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The Personal Touch: a Lesson in Expository Writing
Shake hands with all of your class members, sending a different verbal message as you go along. Give them practice in expository writing by having them describe the handshake and how it makes them feel. This is an exploration of...
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Introductions and Conclusions
The format of the introduction and conclusion paragraphs in an expository essay are the focus of short presentation that details how to craft these all-important sections of a paper. No specific examples are included.
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More Details and Transitions
Provide young learners with the terrific transitions handout attached here. As a group, discuss the importance of putting ideas in an order that is easy to understand. Although this activity is designed to follow a writing activity from...
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Essay Project Syllabus
A traditional syllabus for a traditional expository writing course that produces the traditional five paragraph essay.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 2
After a peer review of their outlines, class members examine a model of an effective, engaging introduction and then craft the first draft of the introduction to their research paper.
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End of Unit 1 Assessment: On-Demand Analysis of a Human Rights Account
The last instructional activity in this unit about human rights consists of a final assessment. To demonstrate the skills your class has acquired throughout this unit, they will work with a new article entitled "From Kosovo to the United...
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Develop a Paragraph
In this paragraph writing activity, students review the definition of a paragraph and then read the opening sentences for a paragraph on cooking. Students cut out the sentence strips and arrange the sentences in the order of topic...
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Five Paragraph Essay
Eighth graders are introduced to the mechanics of writing a standard-form essay. They draft, edit and polish a five-paragraph essay about spending the day as an animal of their choice.
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What's Behind that Mask?
Students use a "spider web" graphic organizer to record information about different types of masks they are familiar with. They write a paragraph about masks. Students read about Native American cultures and compare/contrast the...
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Web It!
Looking for a way to bring prewriting into your informative writing unit? Use this lesson to reinforce writing skills in your eighth grade language arts class. Young writers use a web graphic organizer as a prewriting tool for expository...
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Build a Tasty Sandwich
The subject doesn't sound to interesting, but with a child's imagination even a trip to the store can be an adventure. The class writes a narrative story about a trip to the store. They organize their stories to include an introductory...
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Be a Celebrity and Share Your Life with Us
Sixth graders discuss their likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals, and special events in their lives. They write a five paragraph autobiography focusing on style, transitions, and details. This is well-suited for either explanatory or...
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Elaborate It
Students read writing samples and discuss the differences between the writing with and without anecdotal examples. They write expository essays that include personal anecdotes.
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Point of You
Sixth graders study point of view by rewriting an existing narrative paragraph (using a different point-of-view). They expand this knowledge by writing an expository paragraph, then rewriting it to reflect a different point-of-view.
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Expository Writing
Fourth graders create Inspirations webs with graphics, and write five paragraph essays.
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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,...
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Short and Sweet
Students examine how to summarize information from expository text. They read an expository text and identify the important information from the reading. Students identify the topic sentence and write their own topic sentences.
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Three Reasons Why I Want To Be...
Students investigate the process of writing an expository paper. The purpose of the paper is established in the introduction and the supporting details are sequenced in a logical order. The paper possesses punctuation and grammatical...
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Paragraph Elaboration and Examples
Learners discuss the importance of elaboration and supporting ideas in writing. They are given a prompt and must complete it using details and examples.
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Persuasive Letters and The Tell Tale Heart
Pupils write persuasive letters based on "The Tell Tale Heart." They brainstorm topic sentences, main ideas, and details. They analyze the character and determine if he is innocent or guilty. They create a map listing their reasons to...
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Organizing Ideas
Eighth graders investigate varous writing skills as part of larger course of study. The lesson is essentially a rough guide for conducting a class for writing. The main focus of the plan is organizing ideas using various strategies that...
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Swimming With the Crabs
For this expository writing worksheet, students read an article about crabs and a graphic organizer with crab facts. Students fill in a graphic organizer, including their specific topic about crabs and details to support their topic.
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Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...