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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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.
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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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Declaration of Independence- Constructed Response Passage Worksheet
Blend reading, writing, and historical concepts with the Declaration of Independence worksheet.
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Is/Are, Was/Were Subject Verb Agreement Interactive Activity
Embed subject-verb agreement practice into digital learning with this Google Slides Interactive activity.
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Trace, Draw, and Order Sentences Worksheets
A set of sentence building worksheets.
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Making Sentences – Cut and Paste Worksheets
A set of 10 cut and paste worksheets for making short sentences.
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Reflexive Pronouns – Worksheet
A worksheet that focuses on reflexive pronouns.
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Grade 5 Daily Warm-Up – PowerPoint 3
A 82-slide PowerPoint presentation containing a variety of quick warm-up activities.
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Five Senses Graphic Organizer
A graphic organizer to use when brainstorming sights, sounds, smells, touches, and tastes.
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Narrative Paragraphs Sequencing Activity
6 jumbled narrative paragraphs for students to sequence in the correct order.
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Seven Sensational Story Starters PowerPoint
A 10 slide editable PowerPoint template of story starters to use in narrative writing.
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Sequencing Activity - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Informative Text)
A sequencing task using an informative text.
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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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Writing a Haiku Poem Worksheet
Learn how to write a haiku poem with this two-page worksheet.
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Procedural Writing Templates – "How to" Prompts
Get your students to write procedural texts with this set of differentiated procedure writing prompt templates.
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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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Cursive Writing Worksheets PDF - Alphabet
Practice writing the alphabet in cursive with a pack of printable cursive alphabet worksheets.
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Exaggeration and Hyperbole Interactive Activity
Explore hyperbole examples with your students using this digital game perfect for lesson warm-ups or lesson wrap-ups.
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Animals That Adapt - Research Project & Report
Strengthen your students' understanding of conducting research with an Animal Adaptations research project.
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Persuasive Writing Graphic Organizer Pack
Help students gather their thoughts during persuasive writing with this differentiated set of graphic organizers.
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Rhetorical Devices Anchor Charts
Support students to improve their persuasive writing with these rhetorical devices anchor charts.
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Cornell Notes Template
Help your students organize their notes with a free Cornell Notes Template.
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Exploring Opinion Pieces PowerPoint - Grade 1 and Grade 2
A 35 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the structure and language features of opinion pieces.
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Spelling CCVC Words - Worksheets (Differentiated)
Develop students’ ability to segment and blend the sounds in CCVC words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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Synonyms- Printable Flashcards
Build vocabulary skills with individual Synonym anchor chart flash cards.
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Spring Writing Prompts for Beginning Writers
Celebrate a new season with Spring writing worksheets for primary grades.
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Escape from Pete's Pumpkin Patch - Halloween Escape Room
Escape the evil witch who turns children into pumpkins at Pete’s Pumpkin Patch using inferencing, problem solving, and grammar skills
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Spring Writing Prompts for Beginning Writers
Celebrate Spring and encourage creativity with Spring writing worksheets for Kindergarten and first grade.
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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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Author's Purpose Teaching Presentation
Teach your students to identify the author’s purpose in a text with a teaching presentation.
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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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Dear Future Student – Trifold Template
Use this template with your class to write about interesting grade-level information, experiences, and tips for incoming students.