Standard Course of Study :: English Language Arts

Resources aligned to this objective

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Action Chains: Students learn to elaborate on an event in a narrative by expanding their sentences into action chains. Expanding single actions into an action chain provides the reader with a more detailed picture of an event in a narrative.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Adding Emotions to Your Story: One way to make stories even better is to show emotions, and not just tell them. In this lesson, students will use actions, gestures, and facial expressions to act out emotions.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Description as Mind Control: Using Details to Help Readers Visualize Your Story: Good writers help their readers visualize their stories by including vivid details. Students will listen to passages from Gary Paulsen's novel Hatchet, draw one of the images from the passage, and identify which details Paulsen uses to create these images.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

First Draft/Final Draft: Students will compare paragraphs with and without elaboration and descriptive details. They will learn how to revise their own writing by adding descriptive details such as adjectives, adverbs, concrete nouns, and precise verbs.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Getting Paragraphing Down P.A.T.: One way to remember when to indent and begin a new paragraph is when (P) the place changes, (A) the action changes, and (T) the time changes (P-A-T). In this lesson, students will learn how to identify appropriate places to indent new paragraphs in their writing.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Little Bit ? BIG BIT ? Little Bit: This lesson helps students who tend to jump right in and tell their entire story in the first few sentences and then struggle to complete their story. Students will learn to start and end their stories with just a "Little Bit" about the setup and closure of the story.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Plain Polly: Adding relevant details: This instructional technique creates a lasting visual image of how relevant details help develop a character and a focus. Students learn to add only details that are related to the main idea of a “Plain Polly” stick figure. These mascots serve as reminders to students to be selective with the details they use to support their main idea.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Show, Don't Tell: Using Action Words: To strengthen their writing and make it livelier, students will learn to use action words to show how their characters feel.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Slow Motion Replay: Students will learn to use slow motion replay of a moment in a narrative to make it easier for the reader to feel that he or she is actually experiencing the event.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

"So What?" Details: Students will learn that adding details to a piece of writing doesn't make it better if the details are "So What?" details. Details and elaboration should be related to the main idea and should move the story along in an interesting manner.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Spider Legs: This strategy for peer conferencing helps students learn to use "Spider Legs" to answer revision questions, and then insert the revised information into their drafts.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Stretch It Out: Good writers stretch out the important scenes in a story to make them more interesting to their readers. In this lesson, students will learn to stretch out a scene by adding things that they see, hear, think, and say to others.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

The Taste of Relevance: Students will learn the importance of selecting relevant details by picking the right toppings for an ice cream sundae. This activity gives the students a concrete visual memory of what good details are.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

All about our town: Using brochures to teach informational writing: In this lesson, students create brochures that explore their towns and the landmarks, symbols, and people that make them unique places to live. (Learn more); Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); Provider: IRA/NCTE

Dear Librarian: Writing a persuasive letter: Inspired by the actions in Beverly Cleary’s book Emily’s Runaway Imagination, in this lesson plan, students write to their school librarian, requesting that a specific text be added to the library collection. (Learn more); Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); Provider: IRA/NCTE

Demonstrating comprehension through journal writing: Students demonstrate comprehension by responding to open-ended questions based on the 1939 Newbery Honor chapter book, Mr. Popper's Penguins. (Learn more); Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); Provider: IRA/NCTE

How-to writing: Motivating students to write for a real purpose: In this lesson, students write “how-to” essays for a specific audience. (Learn more); Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts); Provider: IRA/NCTE

Our classroom: Writing an owner's manual: This lesson helps to establish a sense of community with students collaboratively writing an “owner’s manual” that describes expectations and guidelines for the classroom. (Learn more); Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); Provider: IRA/NCTE

Using picture books to teach plot development and conflict resolution: This lesson invites students to examine the craft of developing a story’s plot and resolution of a story’s conflict through focused experiences with picture books. (Learn more); Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts); Provider: IRA/NCTE

Using "Snowflake Bentley" as a framing text for multigenre writing: Using the Caldecott Medal winning picture book Snowflake Bentley as a model, students create multi-genre projects about winter. (Learn more); Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts); Provider: IRA/NCTE