Writing Teaching Resources
Teaching writing strategies and the writing process this school year? Explore a comprehensive collection of teacher resources for elementary and middle school ELA teachers — all created by teachers!
Stocked with graphic organizers, writing prompts, templates, worksheets and so much more, this collection of printable and digital activities is designed to help you as you help your students become more effective communicators and unleash their creativity and imagination.
Save time on lesson planning with resources that have been through a careful review process by an expert member of our teacher team to ensure they're ready for your classroom and your students!
Are you looking for tips and tricks to add to your teacher toolkit this school year? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including engaging activities for teaching writing in elementary and middle school and a look at some of the different writing strategies your students will need to learn.
11 Writing Strategies Kids Should Know by the End of Middle School
We can't talk about teaching kids to write without talking about the different writing strategies that can help them do just that!
When it comes to teaching our students to become confident writers who articulate their ideas effectively, here are some of the strategies our teacher team prioritizes:
1. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is something we often do in the classroom, and it's a crucial part of learning to generate the ideas that will drive students' writing as they progress through their educational journey. Kids should know how to create a list of potential topics or points related to a particular writing assignment.
With younger students, this is often done as a whole group by writing ideas and points on chart paper. In upper grades, students transition over to using text-based materials to generate ideas and talking points.
2. Outlining
Before diving directly into any assignment, our students should be able to create a structured framework or outline. Teaching students how to create this outline will help them organize their thoughts and arguments for penning their essays, reports and research papers.
3. Using Graphic Organizers
Technically graphic organizers are classroom tools, so you may not think of their use as a writing strategy per se. However, learning to use these tools is another means of providing kids with the tools they need to organize their ideas and information before they sit down to write.
These organizers are particularly useful for expository writing — students can use them to outline main ideas, supporting details, and transitions.
Students can also take advantage of story maps when they are working on narrative writing to plot the key elements of a story, such as characters, setting, conflict, rising action, climax and resolution.
Graphic organizers such as the OREO strategy and hamburger paragraph are also great tools for students to use when working with opinion and persuasive texts.
4. Freewriting
Writer's block is the enemy of creativity, and it can easily frustrate young students who don't know where to begin.
When students freewrite, they write continuously without worrying about grammar or punctuation. This writing strategy can be extremely freeing — hence the name! — and helps frustrated writers move past that writer's block, generating fresh ideas.
5. Peer Editing
Learning to review and provide constructive feedback on each other's work is a great writing strategy to employ in your classroom to help students improve their writing quality and enhance their editing skills.
The strategy allows your students to learn from one another, and it arms them with an important tool they can use well into the future — calling on peers to provide a critical eye to a piece of writing.
6. Using Sensory Language
Working on descriptive writing? With this writing strategy, students engage the reader's senses through vivid and sensory language to create a more immersive experience.
7. Including Transitions and Connectives
As students become more proficient in the writing process, learning to use transitional words and phrases allows them to create smooth transitions between sentences and paragraphs. This strategy makes their writing more coherent and polished.
8. Incorporating Evidence
In persuasive, opinion, and expository writing, students are taught to support their claims with evidence and examples to strengthen their arguments.
It takes some practice to train your students to use evidence in their writing, so it's often a good idea to start with something simple, like the R.A.C.E.S. strategy.
9. Crafting a Thesis Statement
In expository, opinion, and persuasive writing, crafting clear and concise thesis statements that summarize the main point or argument of their essay helps students be more focused and organized in their writing. This strategy can also have the effect of empowering students to express their ideas confidently and persuasively.
10. Incorporating Introductions and Conclusions
With this strategy, students practice crafting effective introductions and conclusions that grab the reader's attention and leave a lasting impression.
11. Following a Revision Checklist
Teaching your students to use a revision checklist is a strategy that will help them be more self-reflective, evaluating their own writing against the checklist criteria and becoming more aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
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Procedural Writing Posters
Display this set of 5 procedural writing anchor charts in your classroom during your procedural writing unit.
