How do you think the parrot in "The Ghost" chapter of Matilda feels in the chimney? Put a class member in the hot seat and have the class ask questions relating to how they might have felt if they were the parrot in the chimney....

Gulliver's Travels tells the story of a man who goes on voyages and encounters strange people. A unit plan introduces readers to the classic text, as well as excerpts from other examples of sarcasm and satire, such as "A Modest...

Bring a time machine into your classroom with this writing instructional activity, in which young writers project themselves back in time and have a variety of choices from that point forward. They either write a conversation with a...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words—and your pupils may agree after this instructional activity! They read a geometric description and create a diagram from that description. Their diagrams help them find unknown measures based...

Can you put that in writing? Scholars work with a partner to write a practice claim before writing their own claims. After writing their claims, learners share with class using a Concentric Circles activity.

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" Primary graders write about an animal that interests them, describing what it looks like, where it lives, and what it eats.

Obviously, four is the perfect number when you're playing Four Square. Scholars first use multiplication and division to solve a set of problems on the number of balls needed, the number of games, and the number of players required for a...

How do you know what traits a character displays in a story? Learners select a character and find list three traits for this character, explaining why they chose each trait. They then put this information together into a paragraph or essay.

Media often misrepresent data and statistics to their advantage. This lesson asks scholars to analyze an article with misleading statistics. They use margin of error and mean data in their studies. Once they complete their analysis,...

Can you name the job that involves scholars, classes, and grades? If you guessed teacher, you just won a round of Name That Job! The second lesson in a five-part college and career readiness unit has career seekers team up and go head to...

Water is an interesting substance that all living things need to survive. Learners focus on the characteristics of water as they create a list of words related to water and then incorporate them into descriptive paragraphs. They then use...

As part of their reading of Leslie Marmon Silko's "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit," class members analyze how the author develops her narrative through dialogue, description, and multiple plot lines.

If, then, Else is not only a basic programming language command, it is also the basis for conditional statements used in writing. Middle schoolers try to craft conditional statements with a card sort activity and then collaborate on a...

Fifth graders write a detailed description of a monster or alien they have created. They e-mail the description to another student, and the e-mail buddy draws the monster based on the descriptive writing.

Students explore the technique of descriptive writing. As a class, they observe a poster and describe it using adjectives. They discuss how descriptive words can be used literally and figuratively in the world of advertising. After...

Pupils create a visual organizer that describes different groups of vertebrates in this pre-writing activity. They view and discuss a video on descriptive writing and then form small groups to research vertebrate classes using the internet.

Students use observation skills to develop skills inc. They develop thinking skills and develop descriptive writing. They refine their thinking with concrete materials and make a collage that updates this mural to reflect current culture.

In this color and write learning exercise, students color indicated clothing items. All items are given a predetermined color. Finally, students draw a picture and write a description of their own clothing. This one page learning...

Students analyze the types of writing and answer questions about the writing genres. In this writing types instructional activity, students define and discuss the types of writing including expository, descriptive, persuasive, technical,...

For this writing descriptions worksheet, students write a description of the person pictured. Students write about her physical description and mood. Students then write 3 or more descriptions for students in their class.

Second graders write a friendly letter. In this instructional activity on letter writing, 2nd graders sing a song to teach them the five parts of a friendly letter. Then, they use what they have learned to write a descriptive letter to...

Students practice descriptive writing in a thank-you note format. In this descriptive writing instructional activity, students read the example letter and analyze the corrections in the letter. Students read the example thank you notes...

Students explore descriptive writing by eating food in class. In this descriptive word lesson, students assess different foods in class such as jelly beans and utilize their vocabulary to describe the taste. Students read the story...

Students examine a reading selection. In this descriptive writing lesson, students read an excerpt from "Hello! Anybody Out There?". Students discuss the idea of aliens living on other planets, describe what they think an alien looks...