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.
- Free Plan
Find What Doesn’t Fit: Relevant Details Worksheet
Practice determining what details are relevant and irrelevant to a topic while providing a purposeful context.
- Plus Plan
Governments and How They Function – Worksheet
An activity for students to research the government of two economies and write a report to compare and contrast them.
- Free Plan
Roll and Write - Simple and Compound Sentences
Practice writing simple and compound sentences with our Roll and Write activity.
- Free Plan
Goldilocks and The Three Bears - Finish the Story Writing Prompt
Finish the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story in your own words.
- Free Plan
Noun, Verb, and Adjective Sort - Worksheet
Help students learn the difference between nouns, verbs, and adjectives with this cut-and-paste sorting worksheet.
- Free Plan
Opinion Texts Writing Task - Zoos Are No Place for Animals
A writing activity to help students construct a detailed and reasoned opinion text.
- Free Plan
Note-taking Graphic Organizer
A graphic organizer for students to use when taking notes.
- Free Plan
Writing the Alphabet - Handwriting Poster
A poster to assist students when learning how to form letters.
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Persuasive Words – Modality Word Wall with Information
Immerse your students in high, medium and low modality words with this set of 56 word wall cards.
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Writing a Simile Poem - Worksheet
Experiment with similes by writing a simile poem about a special person.
- Plus Plan
Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences PowerPoint
A 23-slide editable PowerPoint template that introduces simple, compound, and complex sentences.
- Free Plan
Amelia Earhart Constructed Response Worksheet
Use this passage, second grade writing prompt, and worksheet to help students write a constructed response paragraph about Amelia Earhart.
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Build a Sandcastle-Writing and Craft Activity
Excite your students for the upcoming summer with a narrative writing and craft activity.
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Persuasive Writing Bump It Up Wall – Grade 3
Help your 3rd-grade students "bump up" their persuasive writing with this bulletin board display.
- Free Plan
Biography Timeline Template
Use this multipurpose timeline template for a variety of assignments, projects, and more!
- Free Plan
Five Senses Graphic Organizer
A graphic organizer to use when brainstorming sights, sounds, smells, touches, and tastes.
- Plus Plan
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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Spelling Suffixes Anchor Charts - Plurals
Help students understand when to apply the right plural spellings based on the ending of any word.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Writing Planning Template
A planning template to use when writing a persuasive or opinion text.
- Plus Plan
5 Narrative Writing Prompt Stimulus Sheets
A set of 5 writing prompt stimulus sheets with a narrative focus.
- Free Plan
Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences Poster
A poster to display in the classroom showing the components of a sentence.
- Free Plan
Narrative Plot Structure - Story Mountain Template
Use a story mountain template to help your students write narrative stories.
- Plus Plan
Informative Writing - Animal Research Task
Use a printable animal research organizer booklet for students to record facts about animals when learning to write informative texts.
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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.
- Free Plan
Rhetorical Devices Word Search
Familiarize your students with the most common rhetorical devices with a fun word search.
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Handwriting Practice Sheets - Colors, Numbers, Days and Months
Practice printing skills with a pack of printable handwriting worksheets.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Vocabulary Word Wall
Help your students enhance their persuasive writing skills with a set of 40 persuasive vocabulary word cards.
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Mother's Day Acrostic Poem
Create a special keepsake for mom, grandma, aunt, or another special lady with a Mother’s Day acrostic poem template.
- Free Plan
Author's Purpose Anchor Chart
A poster highlighting the three main reasons an author writes a piece of text - to persuade, to inform, to entertain.
- Plus Plan
Quiz and Swap - 2nd Grade End-of-Year Review
Prepare your students for their end of grade assessments with an End-of-Year Quiz and Swap Review Game.
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When I Grow Up - Kindergarten Graduation Writing and Craft Activity
Encourage your kindergarten graduates to write about their dreams while creating a “When I Grow Up” classroom display.
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Let's Research! Digital and Print Poster Project Templates
Conduct, organize, and display research about books, people, planets, animals, states, and countries with a versatile set of printable and digital poster templates.