After discussing J.R.R. Tolkien's "Father Christmas Letters," fifth- and sixth-graders undertook a class project to answer second-graders' letters to Santa Claus. (SJL)

The Yahi Indians were part of a larger tribal group called the Yana. The Yahi way of life, along with the lives of many other California Indian groups, changed when European and U.S. settlers came to California. In 1872 Ishi and his family were the last of the Yahi living in the Deer Creek (California) area. By 1911 Ishi was the last surviving…

This booklet presents three practical procedures for conferencing to help upper elementary and high school teachers evaluate students' language development while teaching students how to regulate and participate more fully in the process of writing. The booklet includes the following chapters: (1) "The Interaction of Thought and…

The purpose of this guide is to assist teachers in preparing their students to write effectively in all contexts, including the Georgia Grade Five Writing Assessment. Teachers are encouraged to make optimal instructional use of the information in this guide by creating transparencies and handouts for students. The guide includes a revising/editing…

This teachers' guide responds to some of the more frequently asked questions about teaching and evaluating from Kindergarten through Grade 5. The document is a synthesis of the current research on writing and applies this information to the teaching of writing in the classroom. It is comprehensive in nature and addresses such subjects as…

Designed to meet the needs of children of various age and ability levels, this book provides teachers of grades 4-9 with over 250 writing activities and reproducible worksheets for teaching students how to write effective compositions, essays, stories, poems, and more. Activities in the book focus on the various stages of the writing process,…

This language arts lesson designed for grade five involves drama as a focal point in preparing children to write a short story similar to the one they first create through improvisation. Included are the objectives of the lesson, materials, the children's previous experience, the step-by-step procedure with accompanying teacher points, the writing…

A summer English class for gifted fifth- through eighth-grade students was designed to allow students to interact with literature by adapting short-stories into plays that the students then produced, performed, and filmed. During the prewriting phase, students discussed qualities most essential to a story or film, and compared a short story with…

Explains how photographs were used to generate language and to teach the form of expository prose to inner city sixth-grade students. (FL)

Sixth grade students can use cinquain poems to explore language, learn grammar, and write creatively. Before learning about cinquains, students should be introduced to simpler poetic forms. To introduce cinquains, the teacher writes a simple example on the board and has the students informally figure out the parts of speech and grammatical…

A video-assisted strategic intervention for developing written expression skills was field tested during a summer school session for 71 at-risk middle school students. Results indicated significantly greater gains in written expression skills than produced by the traditional, grammar-based language arts instruction delivered to a comparison group.…

By incorporating writing into everyday math activities, elementary students become better communicators and learn to express themselves, mathematically and otherwise, with more confidence and clarity. An elementary teacher presents several successful writing activities from her math classroom, including a math word web, a guided-response sheet,…

This handbook contains over 265 reproducible writing process activities that help make writing fun for students in grades 4-8. The handbook provides stimulating activities to give students the directed practice they need to learn to write clearly and competently. Designed for minimal teacher input, activities are complete with directions geared to…

One of a series of activity guides, this publication offers a variety of learning activities and resource materials to help teachers and students celebrate special days and events in autumn. The activities and resources are especially designed to develop communications skills of students in grades 4-8; however, they are easily transferable to…