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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Long A Word List
Introduce and explore words containing letter combinations that make the “long a” sound with this printable long A word list.
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Write With Your Senses: Daily Descriptive Writing Prompts
Inspire your students to write descriptively using our 20 daily descriptive writing prompts slide deck and graphic organizer.
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Which Sound? Poster - Soft G and Hard G Sounds
Remind your students of the different sounds made by the letter G with this colorful classroom poster.
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Changing Verb Tenses Interactive Google Slides Activity
Provide your students with a digital learning environment to practice using past, present, and future tense verbs.
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Dia De Muertos Vocabulary and Writing Prompts
Learn and use the language of Mexican tradition with a Dia de Los Muertos vocabulary word wall and writing activity.
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Google Slides - Adjectives Interactive Activity
Provide your students with engaging, interactive activities to help them improve their usage of descriptive adjectives.
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Adverbs Activity - Grammar Charades
Have some fun and build grammar skills with an adverb charades activity.
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Past, Present, and Future Tense Worksheets - Grades 1/2
Provide students with additional verb tense practice with worksheets focusing on changing verbs into past, present, and future tense.
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Sentence Starter Task Cards
Practice writing simple sentences with these 16 sentence starter task cards.
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Read and Color Worksheet - Singular and Plural Nouns
A worksheet to practice identifying singular and plural nouns.
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Planning an Informative Text
A planning sheet that can be used to write an informative text.
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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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Capitalization for Beginners - Worksheet
Practice capitalizing the first letter of sentences and proper nouns with this 1-page worksheet.
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Readers Theater – Play Writing Template
A template for students to use when writing their own Readers Theater script.
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Proper Nouns Crossword Puzzle - Worksheet
A crossword researching different proper nouns.
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Cursive Practice - Sentences
A set of 6 sheets to practice writing sentences in cursive.
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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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Goldilocks and The Three Bears - Finish the Story Writing Prompt
Finish the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story in your own words.
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Pen Licenses
They've done it! They have achieved the all important goal of being allowed to write with a pen. This moment deserves something special.
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Comic Book Writing Resource Pack
9 pages of resources for creating comic books.
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Storyboard Template
A template for use when planning a narrative text.
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Character Development – Fakebook Page Worksheet
Use research and creative writing skills to design a social media profile for fiction or nonfiction persons.
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Opinion Texts Writing Task - Outdoor Play is Better Than Indoor Play
A writing activity to help students construct a detailed and reasoned opinion text.
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Guided Writing Groups - Progress Tracker
Track student progress during guided writing sessions with this template.
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Editing Passage Task Cards - Grade 1
A set of 20 editing passage task cards with answers.
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Holidays & Seasons – Lined Writing Paper
Inspire your students to write all year long with fun printable lined papers featuring holiday and seasonal images.
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Imaginative, Persuasive and Informative Paragraphs PowerPoint
Learn about the different structures of imaginative, persuasive and informative paragraphs.
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Sequence a Procedural Text – Cut and Paste Worksheets
Use these procedural writing examples to teach your students about sequencing instructions in a logical order.
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Busy Binder - Kindergarten Morning Work Activity Book
Review daily calendar, math, literacy, and fine motor skills with a printable kindergarten Busy Binder workbook!
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Packing in Meaning with Noun Groups Worksheet
Explore the concept of noun groups with this 2-page worksheet.
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Dogs Make The Best Pets - Reading Comprehension PDF
Assess 3rd grade reading comprehension skills with a printable Reading Comprehension Test using an opinion text.
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Penguin Craft & Writing Template
Research and write about penguins and their adaptations, then create a fun penguin craft to display student work.