- A
Photo Essay- Complete a photo essay as a creative activity by using
photos, magazine pictures or drawings to illustrate a story.
- A Picture
is Worth a Fantastic Story- Students select one of the photographs
they have taken of friends, pets, parents or objects and write a story.
The photos provide visual prompts and a supportive framework for their
writing.
- Action!-
This is a game designed to help students recognize and demonstrate action
words.
- Adjective
Chains- Students will use a hands-on activity to learn vocabulary
and adjective use.
- Adopt
a Manatee- In this writing activity, students learn about manatees
and use e-mail to contact representatives about important issues.
- Adverbily-
There are no manipulatives to reinforce the language arts curriculum.
Creative dramatics is a method of providing practice in the curriculum.
- All
Aboard- Students will engage in story mapping and identification
of the various elements of a story.
- All
About Myself- The students will be able to state and illustrate
their special qualities.
- Alphabetical
Autobiography- Students write a 26-page alphabetical autobiography,
in the format of an elementary school alphabet book. "A is for Alabama.
I was born in Alabama, and . "
- Ample
Apples- Students make observations about the growing process of
an apple tree. They complete expository writing and draw illustrations
in a student writing book. This lesson includes a cooking activity.
- An
Apple for Your Thoughts- Students learn to write descriptive paragraphs
that include specific details and ideas.
- Ancient
Egypt- Students will integrate the knowledge and skills acquired
from Social Studies and Language Arts through literature and written
language.
- Appetizing
Adjectives- Have students redesign a restaurant menu. The students
will use adjectives to make the menus more appetzing.
- Auto-Bio
Poem- It this lesson, the writer analyzes self to provide an introduction
to the rest of the class.
- Basic
Grammar Review- The purpose of this activity, used at the beginning
of the year is to help students identify where they are weak in their
grammar skills (in a fun fashion). From there, the teacher can choose
to emphasize the various areas of grammar that need to be strengthened.
- Be
a Celebrity and Share Your Life with Us- Students become class celebrities
by writing their own autobiographies and by sharing them with the public,
the class.
- Become
a Logophile- The purpose is to provide a variety of pre-writing
activities which will encourage students to manipulate, explore, discover
and fall in love with words.
- Biography
Maker, The- 4 steps to making a successful biography.
- Book
of Virtues- Student will write and illustrate a 10 chapter book.
Each chapter will describe a virtue using one of the types of writing
required by the State of California for Fifth Grade.
- Busy
as a Bee- The purpose of this activity is to expose students to
similes and how they can be used in writing. This activity will allow
students to "write" their own similes without the pressure that is often
found when we ask students to write for us.
- Capitalization
and Basic Punctuation Workbook
- Cause
and Effect- The students will be able to write their own sentences
using cause and effect.
- Children
Using Antonyms to Write Short Stories- Children will write short
stories about themselves using antonyms and comparisons of themselves
to animals. By the end of the lesson children will understand the meaning
of antonym and will have enhanced their writing abilities.
- Class
Directory- A class directory is a booklet of stories written by
the students in a given class about other students in the class. By
doing this project, students become better acquainted and bond as a
class.
- Collaborative
Compositions- This is the final lesson in an expository writing
unit. Students are set loose to develop, draft, and elucidate information
for a research topic. Students work collaboratively to write a paper
as practice for the final task of writing their own papers.
- Comic
Strip Challenge- Students learn that stories have a beginning,
middle, and end.
- Composing
An Autobiography Using A Web- Students will understand the process
of writing an autobiography through a web layout.
- Conducting Research to Write an Expository
Paper on Survival- Students will create written work that has a
clear focus, sufficient detail, coherent organization, effective use
of voice, and correct use of the conventions of written and Standard
American English.
- Constructing
Meaning by Drawing Pictures- The learner will sketch a picture to
represent their understanding of the key concepts.
- Crazy
Critters Creative Writing Assignment- During the Crazy Critters
creative writing assignment, students develop characters that take part
in a narrative involving creatures that reside in a student’s imagination.
- Create
a Newspaper- Students use what they already know to acquire new
knowledge, develop new skills, or interpret new experiences.