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Rainforest Bird Craft & Writing Template
Pair a fun bird craft and informational writing to create a fun jungle-themed bulletin board.
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Informative Text Writing Graphic Organizer Pack
Make writing an informative text easy with graphic organizers for your students!
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Time Order Words - Transition Words Word Wall
Help your students demonstrate the passage of time in their writing with 35 time-order transition word cards.
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Writing a Simile Poem - Worksheet
Experiment with similes by writing a simile poem about a special person.
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Greek and Latin Roots Practice Worksheet Bundle
Practice using vocabulary containing Greek roots and Latin roots with 24 weekly root word practice worksheets.
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Henry Ford - RACES Writing Strategy Worksheets
Provide students with Social Studies and Writing instruction using the RACES strategy for constructed response paragraphs.
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Complete and Incomplete Sentence Task Cards
These task cards are best used as independent practice or formative assessment assignments during sentence structure lessons.
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Irregular Plural Noun Match-Up
Practice using irregular plural nouns with an Irregular Plural Noun Matching Activity.
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Singular and Plural-Subject-Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional grammar practice with a worksheet focusing on singular and plural subject-verb agreement.
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Is/Are Subject Verb Agreement Task Cards
Practice using is and are correctly using a set of Subject-Verb agreement task cards.
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Is/Are Subject Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional subject-verb agreement practice with a worksheet focusing on using is and are correctly.
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Color by Parts of Speech - Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives - Octopus
A fun activity to use when learning about nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
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What Could It Be? - Sensory Poem Template
Use this template when teaching students how to write sensory poems.
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Adverb Crossword – Worksheet
A crossword for students to review different adverbs.
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5 W's Graphic Organizer
A blank 5 W's graphic organizer to use when planning a piece of writing text.
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List of Adjectives - Words to Describe Mom
Describe the amazing moms in your students' lives with the help of a printable list of motherly adjectives.
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Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences Flashcards
Use this set of 16 colorful flashcards to introduce students to the attributes that make up simple, compound and complex sentences.
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Book Study Grid 2 - Upper Grades
A grid with various book study activity ideas.
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Identifying Procedural Language Worksheets
Help your students identify procedural language with this set of three worksheets.
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Capital Letter and Period Scavenger Hunt Worksheet
A reading passage and 2 engaging worksheets that explore the importance of capital letter and periods.
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Parts of Speech Sort Game - Common Nouns, Abstract Nouns, Proper Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives
Use this Parts of Speech Sort Game to assist your students in identifying the different types of nouns, verbs and adjectives.
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Snakes and Ladders Game Board Template
Create a fun activity for any subject area with this black-and-white board game template.
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Editing Passages PowerPoint - Grade 2
A 42 slide editable PowerPoint template containing editing passages with answers.
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I Am Poem Template
Get to know your students and create back-to-school poems with a printable ‘I Am… Poem template.
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How to Make a Pizza Interactive Activity
Use this “How to Make a Pizza” procedural writing interactive activity to model the purpose, structural elements and language features of procedure texts.
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How to Brush Your Teeth Flipbook
Use this “How to Brush Your Teeth” procedural writing activity to help familiarize your students with the structural elements of procedure texts.
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Days of the Week - Months of the Year Word Search
Practice spelling the days of the week and months of the year with printable Day and Month Word Search worksheets.
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Building Strong Sentences Teaching Presentation
Share this 15-slide teaching presentation with your students to help them understand the key grammar concepts of compound sentences,coordinating conjunctions and clauses.
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Adjective and Adverb Scoot Game
Scoot! This fun active learning game will have your students up and about on an adverb and adjective adventure around your classroom!
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Rhetorical Device Examples – Cut and Paste Worksheet
Match the persuasive writing techniques with the correct examples using this simple cut-and-paste worksheet perfect for your persuasive writing unit.
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Find The Imposter! Interactive Suffix Game
Practice using the suffixes -s and -es to pluralize words with an exciting FInd the Imposter Interactive activity.