Curated OER
The Voices Within Theirs and Mine
Students create new words to convey their thoughts. They find, list and discuss the poetic devices used by the poet in creating his or her war poem and create their own war poems. They use sensory perception words and memory in...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 1: Memoir - Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
The memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, is the focus of a unit designed for fourth graders. Scholars begin each lesson with a warm-up, then listen to a read-aloud of a section of the book. Pupils complete word work,...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing
Fifth graders develop compositions on self-selected topics. They choose a topic based upon their ability. Individual pupils earn points for each activity completed. Students use descriptive writing as they support their composition...
Curated OER
Multi-sensory Writing
Students use their senses to help describe special place they have been. They write short sensory-image essay that incorporate all five of their senses, and identify sensory language while reading different pieces of literature.
Curated OER
Accentuate the Expositive: Unit 2 Expository Writing
Learners analyze narrative passages in order to improve their writing skills. In this narrative writing instructional activity students use the same style of writing that they have analyzed in their own narrative passage.
Curated OER
The Best Season - Fill In the Blank
In this seasons worksheet, students use 5 words from a word bank or their own words to complete a paragraph about the seasons. They write an original sentence about their favorite season on the lines below the paragraph.
Curated OER
Breaking the Chains: Rising Out of Circumstances
Study history through photographs. In this visual arts and history lesson, students learn to analyze photographs to discover details about life during the Civil War era. Students write journal entries as if they are the African-American...
Curated OER
Personify This
Eighth graders study personification in published works of poetry, then create their own through the use of diamante or cinquain poetry. They read and discuss poetry by Shel Silverstein, William Jay Smith, and Elinor Wylie.
Curated OER
What's On Your Plate?
Young scholars explore the use of sensory details in writing. In this journal writing lesson plan, students write four journal entries after group discussion about a variety of topics such as their weekend, poverty in the United States,...
Curated OER
Fifteen Seconds of Fame
A reading of Panic in Paris launches a review of the elements of narrative writing. Class members work in groups to find narrative devices in the book and record their findings on a provided worksheet. Using the completed pages,...
Curated OER
The Personal Narrative - Part One
Read to write! The class lists sensory details based on the plot of a story they have recently read. They create a drawing of a bracelet and use the bracelet's jewels or charms to list sensory details included in the story. They then use...
Curated OER
Flying Freudian Fun: A Look At Ethical Decision Making
There are not many more apt examples of ethics gone awry than William Golding's Lord of the Flies.. Ninth graders focus the ethics of decision making with the examples provided in the plot. They focus on the...
Curated OER
Acoustic Poems
Young scholars explore acrostic poems. In this interactive poetry lesson, students visit the ReadWriteThink.org website to view characteristics and samples of acrostic poems. Young scholars develop acrostic poems by using the interactive...
Curated OER
Sense Poems
Students explore 5 senses poetry. In this poetry writing activity, students visualize a special day and brainstorm related vivid adjectives and phrases. Students create mindmaps of the five senses to go with their...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Soldier: Experiencing the Battle of Franklin
Fighting a war over home soil makes a living nightmare even more real. Class members describe the experience of a Civil War soldier during the Battle of Franklin, poised right at a major turning point of the war, after researching the...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: I Love You the Purplest (Joosse)
Use Barbara Joosse's heartwarming story I Love You the Purplest (which can be found on YouTube if you don't have it) to practice vocabulary in context with emerging readers. This sensory text is an excellent opportunity to...
Curated OER
Multi-Sensory Grammar - Adjectives
Third graders demonstrate knowledge of adjectives, and use this knowledge to color-code parts of speech of a sentence.
Curated OER
Writing Descriptions of "My Favorite Place"
Students write a descriptive writing piece. In this writing activity, students use a visualization exercise to add more descriptions to their writing.
Curated OER
Internet: Writing Friendly Letters Via Email
Students view a Powerpoint presentation on writing and sending email. After examining a Website about the parts of a friendly letter, they compose and send their own letters via email. Teachers set up an email/pen pal account so...
Curated OER
Color Poems
Learners describe colors. In this descriptive writing lesson, students brainstorm color descriptions using all of the senses except sight. Learners write poems including similes, sensory images, and interesting word choice. Examples are...
Curated OER
"Chinese in the Frontier West: An American Story"
Learners substantiate a generalization by providing supporting details. They apply visual and oral information to a piece of written work and formulate at least three generalizations they think may characterize the experience of...
Curated OER
Poetry Beyond Words: Creating Poetry with Linguistically Diverse Students
Models of and directions for how to write 20 different types of poems are featured in an NCTE resource. The introduction to each form highlights the embedded concepts. For example, tongue twisters encourage poets to use alliteration and...
Curated OER
Guided Imagery: Canyons, Chapter 8
Individuals use words or illustrate what they experience during a reading of a passage from chapter eight of Gary Paulsen's Canyons. Complete directions for the guided imagery exercise, and a suggested passage, are included with the...
Curated OER
Enhancing Poetry with American Memories
Students explore poetry using American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project. They compose their own unque "found poetry" based on the stories found in the collection.