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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Pronouns Teaching Slides
Use these pronoun slides to teach your students about some of the most common types of pronouns.
- 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.
- Free Plan
Boston Tea Party - RACES Writing Strategy Worksheet
Integrate reading, writing, and American history with a worksheet about the Boston Tea Party using the RACES writing strategy for text evidence.
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Persuade Your Parents – Persuasive Writing Project
Download this ‘Persuade Your Parents’ persuasive writing project to guide your students through the process of convincing a parent or carer to change a household rule.
- Free Plan
Seasons of the Year Handwriting Worksheets
Practice handwriting skills and review the seasons of the year with a set of printable Seasons of the Year Handwriting Worksheets.
- Free Plan
Printable Wanted Poster Template Pack
Use a 'Wanted' poster template to encourage your students to research and write about historical figures and more!
- Free Plan
How Do Rocks Form? – Informative Text Structure Sequencing Activity
Help students learn about informative text structure and how rocks are formed with an engaging cut-and-paste sorting activity.
- Free Plan
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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Compound Sentence Quiz
Assess your students ability to identify, write, and edit compound sentences with a printable Compound Sentence Quiz.
- Free Plan
Free Printable Lined Paper Templates
Use this free printable lined paper pack to encourage students to write and publish their work in your classroom writing station.
- Free Plan
Information Text Graphic Organizers
Get your students to plan and write informational texts with this set of 6 differentiated graphic organizers.
- Free Plan
Fall Color By Part of Speech Worksheet - Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs
Use this color by part of speech worksheet as a fun fall activity with your students.
- Free Plan
Lewis and Clark Worksheet - RACES Writing Strategy
Practice using the RACES writing strategy for text evidence with a Lewis and Clark Passage, graphic organizer, and worksheet.
- Free Plan
Simple Sentence Building Activity - Caterpillar
Use this simple sentence building activity in the form of a caterpillar to have students identify the parts of a simple sentence.
- Free Plan
Simple Sentence Dominoes Printable
Use this set of 30 dominoes to assist your younger students with building and understanding simple sentences.
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Thanksgiving Mad Lib Worksheets
Boost engagement and reinforce grammar skills with Thanksgiving Mad Lib worksheets that turn learning parts of speech into a fun, interactive activity.
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Save Tom - Disguise a Turkey Persuasive Writing Prompt
A fun Thanksgiving writing activity to use with your students.
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Navajo Code Talkers Constructed Response Worksheet
Discover the impact of the Navajo Code Talkers on the outcome of World War II with a cross-curricular constructed response worksheet.
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Famous Historical Figures - Biography Graphic Organizer Packs
Dive into a research project on key figures in history with a set of Important Historical Figure graphic organizers.
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Capitalization Task Cards (Grades 2-3)
Reinforce capitalization for proper nouns, the pronoun ‘I,’ and the beginning of sentences in text with this set of 24 task cards (extension included).
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Possessive Nouns Worksheets
Download these possessive nouns worksheets, a set of engaging activities designed to help students confidently identify, use and apply apostrophes of possession in their writing.
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Triple Venn Diagram Template
Download a printable Triple Venn Diagram Template to use when comparing and contrasting three topics.
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Daily Practice - Compound Sentences Worksheets
Use our Daily Compound Sentences worksheets to help your students identify, write, and edit compound sentences.
- Free Plan
Grammar Practice Worksheets - Vocabulary Cut and Sort
Review parts of speech and word usage skills with a pack of cut-and-paste Grammar Sorting Worksheets.
- Free Plan
Contractions Writing Activity Pack
Put contractions into sentences to demonstrate an understanding of contractions in context using these writing worksheets.
- Free Plan
Color by Parts of Speech Worksheet – Chameleon
Practice identifying different parts of speech with this fun color-by-code worksheet.
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Write About It! I Am Thankful
Differentiate writing instruction this Thanksgiving with a group of “I Am Thankful” writing prompts for second grade and under.
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Narrative Plot Structure - Story Mountain Template
Use a story mountain template to help your students write narrative stories.
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Poetry Anchor Chart With Annotations
Use this poetry anchor chart to introduce your students to the structure and language features of poems through an annotated example.
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Verb Suffixes Worksheets (s, ed, ing)
Download these suffix worksheets to help students confidently identify and apply the verb tense suffixes -s, -ed and -ing.
- Free Plan
Who, What, Where Simple Sentence Mini Book
Use this simple sentence mini book to help students identify the parts of a simple sentence.
- Plus Plan
Present Tense Verbs Worksheets
Use these present tense verbs worksheets to help your students identify and use present tense verb forms in a variety of contexts.