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Writer's Block
By Cara Bafile
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Grade Level: 3-6
Story Preview: When his teacher assigns what seems like a simple writing exercise, John discovers hes out of ideas. Characters from his imagination -- a cowboy, a wicked queen, a longed-for pet, and others -- help him overcome "writer's block." In the end, readers realize that the script theyve just read is John's play.
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Roles: Narrator, John, Cowboy, Astronaut, Samson, Wicked Queen, and Mom
Setting: present day
Theme: creative writing
Vocabulary:
- conflict: disagreement
- frustration: disappointment or aggravation
- buckaroo: cowboy
- cowpoke: cowboy
- destination: place one is going to
- persuade: win over
- betrayal: to mislead
- hideous: ugly or horrible
- villains: characters who act against the hero
- fantasy: something imagined
- banter: joking or clever chat
Props: none required
Follow-Up Questions:
- What was Mr. Lern's assignment to the class?
- What nursery rhyme is John talking about when he says one of his ideas has "been done"?
- What characters speak to John?
- Who is Samson? Why does John consider writing about him?
- Who suggests that John write about real events?
- What does John write about? Is it real or fantasy?
Follow-Up Activity:
Help students avoid the frustration of writer's block by having them generate a personal writing list. Ask them to write down at least ten topics they would like to explore through writing. They might consider family members, friends, vacations and trips, other memories, books or stories theyve read, famous people they would like to meet, and so on. Encourage students to keep their lists in a journal or other safe place for future reference.
Additional Notes:
A few additional tips that can assist youngsters in overcoming writer's block are
- Break down the assignment.
- Discuss ideas with parents, teachers, and peers.
- Write the assignment as a letter to a friend.
- Jot down ideas on a personal writing list.
- Respond to something read.
- Use a writing prompt.
Click here for a printable script.
Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2007 Education World
03/09/2007
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Lesson Plan: Different Types and Sources of Energy
Subject: Science
Grade: 4
Lesson Objective: To understand that there are different types and sources of energy
Next Gen Science Standard: 4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
Starter:
Say:
What do you think energy is? (Allow the students to answer.)
Main:
Say:
Today, we are going to be talking about energy.
Energy is power that comes from a source and is used to provide light, heat or to work machines.
There are different kinds of energy and energy comes from different sources.
One type of energy is kinetic (ki-ne-tic) energy and one type of energy is potential energy.
Kinetic energy is energy that is in motion. A ball bouncing is using kinetic energy.
Potential energy is stored energy. A ball that is sitting at the top of a hill has potential energy.
When you are sitting at your desk with your hands on your desk, your hands have potential energy. When you raise your hand or move your hand to write, your hand has kinetic energy.
Now, we are going to talk about the sources of energy. That means where energy comes from.
Energy comes from many different places.
Coal, natural gas and oil are all burned and then turned into energy.
Energy can also come from the sun, wind, heat in the Earth, water and natural things like wood and corn.
Energy comes from the sun is called solar energy. Solar panels soak up the sun and turn it into energy.
Wind, energy and heat from the Earth are all caught and used to make energy.
Wood, manure and corn can be burned and that is used to make energy.
Energy is transferred from place to place and can then be used to produce motion, sound, heat or light.
You are now going to look around the room and make a list of the different places where you see energy being transferred and producing something.
Does anyone have any questions?
Allow about 10 minutes for the students to make a list of places where energy is being transferred.
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share the list that you made? (Allow the students to answer and share.)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2018 Education World
Image by wpclipart.com
Lesson Plan: Changes in Habitat
Subject: Science
Grade: 3
Lesson Objective: To understand that changes to an environment can be dangerous
Next Gen Science Standard: 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Starter:
Say:
How do plants and animals in a habitat depend on each other? (Allow the students to answer- students should explain that animals eat plants that grow and then other animals eat those animals. When animals die, they put nutrients in the soil that helps the plants to grow.)
Main:
Say:
Last class we talked about how the plants and animals in habitats rely on each other to survive.
Today, we are going to talk about what happens to the plants and animals in a habitat if there are changes to the environment.
Sometimes there are changes to an environment or habitat. These changes can happen for different reasons.
Some of the changes happen because of something that people do or because of weather patterns or a natural disaster.
Animals and plants in habitats are affected by any change that happens to an environment.
Any change to an environment can cause a change in the way that living things interact or depend on each other.
People often cut down trees to make room for farms or for houses.
When trees are cut down, it takes away places for animals to live and it takes away food from animals that eat the leaves or fruit from the trees.
This can be very dangerous to the animals in that habitat because if they cannot eat, they will die. Then, the animals that eat those animals will not have food either.
Sometimes making changes to an environment like cutting down many trees can cause a change in temperature or rainfall in that habitat.
This will make it difficult for the plants and animals that live in that habitat because they are not used to the new temperature or amount of rainfall.
Air and water pollution also cause problems for animals that live in habitats that are affected.
Any change to an environment can cause really big problems for plants and animals in a habitat.
The changes can make the plants and animals in that habitat die.
We just talked about how changes to the environment can be very dangerous for the plants and animals that live in a habitat.
Please take out your notebooks.
You are going to write a few sentences describing what makes changes to an environment dangerous.
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share what you wrote about what makes changes to an environment dangerous? (Allow the students to share.)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimbery is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2018 Education World
Image courtesy of: wpclipart.com
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