CCSS ELA Standard: 5.W.10

Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Holiday Writing: Packing Crates

Holiday Writing: Packing Crates

Students will look closely at this old image and write a short, structured poem.

Writing About Art: Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons

Writing About Art: Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons

Students will create a pretty darn interesting poem about Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons.

Writing About Art: Impression, Sunrise

Writing About Art: Impression, Sunrise

Students will create a surprisingly good poem based on Monet's Impression, Sunrise.

Writing About Art: Chōshi in Shimosha

Writing About Art: Chōshi in Shimosha

Get your students writing some pretty darn impressive poetry based on Japan's most famous artist.

Writing About Art: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Writing About Art: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Students will look closely at a piece of art and then write a structured poem about it.

Writing About Art: Twilight in the Wilderness

Writing About Art: Twilight in the Wilderness

Students will write about a beautiful painting from Frederic Edwin Church.

Studying and Remixing “The Raven”

Studying and Remixing “The Raven”

Ready to push kids beyond the boring, old ABAB rhyme scheme and into something a bit more complex?

Ways to Start a Sentence – Part 3

Ways to Start a Sentence – Part 3

We'll show students how to add more variety to their writing by starting sentences with gerunds, participle phrases, and absolute phrases.

Ways to Start a Sentence – Level 2

Ways to Start a Sentence – Level 2

We'll show students how to add more variety to their writing by starting sentences with a reason, a prepositional phrase, and a simile.

Ways to Start a Sentence – Level 1

Ways to Start a Sentence – Level 1

"Add more variety!" I'd say to my class. But I never really knew what this actually meant. Suprise! This bad advice never improved students' writing. In these videos, students learn nine specific ways to add variety just by changing the beginning of their sentences. This was easily one of my students' favorite writing tools - because it actually helped them.

Writing Summaries in Haiku

Writing Summaries in Haiku

Let's write a summary. A very short summary. With VERY strict rules.

Teach Non-Fiction Writing Structure With Fractals

Teach Non-Fiction Writing Structure With Fractals

Did you ever notice that the structure of an essay is very similar to the structure of a paragraph? Hmm…

Writing Clear Directions

Writing Clear Directions

Can you write directions so clear that a group of kids can put a toy together with no illustrations?