Use this cross-curricular history lesson plan to work on your learners' informational writing skills. After listening to songs and stories related to Sultana, they engage in a several activities to boost their understanding of slavery...

Eighth graders study persuasive writing. They analzye an editorial for introductory,body, and concluding sentences. They develop arguments for and against various topics in small groups.

Reading, writing, and rings! A lesson from NASA combines space science with authentic reading and writing tasks. Included in this lesson are pre-reading activities, four mini informational booklets on Saturn, a structured...

HIgh schoolers respond to a persuasive article on using animal research. In this english activity, writers listen to a conversation, and discuss the point of arguments. They write a critique on a certain film and share it with their...

What is the missing link? Provide your class with this incomplete essay (it's missing transition words), and have writers place words from the transition word bank into the essay. Also, since only three of the five paragraphs are...

Elementary learners explore language arts by completing a text identification activity. They discuss the importance of a main idea in a story or paper and how to present it properly. Then they practice identifying the main idea in sample...

Young readers work on evaluating claims in a piece of informational text with the article "In New York, It's Open Bag or Find Exits" from the New York Times. They analyze current search procedures implemented to fight terrorism...

Get your class to use the scientific process to solve a scientific problem. They utilize the Natural Inquirer magazine to identify a research question which they write an introduction to and collect data to answer. They use graphs,...

Consider the possibility of a new U.S. draft with this instructional activity, which encourages class debate and persuasive arguments. Middle and high schoolers discuss how such a draft might be enacted and how they would feel about it....

Creative kids read, discuss, play-act, and sketch to examine the cultural significance of Old Man Coyote. They listen to several stories involving Coyote, analyze the Harry Fonseca painting Shuffle Off to Buffalo, and write Coyote...

Students conduct research on the Challenger Mission, develop written press releases and prepare a Press Conference skit. In this Public Speaking & Informative writing lesson, students research the Challenger Mission and prepare...

Use hypertext to make a multimedia choose-your-own adventure story! Young writers incorporate knowledge of story writing elements to write their own stories, and rewrite the adventure with various scenarios and endings. Use technology to...

Continuing from a previous lesson on how to read and analyze proposed legislation on election ballots, your class members will now practice writing up their own proposals for a new school rule or local ordinance that will be...

Students explore language arts by writing their own poems. In this haiku lesson, students investigate the Japanese culture and their beautiful music, poetry and art. Students count the syllables in every line of a haiku poem and write...

Groups of learners investigate the persuasive genre of writing as they research and present on an issue. They research the Internet (possible websites are included) for a topic and locate information to present to the opposing team. In...

Discuss the lives of artists in the Lyme Art Colony in the 1900s with this resource. Young historians write and perform a short scene depicting individuals who lived in the Griswold boardinghouse, used by the colony artists. They use the...

Learners review the facts of the court case Brown v. Board of Education. Next, they research recent court cases that uphold contrasting views on the landmark decision. They write opinions about these recent court cases from a 1954...

Play a vocabulary game with words from an article about Savion Glover's contribution to the film "Happy Feet." Then, small groups of students design and create original movie advertisements using vivid vocabulary to give Glover the...

The class explores and debates, from multiple perspectives, a petition to allow Hopi Indians to take golden eagle hatchlings from a federal wildlife sanctuary for use in a religious ceremony. Pupils defend their personal views on the...

Scholars write letters as if they were someone who heard the story of John Brown's raid. The resource, a standalone, covers information from primary sources that is important to West Virginian history: the Harpers Ferry Letters.

Different currencies, multiple armies, unreliable protection from thieves: class members experience these challenges playing a game that demonstrates life under the Articles of Confederation. After playing the game—which takes them on a...

This scripted lesson suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and rubric are...

Students practice persuasive writing by creating a travel brochure.  In this creative writing instructional activity, students research a popular tourist destination they would like to visit and create a brochure enticing readers to...

Students discover writing strategies authors use to enhance characters.  In this character writing lesson, students are read the Knuffle Bunny books by Mo Willems and analyze the story, characters and settings as they listen....