- Create
a Story- To increase creativity from "piggybacking" on ideas from
others.
- Create
your own grammar exercise- The purpose of this lesson is to help
students realize the importance of adj., adv., prep., and verbs.
- Creating
a Formal Outline- Students will be able to construct a formal topic
outline, using rules of grammar and procedures that will be used to
create outlines for research papers.
- Creative
Writing- This activity encourages students to be creative in their
own writing, as well as being critical and analytical of another's.
- Creative
Writing- To develop creative writing skills through use of newspaper
photos.
- Creative
Writing- To create a classroom journal combining creative writing
and graphics.
- Creative
Writing- Students will know the importance of giving to those around
them in school.
- Creative
Writing Using Comics- To use comics to foster creative writing and
vocabulary skills.
- Dear
Teacher- After reading [Dear Mr. Blueberry], a book by Simon James
that models letter writing, students write their own letters to their
teacher.
- Descriptive
Writing- The students will be able to use their senses to write
a descriptive paragraph.
- Expository
Writing- The students will utilize the information they learned
in the introduction and begin implementing that information as they
classify different forms of expository writing.
- Expressing
Literary Ideas with Technology- Students use a variety of technological
and information resources (e.g. databases, computer networks, video)
to gather and synthesize information to create and communicate knowledge.
- Fables-
This lesson encourages students to consider a moral and a central theme
in authoring a fable for elementary school students.
- Fairy
Tale Journey- In this creative writing process, the student will
assume the role of the main character in the fairy tale. The student
will use fantasy to change the ending of a familiar fairy tale.
- Feelings-
A reading and writing lesson for individual small group instruction
where students use personal experiences to describe five different feelings.
- Folk
Tales- Students will familiarize themselves with folktales from
other countries and will engage in the disscussion of the characteristics
of a folktale, and making comparsions between life in Finland and the
United States.
- Formal
Outlining- Uses the direct instruction model to teach or review
the rules for creating an effective topic outline - useful before beginning
a research paper or analytical essay.
- Grammar
Review: My Favorite Author- Each student will combine this knowledge
with tools from grammar review and will compose a well-written report
about a book he/she has read, or he/she may choose to present a mini-play
with other students or a solo presentation of Herman Melville's Moby
Dick.
- Hershey
Kiss Discovery- Students use their imagination and writing skills
to describe the appearance, feel, smell, and taste of a Hershey Kiss
while pretending they don't know what chocolate is.
- Holiday
Books- To write, illustrate, and publish a book fora specific audience.
- Horrid
Homonyms- This activity forces students to think about the specific
definitions of commonly misused words and to use them correctly in sentences.
- How
to Write a Biopoem- The students will write a biopoem following
the structure provided in class, but will have creativity control. The
finished poem will be posted on boy or girl patterns drawn and colored
to look like each student by each student.
- Journal
Writing- Journal entries should be written on a regular basis. When
there are perceived or real periods of stress or other changes they
often will help the teacher get a feel for what is going on.
- Just
Sandwiches- . This lesson will ask students to design sandwiches
for all meals, courses, and occasions.
- "Knoxville,
Tennessee" Poem Model- To write a poem of their own creation, using
Giovanni's as a model.
- Knowing
Ourselves and Others Through Poetry- Getting to know students and
getting them to know themselves through writing.
- Learning
Guide Lesson Plan- The purpose of this learning guide is to reinforce
the writing process and to teach good proofreading skills.
- Learning
Synonyms and Antonyms in Pairs- In this lesson students will work
cooperatively to learn about synonyms and antonyms and how to use them.
They will do this by matching word cards that have the same meaning
and word cards with different meanings and using the words in sentences.
- Lemon
Writing- After completing this lesson, students will be able to
produce a short fictional "autobiography" using their imagination and
sensory details.
- Like
the Back of my Hand- The purpose of this exercise is to introduce
students to writing for fun.
- Morning
Letter/Syllables and Punctuation- The content of the morning letter
is related to content objectives to be taught that day, special events,
or changes in classroom procedures. The text of the letter is then used
to study specific language arts skills.
- Ms.
