EngageNY
Planning Writing: Making Notes for the Accessing Books Around the World Informative Paragraph
Encourage your young writers to thoughtfully plan and organize their work. First, model how this is done and vocalize your thought process as you work. Next, create a class list of strategies that they can use during independent writing...
Scholastic
Writing Letters to the Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets
To celebrate National Poetry Month, young writers focus on the role letter writing has played in the development of poets. They begin by journaling three to five associations to a writing prompt that requires them to identify their...
San Diego Unified School District
On-Demand Persuasive Writing Samples
Young writers complete a timed persuasive writing assignment in which they argue for a club they would like to see established at school, and are then provided with real student samples of responses.
Curated OER
Diary Writing
As part of their reading of Michael Morpurgo's novel Kensuke's Kingdom, young castaways create diary entries describing their own time left alone on an island.
Teacher's Corner
Couplet
This, the fourth in a series of ten poetry writing activities, asks young poets to craft couplets.
K12 Reader
Valentine’s Day: Someone I Like
Love is in the air! Young learners use the provided worksheet to identify someone they like, explain why, and then create an illustration to accompany their Valentine's Day tribute.
Novelinks
Walk Two Moons: Biopoem
Middle schoolers describe the characters of Walk Two Moons as they write biopoems. Following the pattern provided, young writers depict their chosen characters' traits and experiences to make their poems unique.
Education World
Take Five: Writing a Color-Coded Paragraph
Use a traffic light to model a very basic paragraph plan. The Go, or topic sentence, is written in green and expresses an opinion about the topic. Information that supports the opinion of the Go sentence is written in yellow and the...
Curated OER
Student Opinion: What Teacher Do You Appreciate?
This online resource is composed of a writing sample about teacher appreciation and a writing prompt for learners. You could use this as an in-class journal activity or you could have class members post their responses on the New...
All About Reading
Pirate Dictionary
Shiver me timbers, this here resource is a great way to teach young landlubbers to speak the language of the briny deep. Including over 30 different words and phrases, complete with definitions and guide words, this dictionary will...
Millard South Patriots
Trait Practice: Sentence Fluency
Do your young writers need a little help varying their sentence structure? Have them work on common errors, sentence fluency, and writing patterns with a series of language arts activities. The resource includes reading passages as well...
Curated OER
Creating a Newspaper
Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...
Centervention
What Makes Me Happy Today?
Here's a worksheet that will put sunshine on papers and smiles on the faces of young learners as they draw pictures and write a short explanation of what makes them happy today. A great way to show gratitude for the good things in life.
Curated OER
Keeping Yourself Organized During Writer's Workshop
Writer's Workshop can be a wonderful way to develop a classroom of authors.
Curated OER
Young Writer's Workshop Writing Prompt Worksheet- The Crocodile and the Bird
In this young writer's workshop worksheet, students respond to the following prompt; "The crocodile was enjoying the warm sunshine. The bird said..." They see a picture of a crocodile talking to at bird at the top of the page.
Curated OER
Young Writer's Workshop- Writing Prompt Worksheet- Rocks and Gems
In this young writer's workshop worksheet, students write a response to the prompt, "Tina looked at all the beautiful rocks and gems. She wanted to buy one for..."
Curated OER
Young Writer's Workshop- Writing Prompts- Dog Tricks
In this young writer's workshop worksheet, students write an open response essay in response to the prompt, "Kelly the dog liked to do tricks. She could..."
National Endowment for the Humanities
Anne Frank: Writer
Middle schoolers explore the writings of Anne Frank. They discuss how Anne did or did not change during her two years in the Secret Annex. Students take a stand on how much Anne has in common with contemporary young people.
Curated OER
Creating a Writer's Notebook
Writer's notebooks are a way to unleash the "author" in all your students.
Curated OER
Writing Short Stories: The Fun Way
Do your young authors suffer from writer's block when they try to write short stories? Access their natural creativity with C-Gor, the writing monster! The instructional activity takes aspiring authors through a new writing process...
EngageNY
Revising for Organization and Style: Bold Beginnings
Get young writers thinking about how to write a great beginning for their narratives. After examining examples of solid beginnings in literary text, young writers discuss the criteria for a compelling introduction. Then, independently,...
Education World
Black History Month Rap
Young scholars write a rap or hip-hop lyric about the life of a famous Black American. They explore famous Black Americans in history and explore how the rap form compares to other forms of poetic expression.
Curated OER
Encouraging Students to Embrace Their Inner Author
Everyone is a writer! Youngsters compose an original piece of writing. In this writing lesson, they come up with their own idea for a piece of writing, revise it, and then publish it with illustrations. This lesson includes three...
Scholastic
Quick as a Cricket Lesson Plan
Teaching young learners about similes is easy as pie with this primary grade language arts instructional activity. Following a class reading of the children's book, Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood, young readers learn the...