Browse lesson plans

Tacky the Penguin

After reading the story, Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester, the students will write their own Tacky story. The students will brainstorm ideas before getting started. Next each student will write a rough draft. After the rough draft, the students will proofread and edit their work. Then the students will type their story and illustrate the pictures.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

By Tonya Williams.

The bear who wouldn't sleep

Intermediate-level ESL students will apply facts from a content-based reading passage to create a short story about a bear who doesn't hibernate with his family.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)

By Donna Kauffman.

Butterfly metamorphosis

This is an integrated lesson which is introduced using the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Butterfly metamorphosis is explored through art, math, and writing.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, and Science)

By Laura Byers.

Dear Juana: Editing a letter

In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 1.3

In this lesson for grade seven, students will discuss the importance of proofreading and editing in various careers. The teacher will model proofreading and editing a sample letter, and then the students will write and peer-edit their own letters.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)

By Anissia Jenkins.Adapted by Kenyatta Bennett and Sonya Rexrode.

Discovering just the right word

Precise word choice helps show the reader a story and not just tell a story. The purpose of this series of lessons is to help students improve their writing style by strengthening word choice at the word and sentence level by adding adverbs, precise verbs, and specific nouns.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts)

By DPI Writing Strategies.

Exciting narrative endings

This lesson emphasizes the importance of a strong ending for a narrative essay and teaches students specific items to include in their endings.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)

By Ann Jolly.

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 3–4 English Language Arts)

By DPI Writing Strategies.

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.

Read it backwards

One editing technique that writers can use to help them catch their own spelling errors is "Read It Backwards." In this lesson, students will learn a procedure for identifying and correcting the spelling of misspelled words.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts)

By DPI Writing Strategies.

Search for synonyms: A thesaurus lesson

Students will expand their vocabulary and learn the advantages of using a thesaurus. Students will edit and enrich personal writing samples using both print and online thesauri.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)

By Erin Bradfeldt and Joan Milliken.

Sentence combining and decombining

Students will focus on stylistic choices and sentence fluency by combining, decombining, and recombining sentences in professional writing, peer writing, and their own writing.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts)

By Peter Bobbe.

Stop that run-on!

Run-on sentences inhibit understanding and weaken someone's writing. In this lesson, students will learn to identify run-on sentences and how to fix them. They will then apply those skills to their own writing.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts)

By DPI Writing Strategies.

Verb tense time warps

When students have inconsistent verb tense, they have a "time warp" in their stories. In this lesson, students learn that verbs tell not only what action takes place, but also when the action takes place. They will learn to identify past, present and future verb tenses and to check sentences and paragraphs for inconsistent verb tense.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)

By DPI Writing Strategies.

Resources on the web

Character clash: A mini-lesson on paragraphing and dialogue

When writing dialogue in their stories, student writers often forget to indent paragraphs to indicate a change of speaker, which can create problems in understanding. This ReadWriteThink mini-lesson asks students to look closely at their writing, marking... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Peer edit with perfection: Teaching effective peer-editing strategies

The teacher models a three-step peer-editing process in this lesson that teaches the techniques of revising expository writng. After introducing the concept of peer editing, the teacher challenges students to brainstorm the pros and cons of the process.... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Pygmies: Getting right to the point

In this Xpeditions lesson, students explore the Pygmies of Africa in order to get a better sense of their culture. Students develop the skill of synthesizing and organizing information from many sources to identify, in a single paragraph, the important... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–11 English Language Arts)

Provided by: Xpeditions