Smith's Writing and Grammar Resources- Guides and links to help
students become better writers.
- My
Pyramid: Preparing for a Journey- The students will write a three
paragraph paper describing the treasures they would stock in their pyramid
and explaining why their Ka would want and/or need these items on its
journey.
- My
Year With...- Students in English classes will research the life
and works of an author and relate their findings to their classmates
in a fun and interesting way.
- Narrative
Writing Lesson- Students will incorporate software tools to enhance
writing and problem solving skills.
- Nursery
Rhyme Mania- To learn nursery rhymes through many creative activities.
- On
Being a Successful Learner:Setting Goals- Often, today's high school
students struggle with daily school work because they have not clearly
established short and long term goals. This lesson will help them to
develop personal goals that will bring greater focus to their daily
activities.
- Once
Upon A Time- This writing activity uses the fairy tale structure
to demonstrate all of the elements of a short story.
- One
Describes Both- Collaborative team activity for grade 2 and above
designed to reinforce understanding and usage of adjectives.
- Paragraph
Reconstruction- Students will cooperatively work together to reconstruct
and agree on a proper paragraph, using sentence strips with the correct
topic, detail, and concluding sentences. These will be in proper order.
- Pen
Pals- Students will engage in a continuing pen-pal project within
the school. This project is a collaborative effort between teachers
within the school and shall continue throughout the entire school year
or for an agreed amount of time (i.e.; for 1 quarter only).
- Persuasive
writing in informal letters- Students will be able to write a short
personal letter with a logically organized sequence, broken into paragraphs.
- Photograph
Lesson- This lesson can be used with grades six and up. I have used
it with sixth graders as well as adults. The lesson assumes the Writing
Project is being used in the classroom, ie. students have writing folders,
write everyday, and are accustomed to the teacher writing with them.
- Pig
Endings- Students will demonstrate the elements of fairy tale genre.
- Planning
a Trip- The students will be planning an itinerary or brochure for
a trip to a place of their choice.
- Poetry
Pebbles- Lesson on poem writing.
- Prepare
Me for the Horror: The Feminist Way- Students will create their
own feminist interpretation of the text with my guidance.
- Read-In-
Students, coming together for an education, need opportunitiesto develop
relationships and understanding of other students. This project covers
many language arts concepts and skills at each learner's level of competency.
- Sequencing
Lesson Plan- This lesson provides a visual experience in which students
develop a better understanding of sequencing, while further developing
their writing skills.
- Story
Pops- Gives students a character setting and problem in which they
use to write a story.
- Student
Biographers- To Teach students how to be a biographer. This will
include what types of questions to have the biographee answer, and the
kinds of problems which biographers run into when on assignment.
- Successful
Paragraphs- As a result of this activity, the students will each
write a five-sentence paragraph with varied sentence beginnings, correct
spelling and punctuation, and appropriate margins.
- Summarizing
Techniques. Pronouns Revision Prefixes- Students will be able to
use techniques in their own summaries throughout the week.
- The
Business Letter- Students learn how to type a letter using word
processing program. Student write the letter in period one. Students
will type the letter in period two.
- The
Jolly Postman: improved by your students!- Students will use favorite
characters to write a document that is meaningful to them.
- The
Personal Touch: A Lesson In Expository Writing- In addition to providing
an opportunity to practice clarity and thoroughness in writing, students
are made aware of some of the subtle non-verbal messages in common social
situations involving hand touching.
- Town
Mouse Country Mouse: Recognizing Story Grammar- Using a Venn diagram
students will verbally compare and contrast the experiences of the country
mice and the town mice.
- Types
of Sentences- Students will write examples statements, questions,
commands and exclamations beginning with capital letters and punctuating
correctly.
- Unpack
Some Adjectives!- This lesson may be used as an introduction to
adjectives or to help further explore adjectives. It also gives the
students practice using adjectives to describe objects.
- What's
in a Name?- Students use a Web resource to transform their names
into many variations. Then they write a story about the variation they
select as their new name.
- Writing
W Poems- Students will discover a new way to write a poem, by using:
who; what; when; where; and why, to write their poems.
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