Do It Write the First Time

This warm-up set includes 20 Expository Writing Warm-Ups. It also includes an Expository Explanation page that defines the four Expository Writing tasks as to "Describe," "Explain," "Clarify," and "Evaluate." These are great skills for students to practice leading up to writing their STAAR Expository Writing. Each slide is labeled with the skills that students are practicing regarding that specific prompt. I usually give my students 3-4 minutes to complete these "quick writes." From that point

This lesson includes a model text as well as some activities that can lead to great discussion. It incorporates both reading and writing. It also asks students to review key elements of Personal Narrative and provides them the opportunity to mimic some of those great sentences. The guiding question of this lesson is: What makes this excerpt a great Personal Narrative and how can I make my writing look more like this? Overview: - An excerpt from "A Summer Life" by Gary Soto (Also known as "T

This is a writing activity that all of my students really loved! I was so surprised at what they created! The activity provided a great platform for both modeling and independent practice. The handout includes an excerpt from House on Mango Street called "My Name." It is full of imagery, description, and figurative language. First, I asked students to find examples of imagery, description, and figurative languge within the passage. Then we discussed why this passage is an example of Personal N

This activity is a fun one and is easily adaptable to fit your student's music tastes, your music tastes, or any particular story that you are working on. It includes: -Organizer explaining how to identify Theme -Blank organizer that you can use for your own purposes -Five songs that you can analyze 1. Man Who Can't Be Moved- The Script 2. Innocent- Taylor Swift 3. Yellow- Cold Play 4. Bad Day- Daniel Powter 5. Running Around in My Dreams- Tyrone Wells Remember yo

Here is an activity that I did at the beginning of the year with my 7th graders! It helped me get to know their future ambitions and I had something inspirational to hang up for the rest of the year. I let all of the students decorate their lightbulb and hung them all around a poster that read, "The Future is Bright and Full of Possibility!" Parents enjoyed seeing what their children had dreamed up on Open House. This file contains the lightbulb outline and a question to prompt student thought.

Here is a collection of Creative Writing Warm-Ups that I used at the beginning of the year leading up to writing an Imaginative Story. Many of these warm-ups come from the blog listed below. It is a great free resource. I thought I would share my compilation that worked well in my classroom! The students enjoyed the random prompts and the opportunity to "think outside the box." Great for encouraging new writers too! Blog Resource: http://visualwritingprompts.wordpress.com/category/subjects/eng