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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Common and Proper Nouns - Google Interactive Activity
Identify common and proper nouns by sorting words in their context.
- Free Plan
Readers Theater – Play Writing Template
A template for students to use when writing their own Readers Theater script.
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Cursive Practice - Sentences
A set of 6 sheets to practice writing sentences in cursive.
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How to Make a Paper Airplane – Procedural Writing Worksheet
Explore how to make a paper airplane while your students fine-tune their procedural writing skills.
- Free Plan
5 W's Graphic Organizer
A blank 5 W's graphic organizer to use when planning a piece of writing text.
- Free Plan
Opinion Writing Checklist
Now your students can make sure that they have everything they need in their opinion text.
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Four Types of Sentences Poster Collection - Primary and Intermediate
Display these posters highlighting the four types of sentences and teach your students to use varied sentence types in their writing.
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Capital Letter and Period Scavenger Hunt Worksheet
A reading passage and 2 engaging worksheets that explore the importance of capital letter and periods.
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Themed Letter Writing Template Pack
Print and use a letter writing template each month to encourage your students to write friendly letters.
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Narrative Text Type Poster With Annotations
Display this narrative text with annotations to help students identify the structure of a narrative.
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How to Plant a Garden – Procedural Writing Project
Get your students writing high-quality procedure texts with this fun “How to Plant a Garden” procedural writing project.
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I Am Poem Template
Get to know your students and create back-to-school poems with a printable ‘I Am… Poem template.
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Build a Procedure Text – Cut and Paste Worksheets
Use these different examples of procedure writing to teach your students about the structural features of procedure texts.
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Persuasive Techniques Worksheet Pack
Explore persuasive techniques with your students using this nine-page worksheet pack perfect for your persuasive writing unit.
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PEEL Paragraph Structure Poster and Worksheets
Explore the acronym PEEL to help with paragraph technique during opinion writing lessons.
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Informative Text Writing Task – How Does the Water Cycle Work?
A scaffolded writing task for students to complete when learning about the informative text type.
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Synonyms- Printable Flashcards
Build vocabulary skills with individual Synonym anchor chart flash cards.
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Opinion Writing Teaching Slides
Teach your students about the structure and language features of opinion texts with an interactive teaching slide deck.
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Prepositions Practice Worksheet
Use prepositions and prepositional phrases to describe the location with a prepositional phrase worksheet.
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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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Reflexive Pronoun Worksheet
With this worksheet, students will understand reflexive pronouns and how they are used in sentences.
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Soccer vs. Football -Differentiated Paired Passage Worksheets
Differentiate reading instruction with nonfiction texts, compare and contrast activities, and response to text writing opportunities.
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Contractions Practice Worksheets
Reinforce the concept of contractions with eight worksheets designed for primary learners.
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Reading and Writing Nonfiction Text: Earth Day Close Read Worksheets
Enhance your students' comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills with this nonfiction Earth Day passage and accompanying activities.
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Blending Phonemes Secret Message-Matching Activity
Blend phonemes to build words and uncover the secret message!
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Where is the Dinosaur? - Positional Words - Differentiated Worksheets
Use this set of differentiated worksheets to practice positional words (prepositions).
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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).
- Free Plan
Adverbs of Frequency Poster
Use this eye-catching poster in your primary classroom when teaching children about adverbs of frequency.
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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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Cursive Alphabet Chart - Printable Cursive Practice Sheets
A set of 6 sheets to practice writing letters in cursive.
- Free Plan
Common and Proper Nouns Sort - Cut and Paste Worksheet
A sorting worksheet to practice identifying common and proper nouns.