Scaffolding opinion writing essays using sentence starters, paragraph frames, and templates in upper elementary

Scaffolding an Opinion Writing Essay With Frames and Templates

Teaching opinion writing to your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade students soon?  Use the sentence starters and paragraph frames below in your lessons to help students structure their writing, use transitional words, stay on topic, and support their opinions. Templates like the examples below are a great way to introduce opinion writing.  The hope is that eventually, students will go …

Tips and strategies to teach theme so 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students actually understand

Teaching Theme So Students Actually Understand

Teaching theme to 3rd grade, 4th grade, or 5th grade students is just plain HARD. Theme is an abstract idea, making it really hard for teachers to put into words and even harder for students to grasp. If your students are struggling with understanding theme, rest assured that they are not alone!  Teachers all over the world have this same …

helping students be successful writing a compare and contrast essay in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade

Scaffolding a Compare and Contrast Essay With Frames and Templates

Writing can be hard and frustrating for upper elementary students; writing a compare and contrast essay can be even harder and more frustrating. Often, this skill gets pushed to the back burner.  It is a lot easier to practice comparing and contrasting with things that take less time – like by using a Venn Diagram.   However, teaching 3rd, 4th, and …

Help your upper elementary students (third, fourth, and fifth grade) better understand how to find the main idea of a passage

Teaching Main Idea / Central Idea – Activities to Build Understanding

Teaching main idea and supporting details / central idea to 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students can be a very frustrating experience; it is such a difficult skill to understand.  Very few of my lessons seemed to have an effect on my 3rd grade students – either they understood how to find the main idea without my help, or they …