Bibliophile Builders

This is a quick activity for students to practice adding detail, description, and imagery into their writing. Students are given a bland, boring paragraph and are asked to rewrite it so that it doesn't make the reader fall asleep.

This task is a fun way to help students better understand and practice writing strong imagery to improve their writing. Students receive one of the provided scenarios as a prompt and write a description that creates a vivid mental movie for a classmate, who in turn needs to accurately guess the writer's prompt. Be forewarned, there will be laughs, smiles, and engagement! :-) This product includes enough scenarios to use with up to thirty students.

This is a writing assignment that will take students at least three class periods, but usually takes more. It asks students to pick a defining moment in their life to explain in vivid detail using imagery. It includes helpful graphic organizers for each step of the writing process, clear directions to allow for independent work, an editing and revision checklist, and a detailed rubric that is based ELA CCSS in (narrative) Writing and Language. *This product goes great with the Writing Traits P

This packet consists of four friendship poems that are appropriate for middle school reading levels. Each poem is accompanied by three questions to help students analyze the poem in question, and a prompt to help them create their own poem that mimics the poem on that page. This should take middle school students at least 20 minutes to analyze, and likely an hour to create their own poems. Students should be familiar with popular poetry techniques (rhyme, rhythm, repetition, figurative language

This bundle combines some of my most popular, engaging, and effective writing activities in one listing. This purchase will include activities that will address: how to use transition words and phrases effectivelyhow to identify and create a unique voice in writingan activity to get students up, moving, and creating imagery an worksheet to help students grow their vocabularies- and create a visual thesaurus in your classroom!As an added bonus, purchasing this bundle will also get you a free copy

Already used the free Boring Paragraph Rewrite, and looking for another quick print-and-go activity? This fall-themed activity helps students to practice adding detail, description, and imagery into their writing. Students are given a bland, boring paragraph and are asked to rewrite it so that it doesn't make the reader fall asleep.

The product is an easy-to-assemble flipchart for paragraphing notes. Each tab clearly states one reason to start a new paragraph and provides an example. This is ideal for interactive notebooks. *This product pairs really well with my Narrative Transitions Practice, which can be purchased here*

Students read a brief overview of why we use transitions before rewriting a paragraph with appropriate transitions. It is recommended that students are also given a list of transitional words to go along with this activity.

This is a 2-4 player game that helps students review the simple and perfect verb tenses as well as the three major verb types (action, helping, and linking). The pack includes question cards, movement cards (no dice needed!), directions and a game board. In my classroom I have six sets so that the whole class can play, or just students who finish an assignment early.

These checklists are general tasks that can be given to students to assist in revising and editing a piece of writing. It can be provided to students each time they have a writing assignment, handed out to reference throughout the year, or enlarged to be a classroom poster!

This task is a fun way to help students better understand and practice writing strong imagery to improve their writing. Students receive one of the provided scenarios as a prompt and write a description that creates a vivid mental movie for a classmate, who in turn needs to accurately guess the writer's prompt. Be forewarned, there will be laughs, smiles, and engagement! :-) This product includes enough scenarios to do with up to thirty students. **HOLIDAY EDITION: Scenarios have been revamped

Sick and tired of the same old, same old reading tasks? Making new worksheets for each chapter of a class novel? This task is for you (and your students)! Students select three of nine tasks that can work with any novel, providing them a little choice as well as variety if you want to reuse the activity week after week. The prompts span characterization, mood, and vocabulary and students can select from tasks that incorporate writing, drawing, or putting on their teacher-hat.

Break down how to craft a SMART goal for students using this worksheet. A sidebar clarifies the acronym with guiding questions, a chart helps them plan out how their goal will address all five aspects of a SMART goal, and a designated space at the bottom gives students a fun space to "publish" their goal. This is a great activity for the beginning of a year or semester or post-assessment to help motivate students!

Need a quick and easy way to assess student writing? Want to provide students with a helpful tool to assess their own or peer writing to guide revision? Need to provide students with a handy anchor chart for their interactive notebook they can keep coming back to? This product includes one checklist style rubric for each of the six writing traits, allowing you to use them all together or one trait at a time to suit you and your students' needs. *This product pairs well with my Revision and Edit

Word Choice is an important writing trait that isn't always as straightforward as it seems. To select strong words students must first know strong words. Use this task to have students practice finding synonyms for weak, boring words. The download includes a blank template as well as pre-filled templates for easy variety. This activity involves a little coloring for coloring's sake. To make the most of this short activity it's highly recommended to make a "vocabulary garden" by having students

Introduce or review two of the most frequently skipped parts of The Writing Process with this quick worksheet- answer key included!

These printable, reusable, and text-agnostic guided reading task cards can not only help young readers review key concepts like setting, characterization, and text structure, but they also help cover these key concepts in ways that span cognitive levels without overwhelming students. Four cards are focused on literature, and two on non-fiction, helping provide you and your readers with a quick and easy way to review a text. My favorite way to use these? Print a class set on card stock, laminate