4th - 6th Standards
After watching and discussing a video on the Voyage of Cabrillo, individuals craft their own origin story and design and build an artifact they feel best represents their history.
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Writing
Writer’s Digest Books

The Writing Prompt Boot Camp

For Students 11th - Higher Ed
Fourteen days of writing prompts (or 16 if you count the two bonus days) are featured in packet designed for high school, college level, or adult writers.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science Fiction Stories

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students review the story writing process and the elements such as prewriting, drafting, editing, revising, publishing, and assessment. Next students write a science fiction story that contains a title, the requested number of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making a Magical Story

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students create their own magical story. In this story writing lesson, students listen to the story The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe b C.S. Lewis to find the basic elements of a story. They come up with their own magical characters,...
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Activity
Novelinks

The Martian Chronicles: Response Writing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Follow the format of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with a journal-writing activity. Readers choose a character and examine the character's life and circumstances through brainstorming, research, and discussion before writing a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Do Authors Use Imagery to Shape Their Writing?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Esther Forbes' award-winning Revolutionary War novel, Johnny Tremain and excerpts from Julie Otsuka's When the Emperor Was Divine are used to model how imagery brings alive the setting of a story. The young writers then craft their own...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Once Upon A Math Story

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students write a math story.  In this math operations and writing lesson, students work in small groups to brainstorm ideas for a math story, write a rough draft, revise their story, edit their story and add clip art.  Students read...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Can I Write About When I Can't Think of Anything To Write About?

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders write, illustrate, and publish a collaborative story. In this writing lesson, 3rd graders review story elements by reading stories written by professional authors and other students. They work in groups to write a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Elements of a Short Story (SMART Board)

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders view a PowerPoint presentation about short story elements. They complete a plot diagram using a previously read short story. Students brainstorm events in the story. They discuss the difference between major and less...
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Cinquain Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
A lesson challenges scholars to create a cinquain poem. Writers begin by choosing a topic and brainstorm details, then compose their original poem making sure to count syllables. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Write a Number Story

For Teachers K - 5th
Students view number stories at a website and write their own. They insert a drawing and the text of their number story using a software such as PowerPoint to create a presentation for the class and parents.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Google Search Story

For Teachers 6th
After searching Google for YouTube videos, pupils will create a Google Search Story. The process of creating these stories will provide practice using narrative elements such as, plot, characters, setting, and conflict. Note: Resource...
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Lesson Plan
National Council of Teachers of English

Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme

For Teachers K - 2nd Standards
Young scholars write rhyming poems using rebus. With pictures instead of words, authors create original work about things they love. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Scrambled Stories

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Silly Story Starters

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders brainstorm some ideas for each of the columns. As they call them out, write some on the sticky notes until each sticky note is used for each column They stay in the same groups; have each group draw one sticky note from...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Elements of a Short Story (SMARTboard)

For Teachers 7th - 8th
TV for homework? Your pupils' dreams have come true! After reading Sandra Cisneros's "Eleven," they analyze the elements of the story, particularly the plot and and climax. The lesson plan could work with any short story that you are...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan 7: The Elements of Story

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Budding novelists work on character development by relating to the characters in their stories. They imagine their own hopes and dreams and recall those of characters from books they've read. Learners also consider struggles the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Critical Thinking & Writing: Brainstorming

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Have your young writers organize their thoughts before writing. They generate ideas through various brainstorming activities prior to writing a mock feature news story for USA Today. A series of USA Today articles debating the level of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Telling A Story

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Young scholars brainstorm all the possible scenarios that would help them tell a story in detail with the whole class and with partners. They create web outlines to create a name story and then illustrate it with creative grammar usage...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Peace Brainstorming Activity

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners study the topic of peace and use brainstorming techniques to create a clustering diagram. In this peace brainstorming activity, students organize brainstorming material to complete a writing assignment. Learners create their own...