LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Goal 5

The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate effectively.

Objective 5.07

Edit (with assistance) to use conventions of written language and format.

Resources aligned to this objective

Mumbling Together
"Mumbling together" is a strategy students can use to edit their own writing and develop an ear for correct language. Students learn to proofread by reading their first drafts aloud to identify left-out words and other errors.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1–4 English Language Arts)
By DPI Writing Strategies.
Positively Poetry: Part 6
Students will be learning about and writing limericks. Since limericks follow a strict rhyming pattern and word count, the students will work in partners to create their own limericks.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Information Skills, English Language Arts, and Computer Technology Skills)
By Maribeth Warren, Pam Purifoy, and Tracy Dagenhart.
Postcards of the Past
Students will participate in Heritage Day activities that will enhance students' awareness of their heritage. They will take digital pictures of activities to include on a web page, and research and report on information gathered. Students will create a web page to present their information.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Information Skills, English Language Arts, and Social Studies)
By Karol Leaptrott, Rebecca Watt, and Regina Welsted.

Lesson plans on the web

3, 2, 1...Blast off! Vocabulary instruction using a virtual trip to the moon
Students learn new vocabulary by taking a virtual field trip to the moon. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 2–3 English Language Arts and Science)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
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
Comics in the classroom as an introduction to narrative structure
Students examine the plot and narrative structure of a story through the use of comic strip frames. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
The connection between poetry and music
In this lesson, students listen to poems read aloud and discuss the rhythm and sound of poetry. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Dancing minds and shouting smiles: Teaching personification through poetry
In this lesson, students learn about personification by reading and discussing poems by Emily Dickinson, William Blake, and Langston Hughes. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 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
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
Letter poems deliver: Experimenting with line breaks in poetry writing
Students transform narrative-style letters into poetry in this lesson that explores the poetic devices of rhythm, sound, meaning, and appearance. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 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
Peer edit with perfection: Teaching effective peer-editing strategies
In this lesson, students use a three-step peer-editing process that consists of compliments, suggestions, and corrections. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Powerful writing: Description in creating monster trading cards
Students create their own monster trading cards using "powerful," vivid language to describe their creatures. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Q is for duck: Using alphabet books with struggling writers
This lesson introduces pattern writing to students by challenging them to examine the structures of various alphabet books in order to create individual pages for a collaborative book project. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Shape poems: Writing extraordinary poems about ordinary objects
In this lesson, students use an online interactive tool to write shape poems about a familiar object. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Technical reading and writing using board games
In this activity, students work in small, collaborative groups to design original board games as a review for recently read novels. (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
Using web-based bookmarks to conduct Internet research
In this lesson, students mimic the poetic form of The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown and then use Internet bookmarks, created by the teacher, to research and write about a specific topic. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 2–3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE