Language Arts - Writing Middle/High

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Links verified 3/14/11
Analogies | Lesson Plans

1. The Book of Magic Potions - Create your own potions after getting ideas and suggestions from this book!
2. By Grade Level - The Writing Source - Grades 4-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12.
3. Can I have a Word? - Ideas and Resources to inspire creative writing. Writing projects linked to curriculum.
4. Comic Strip - Create your own comic strip!
5. Compare and Contrast - Select two works of art from a list of 26. Then click the "Begin Essay" button in the selection box that displays your selections to write your own short essay comparing the works of art. This is a display from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
6. Comparative Analysis - how to write a comparative analysis (text only)
7. Concise, Credible, and Clear Writing - lab activity to choose appropriate support points and put them in a clear order
8. Creative Writing Worksheets - Story Starters to print.
9. Descriptive Writing Practice - a lab activity to develop paragraphs using description
10. Essay Map - Online tool to map out informational essays.
11. Essay Writing - Quick tips to review before writing your paper.
12. Essay Writing - Online Persuasive Essay Tool; Thesis Builder
13. Essay Writing - Interactive activity: Argue, persuade and advise
14. Expository Essays:
    1. Expository Writing - Eight different examples of expository organizational patterns
    2. Expository Writing Tips! - The information was taken from "Blowing Away the State Writing Assessment Test" by Jane Bell Kiester available through Maupin House Publishing.
    3. The Expository Essay - Examples of expository essays
    4. Expository Essays - Some things to consider when writing expository essays.
    5. Expository Writing Rubric - very detailed
    6. Food for Thought - an expository writing lesson plan for eighth grade [this document is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine]
    7. A Lesson in Expository Writing -The Personal Touch : - This lesson uses examples of such communication as a springboard for practice in expository writing.
    8. Writing a "How-to" Explanation - Student model as an example
15. Five Paragraph Essay - NOTE: This is an archive site. You may have to copy the URL and paste it in the url domain box. Then click "Take Me Back." At this site, you will find the information you need to learn how to write the essay as well as some writing prompts to help you develop skill. [this document is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine]
16. The Four C's - a lab to practice concise, credible, clear, and correct writing
17. Graphic Organizers - several examples of how to use graphic organizers in brainstorming or pre-writing activities
18. Graphic Organizers - a collection of resources at Internet4Classrooms
19. Great Source - Collection of writing resources and support for educators, students in grades 5-12, and parents
20. Ideas for Writing Poetry in the Classroom [this document is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
    1. Acrostic Poems for Children
    2. Acrostics Poems Submitted by Children [this document is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
21. Internet Projects using writing skills - Sadlier-Oxford Activity Center - Create stories and articles from information garnered on the web. Steps and activities are all listed. Complete lessons for grades 6-12.
22. Mag-O-Matic - The Mag-O-Matic turns your headlines, ideas, and choices into a TIME for KIDS cover!
23. Main Character Questionnaire - Fill this out to discover things about the main character you are creating or have read about.
24. Narrative Essays :
    1. Multiple Paragraph Essay - pointers on writing an essay [this document is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
    2. Narrative Essay - article on how to write a narrative essay
    3. Narrative Essay - article and help on writing narrative essay
    4. Step by step guide - guide on writing an essay
    5. Narrative essay prompts - ten prompts
    6. Ten Narrative Writing Prompts - targeted mainly at high school teachers
    7. Ten Prewriting Exercises for Personal Narratives
    8. Narrative Writing Prompts - Elementary School [This expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
    9. Student Writing Tools Handbook - [25 pages] Transitions, rubrics, grammar, citations, and more [This expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
    10. Template for writing a narrative - scaffolding guide for students
25. Online Poetry Workshop - lessons and activities [This expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
26. Paradigm-On-line Writing Assistant - This site will take you through the writing process of editing, revising, organizing and other steps.
27. Paragraph A Week - a yearly writing program
28. Paraphrase Craze - A Interactive Lesson in Expository Writing
29. Persuasive writing
    1. Argument & Persuasive Writing Lesson plans and teaching resources - many lesson resources
    2. Battle Bars: The Edible Argument - a lesson plan designed to teach persuasive writing using Snickers and Kit-Kat bars
    3. Can You Convince Me? - basic concepts of lobbying for something that is important to them (or that they want) and making persuasive arguments. Lesson plan
    4. Graphic Organizer - scaffolding aid for your students as they plan their essay
    5. How are They Selling It? - students read three advertisements and evaluate the type of persuasive writing being employed
    6. Persuasive Writing Prompts used in past Writing Assessments in Tennessee - Grade 5 ; Grade 8 ; Grade 11
    7. Persuasive Writing Prompts from a home schooling site
    8. The Power of Persuasion - a WebQuest that challenges your students to investigate persuasive writing and develop critical reading skills
    9. The Power of Persuasive Writing - another WebQuest on the topic
    10. Practice with Argument - a lab activity to identify reasons and write an argument paragraph
    11. Practice with Argument - another lab activity to identify reasons and write an argument paragraph
    12. Sample assignment - Invent an X-ray satellite, name it, draw a picture of it. Write a one- to two-page persuasion letter addressed to your Congressperson or essay for your local newspaper in order to obtain funding for your X-ray astronomy mission.
    13. Scholastic's Writing Workshop - You already spend a lot of time trying to persuade your parents or teachers to allow you to watch more TV or do less homework. Now you can use those same skills to write a persuasive essay!
    14. Study Guides and Strategies - persuasive writing
    15. Ten Persuasive Prompts : Persuasive-Descriptive
    16. Writing to Persuade - Persuasion means making someone with a different point of view from your own change their mind to your way of thinking.
    17. Writing to Persuade Rubric - Perhaps your students can understand writing to persuade better by seeing this rubric.
30. PIZZAZ !... People Interested in Zippy and Zany Zcribbling - Excellent resource for all types of writing. PIZZAZ! is dedicated to providing simple creative writing and oral storytelling activities with copyable (yes, copyable!) handouts for use with students of all ages.
31. Power Proofreading from Houghton Mifflin - Help! The power has gone out at HME-TV, and proofreaders are needed to fix TV scripts, memos and other writing at the station. HM has provided a special power screen so your students can help them.
32. Pre-Reading Clock - an activity designed to help establish vocabulary readiness
33. Prewriting
    1. Prewriting - methods and tips [this expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
    2. Prewriting Practice - lab activity to help students use different prewriting techniques
    3. Prewriting Practice - another lab activity to help students use different prewriting techniques
    4. Prewriting Practices - an article by Alice L. Trupe
    5. Prewriting Strategies - prewriting techniques
    6. Prewriting Strategies - from Gallaudet University [this expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine]
    7. Six Prewriting Steps
34. Principles of Composition - the writing process, structural considerations and patterns of composition
35. Read Write Think - Thinkfinity site - excellent lessons, resources and student materials
36. Research and Writing - Need to write a research paper? Here's help.
37. Revising a Draft - lab activity
38. Revising a Draft - a second lab activity on the subject
39. Self Evaluation Writing Rubric - Check yourself!
40. Sensitive Writing - lab activity practicing the idea of being more sensitive to others
41. Story Mapping - an interactive online writing guide
    1. Ready-made lessons for this tool
42. Ten Creative Writing Activities - List of creative writing assignments
43. Thinking Things from Snaith Primary - An interactive site with which you can create stories online. Click on the Character and Setting links at the top to write your own stories. Click on the numerous travel links to learn about history.
44. Transition Words:
    1. Go with the Flow - Transitions
    2. How to Use Transition Words and Phrases in an Essay - writing and studying skills and tips
    3. University Writing Center - Transition words
    4. Writing Transition words and phrases - a list of transitions
45. Use Specific Details - lab activity designed to help you use specific details to prove your point
46. Use Specific Details - another lab activity designed to help you use specific details to prove your point
47. Vocabulary Skills Lab Activity - use context clues and word parts to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in a textbook selection
48. Web Sites for the Write Way - Multilink site with links to help in the writing process.
49. Word Games for Writers -On those days you can't write prose or poetry, perhaps a good alternative is to play a word game [this expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
50. Writing - many online lessons and activities learning the writing process. Many forms of writing are included on this page, such as expository, narrative, summary and the 6-trait writing style. Lee's Summit School District site.
51. Writing Activities - Many ideas and activities (Warning: This Tripod site may be blocked by school filters)
52. Write Away from Jefferson County Schools - professional development project whose goal is to improve composition skills for grades 9-12 through a school-wide writing initiative
53. Writing Handouts - Many PDF files: How to Avoid Plagiarism | Writing Tips | Resumes & Cover Letters | Study & Test-taking Tips | Research Paper Guidelines | Punctuation | Documentation Style Guides | Helpful Style Guide Links
54. Writing Lessons - A collection of writing lessons plans for your students' use to prepare for standardized testing. [this expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine .]
55. Writing Plans from the Teacher's Desk - many ideas
56. The Write Place Catalogue - Many references to help writers
57. The Writing Process - lab activity to practice the writing process
58. Writing Paragraphs - Precise instructions with definitions of each part.
59. Writing Prompts
    1. Creative Writing Prompts - Use the creative writing prompts and creative writing ideas to create stories, poems and other creative pieces from your imagination.Over 200!
    2. Education World has 180 quotes for you, but that's also 180 writing prompts!
    3. Imagination Prompt Generator - Click to get a new prompt.
    4. Nursery Rhyme Expansion - Nursery Rhymes can be wonderful springboards for all kinds of Language Arts activities. Here is an activity designed to give middle school students practice with the aspects of purpose, voice, and audience in their writing.
    5. Original WritingFix Prompt Generator - over 400 different prompts Sign up to have 6 Prompts from this page e-mailed to you every Sunday for your writing for the week!
    6. Picture Prompts - Write your own Word list, then print the page for students to write their story.
    7. Proverbs: Wisdom Tales Without the Plot - Have students choose a familiar proverb and develop a story that can surround and carry that thought. Multicultural proverbs offer interesting insights into the universality of wisdom.
    8. Writing Prompts - Get-you-started Writing Prompts - scroll near the middle of the page for a list of prompts and Word banks.
    9. Writing Prompts - Many ideas to start your students' minds
    10. Writing Prompts - Narrative, Persuasive and Expository
    11. Writing Prompts - for high school [list of the essay topics approved for use on the Regents' Test]
    12. Writing Prompts - Suggested Monthly Writing Prompts Grades K-12. Also a section on Grading - Sample Papers and Scoring
    13. Writing Prompts with pictures - Middle School, High School; from Picture Prompts in a Box
    14. Writers' Digest - Idea joggers and brain starters—to get your writing going. Presents you a new prompt each week
60. Writing a Rough Draft - quiz regarding a rough draft
61. Writing Skills - Alliteration, Personification, Similes, Onomatopoeia, Hyperbole

Analogies

1. Fact Monster Analogy of the Day
2. Analogy Quiz which requires students to type the word to complete the analogy
3. Analogy Lesson from Diana Dell
4. Analogy quiz 1 at Quia posted by Diana Dell
5. Analogy quiz 2 at Quia posted by Diana Dell
6. Analogy quizzes - from easy to hard
7. Analogy worksheets - many to choose from.
8. Awesome Analogies for one or two players - posted at Quia
9. Discovery School Analogy Quizzes
   1. SAT AnalogyQuiz8
   2. SAT AnalogyQuiz9
   3. SAT AnalogyQuiz10
10. Puzz.com has a quiz with 152 analogies - pick one or two a day and practice this valuable skill

Creative Writing Lesson Plans

1. Composition Ideas - writing lesson ideas
2. Lesson Ideas - 7 creative writing lessons that engage the children in writing
3. TeachNet Language Arts/ Writing Ideas - writing activities for grades 1-8

Stories for Older Children

1. Amazing Adventures - Online stories and movie adventures. Audio along with stories for students who need help reading. Must click on Sound icon to start the audio. The movie cinema's first two selections are ads; skip over those and go to the other 2 at the bottom.
2. Audio Books for Free - Fiction, Non-fiction and children's stories to download. Must register but registration is free.
3. Audio Books - Classics - Hear classical stories on-line.
4. Audio Books - Librivox - LibriVox provides free audio books from the public domain.
5. Page By Page Books - Many titles to select from. Hundreds of classic books you can read right now, all absolutely free!
6. Walks with Red Dog - Online stories.
7. The Throps and Squallhoots - Chapter book online.
8. Stories by MagicKeys - Online stories for older children.
9. Online Story Clips - download these audio stories for your class listening time!
10. Cool4Kids - Online stories in many genres.
11. Ghost Forest - Download this interactive story.
12. Kids and Teens Online Stories - Multilink of story sites.
13. Light Up your Brain - Stories online that are read aloud and students can read along with them.
14. Classics for Young People - Classical books available in full-text on the Internet.

Authors

1. Shakespeare - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
2. Twain - Mark Twain in his times - This site provides the capability of searching for reviews or electronic texts.

Don't see a book you are looking for? Do a search by author , or by title .

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