Main Topics 

Environmental Essay Writing               Figurative Language                  Poetry                  Digital Picture Books   


Environmental Persuasive Essay Writing

Students learn how to craft a convincing argument in the format of a five-paragraph essay about an environmental issue. (This project also has a technology/media component.)

Here are some handouts and resources:

 

Sample Environmental Media Projects


Figurative Language: A series of tools that writers use to make their writing more interesting.

  • Hyperbole
    • Davy Crockett Listening Quiz
    • Safari exaggeration sheet
    • Creating own Tall Tale Story
  • Onomatopoeia
  • Personification
    • Writing from view of your house in morning
    • Illustrate personification
  • Alliteration
  • Imagery
    • Five Senses Chart – using Halibuts and Hailstones
  • Idioms
    • Phantom Tollbooth
    • Beach Boys lyrics
    • Idiom Game
  • Simile/Metaphor
    • Describe Self

Personification examples

Alliteration Tongue Twisters


Poetry 

(you can view some of the writing prompts we do for our unit on Poetry)

  • My America – sense of place/imagery
  • Poetry Exploration Project (finding and sharing poems with class)
  • WriteSource overview
  • Illustrating “mind pictures” from some poems
    • The Raven
    • Paul Revere
  • Reading Love That Dog and share poem styles
  • Poems for Multiple Voices
    • Recording to Weblog
  • Poetry Marathon
  • Animal in Me
  • Haikus
  • Inside this ..
  • Odes
  • Create hyperlinked Poetry Book
  • Comic Strip Poetry
  • Letter Writing Mini-lesson
  • Submitting Poetry Journal and letter to me
  • Songwriting -- using poetic techniques to analyze and write original songs (with SuperDuperMusicLooper software program)

Poems for Two Voices

Hyperlinked Poetry Project

Haikus

Comic Strip Poetry


Digital Picture Books

This project uses the concept of picture book creation with a technology approach. Students center a story on a curricular theme, write a fictional story (using storyboarding, drafting and revision), create original artwork and then use Microsoft Powerpoint for the publishing platform. They have the option to add audio narration, animation and even embedded video into their picture books.
  • Integration of curricular theme (Example: Math, Science, Social Studies)
  • Read Aloud Author and From Pic to Words
  • Working with Media Specialist Pati Mari to examine genre of picture books
  • Planning and Writing picture book
  • Using Powerpoint to create and publish
  • Sharing with younger grades
  • Posting to Weblog