Tech Coach Corner
Mr. Indent
Mr. Indent will help your class learn how to indent paragraphs! He flies across the screen and punches the top line over, just to make sure it's clear when a new idea begins. An entertaining presentation with some practice for youngsters.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nature Walk: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 2)
Walking in nature is the theme of a unit designed to support English language development lessons. Scholars look, write, speak, and move to explore topics such as camping, woodland animals, instruments, bodies of water, things found at a...
Curated OER
Tangerine: Writing Assignment: Paul’s Witness Account
As a final assignment in a unit study of Edward Bloor's Tangerine, individuals assume the voice of Paul Fisher and craft the witness report Paul mentions in the final pages of the novel. A great way to assess the writer's understanding...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Around Town: Neighborhood and Community: Challenge Activities (Theme 3)
Here is a unit consisting of activities designed to challenge your scholars. The extended learning opportunities include planning a celebration, making a presentation to the class, poster making, writing poetry, a problem-solving...
Curated OER
Revision Techniques for Writing
How can you help your class improve their writing? Start by showing a student example on the overhead. Read through the paragraph in a think-aloud format, commenting on areas that need improvement. Then, as a class, work together to make...
Curated OER
A Day at the Beach: How to Keep Our Planet Clean
Students write a persuasive essay based on cleaning up the coast and other philanthropic values. For this writing lesson, students determine what is needed in order to keep the planet clean, and offer solutions to the International...
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
Basic Guide to Writing an Essay
Introducing your class to essay writing? The gentle tone, concise explanations, and clear examples provided by a 17-slide presentation introduces young writers to the expository essay format. All that's missing is a complete essay with...
Curated OER
Using Color as a Pre-Writing Tool
To better understand how to compose a clear and well-organized paper, learners read short passages, write summaries, and make colored graphic organizers. This is a fully developed three-day lesson with suggested assessments.
Novelinks
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Writing Strategy
How do your pupils believe others see them? Invite them to write narratives to explore the image they present to the word. The narratives, inspired by The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, are to be set at each pupil's hypothetical funeral.
Teacher Created Resources
Problem and Solution: By Jove, I Think You've Got It
Through grand conversation, help scholars identify issues that harm the Earth and find solutions on how to solve them. After voting—on what your class deems the most important problem—stretch writing muscles with a problem-solution essay...
Curated OER
Document-Based Essay on U.S. Reaction to North Korean Nuclear Policy
Students compose essays on nuclear policies. In this North Korea instructional activity, students examine political cartoons and primary documents regarding nuclear build-up by North Korea. Students write essays about North Korea's...
Curated OER
Introducing Synonyms to Early Writers
Upper elementary schoolers examine the concept of synonyms and how using a variety of vocabulary through synonyms can expand their writing skills. They revise a paragraph using synonyms located on the Visual Thesaurus and participate in...
EngageNY
Claim, Reasons, and Evidence: Planning the Body Paragraphs
Planning is the key to success. Scholars continue planning their essays by adding reasons to their Planning My Argument graphic organizers. Additionally, pupils analyze a body paragraph from a model position paper, identifying the...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment, Part 1: Drafting Body Paragraphs of an Essay to Inform
Anybody can write a body paragraph! Pupils analyze the development of ideas in a body paragraph from a model essay. Next, using what they've learned, they draft the body paragraphs of their My Rule to Live By informative essay.
EngageNY
Analyzing Text Structure: “Water Is Life” Paragraphs
Water, water everywhere. Readers revisit paragraphs six through nine in the article "Water is Life" to answer text-dependent questions. They then pair up to reread the article focusing on its structure and record their thoughts on...
EngageNY
Reviewing Conventions and Editing Peers’ Work
Encourage young writers to edit text based on conventions. After reviewing the conventions, fourth graders watch a teacher demonstrate how to revise a paragraph for correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or dialogue. Then, pairs...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 9
How do authors develop the main ideas in their writing? Pupils consider the question as they read and analyze paragraphs 27–31 from Julia Alvarez's essay "A Genetics of Justice," in which Alvarez describes her decision to become a...
Curated OER
All About Our Town
Pupils explore brochure writing. They work in groups to brainstorm and categorize important places in their community. In addition, they gather information from the Internet, take pictures using a digital camera, and create a community...
Curated OER
Hero or Tyrant: Connecting Beethoven’s Third Symphony to Napoleon, Part One
The second and third movements of the Eroica, Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, provides listeners with an opportunity to connect to French Revolution and to Napoleon Bonaparte. As they listen to the music, individuals draw what their ears...
University of North Carolina
Evidence
You can claim that soda rots people's teeth or that dinosaurs were actually birds, but your claim will not stand up if it is not backed by evidence. A handout from UNC Writing Center, the seventh in the Writing the Paper series of 24,...
Have Fun Teaching
Story Starters
Starting at the very beginning may be a very good place to start, but it can also be very difficult for emergent writers. Help them get started by providing them with a setting, a main character, and a basic plot.
Curated OER
Describing How to Get a Shop or Restaurant
In this descriptive paragraph worksheet, students first draw a map showing how to get to a location. Students then write sentences explaining how to get to a location using directional phrases. Students then write the sentences into a...
Curated OER
The 5 Paragraph Essay
The value in this PowerPoint about the five-paragraph expository essay comes from the clear explanations and specific examples provided to illustrate each aspect; however, a complete, model essay is not included. Beware the typos!