Here's a fun, word-play lesson--created by WritingFix lesson author Dena Harrison--from our collection of poetry prompts. This lesson would work wonderfully as a dedicated page in your students' notebooks.

Lesson title: Nash-ing the Animals

Lesson's mentor text: Selected poems by Ogden Nash

Lesson's focus trait: Word Choice (word play)
Lesson's support trait: Idea Development (original ideas)

Lesson summary: Everyone loves the poetry of Ogden Nash!  His silly style and word play entertain people of all ages.  For this mini-lesson, students will discuss some of Mr. Nash’s poetry on animals and write their own short poem(s), imitating his style, in their writer’s notebooks. 

Here's a great lesson from the collection of chapter book prompts that WritingFix began in 2006. NNWP Teacher Consultant Amie Newberry created this lesson, inspired by two of her favorite things to share aloud with her students.

Lesson title: Creating Unique Metaphors

Lesson's mentor text: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and "Dreams" by Langston Hughes

Lesson's focus trait: Word Choice (building on specific nouns)
Lesson's support trait: Idea Development (adding to an idea with figurative language)

Lesson summary: Students will discover metaphors in their world and reading and create their own unique metaphorical descriptions for a collection they devote a page to in their writers notebooks or their journals. Once a collection of unique metaphors has been built in the writers notebook, teachers can challenge students to create a longer piece of writing (poem, narrative, reflection, etc.) that is inspired by one or several of their metaphors.

Here's a great lesson from the collection of chapter book prompts that WritingFix began in 2006; this lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Susan Potter. In the book Flowers for Algernon, the dialect used by the main character--Charlie--shows the reader (instead of just tells) this wonderful character and builds him as a rich and interesting character. This lesson has students devote a page in their notebooks to dialogue sentences that use dialects and show characterization. When the students have a large enough collection, they can choose their favorite sentence of dialect and turn it into a longer scene or a complete story.

Lesson title: "Lawd! Lawd! Lawd!"

Lesson's mentor text: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Lesson's focus trait: Conventions (punctuating dialogue)
Lesson's support trait: Idea Development (showing character traits)

Lesson summary: The writer will craft sentences, using different dialects/sayings with correct dialogue punctuation. The writer will devote a page in his/her writers notebook to these sentences, and throughout the year he/she will be invited to explore a different dialect by adding a new sentence to the page. Late in the year, the writer will choose a favorite dialogue sentence and write an extended scene of dialogue based on that sentence.

Here's a great lesson from the collection of chapter book prompts that WritingFix began in 2006; the lesson was created by Northern Nevada teacher Barbara Cuitino. In chapter one of The Watsons Go to Birminham--1963, the main character--Byron--has quite an embarrassing moment when he gets stuck kissing a frozen car mirror. It is a great chapter to inspire students to self-reflect on their own embarrassing moment.

Lesson title: Leads for a Most Embarrassing Moment

Lesson's mentor text: The Watsons for to Birmingham--1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

Lesson's focus trait: Organization (exploring strong leads)
Lesson's support trait: Idea Development (using details that capture a reader's interest)

Lesson summary: Students will explore good introduction techniques by writing seven new leads to Byron's story about the mirror, and then they will brainstorm seven leads for their own "most embarrassing" story. They will write all seven leads on a decorated page in their writers notebooks, eventually choosing their best lead when they write a complete draft of their most embarrassing moment.

Here's a great lesson from the collection of chapter book prompts that WritingFix began in 2006; the lesson was created by NNWP Director Kim Cuevas. In the book Chasing Vermeer, the main character--Petra--keeps a writer's notebook, and in chapter three, we witness her describing things she sees by using words that an artist would paint with. This lesson requires students to create a descriptive paragraph, inspired by the writing Petra writes in her writer's notebook. After students create a final draft of one, write it on a page in the writers notebook, then challenge them to create others, building a collection of artistic description in their notebooks.

Lesson title: Writing Like an Artist Paints

Lesson's mentor text: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

Lesson's focus trait: Idea Development (using strong and memorable details)
Lesson's support trait: Word Choice (using words that make the reader think of art)

Lesson summary: The writer will compose a descriptive paragraph that focuses on some object moving quickly past a character who is standing still.  Like Balliett does in Chasing Vermeer, the writer will use a healthy (both controlled) dose of artistic words, so the written scene comes across as painting-like.  The goal is to make writers more aware of the power of using words creatively in writing.