8th Grade Writing-Expository Activities

A brief Powerpoint on how to quote and cite in order to guide student's writing.

• Do you need help getting your students to understand how text is structured and how authors craft their writing?
• Do you want them to practice aligning ideas and writing their own?

Help your students master paragraph structure with this comprehensive resource designed for middle and high school learners. "Building Strong Paragraphs" focuses on key writing skills such as identifying topic sentences, supporting details, and crafting thesis statements. This ready-to-use packet includes practice worksheets, engaging exercises, and thesis sentence-building activities that will enhance your students' writing abilities.

Ideal for both informational and argumentative writing, this resource walks students through the entire process of constructing well-organized, coherent paragraphs. Whether you're teaching how to develop supporting sentences, transition between ideas, or conclude effectively, this resource covers it all!

What's Included:

• Graphic Organizer for understanding structure
• Identification exercise
• Two Unique Passages per skill: topic sentences, thesis statements, supporting sentences & concluding sentences
• 9 Passages
• 20 Pages
• Available as a PDF and a Word Document

Perfect for:

• Grades 6-10
• English Language Arts (ELA) Teachers
• Writing Workshops
• STAAR Writing Prep
• Argumentative and Informational Essay Practice

Benefits of this Resource:

• Aligned with Common Core Standards and TEKS for writing.
• Great for differentiated learning in classrooms with ELLs and students needing extra practice.
• Supports critical thinking and writing clarity.

Who is this for?

• Middle and High School Teachers: Perfect for educators looking to strengthen their students’ paragraph-writing skills with structured, step-by-step activities.
• ELA Teachers: Aligned with TEKS and Common Core standards, this resource is ideal for anyone teaching informational and argumentative writing.
• Students Preparing for Standardized Tests: Great for test prep, including STAAR writing, helping students improve clarity, coherence, and overall writing structure.
• Special Education & ELL Support: Easily adaptable for differentiated instruction, making it an excellent tool for classrooms with diverse learners, including English Language Learners and students with varying writing levels.
• Homeschool Educators: A valuable resource for guiding students through the fundamentals of paragraph writing at home.

15 famous plagiarism cases and students get to "be the judge"! Fact based handouts with real life cases and research component to build critical thinking, plagiarism, and research skills. includes: 15 Famous People: MLK, Jr. Barack Obama Joe Biden Ray Parker Michael Bolton John Fogerty George Harrison T.S. Eliot Melania Trump Vanilla Ice J.K. Rowling Robin Thicke Jane Goodall Johnny Cash Helen Keller Handouts include: 15 black and white famous people images (optional: color these) Backgrounds of person Plagiarism charges Debates over charges Research component Verdicts of cases Guilty or Innocent boxes Guilty or Innocent evidence t-charts 3 Narrative and Rhetorical Discussion/Writing Prompts on each handout = 45 prompts (each with a "You be the judge..." prompt) Note: Does NOT include copies of lyrics, novels, or speeches due to copyright infringement laws. These are used to enhance students' research skills. Fun, engaging, and educational way to learn about plagiarism and explore real life connections to the topic while using research skills. Excellent for introduction to plagiarism, follow-up to unit, assessment of skills, character building, homeschool, AP/Pre-AP, dual credit, adult learners, ELL/ESL upper level learners, flipped classes, literature centers, building research skills, and real life connections to writing. Provides basic history of famous people. Use with: Having Fun with Plagiarism at: https://www.TeachShare.com/Product/Having-Fun-with-Plagiarism-155008 Plagiarism Quiz at: https://www.TeachShare.com/Product/Plagiarism-Quiz-167314 Follow Educator Helper Blogspot for weekly free products and tips at: http://bethhammett.blogspot.com/

Use this AVID resource when students begin their argumentative writing! Students will quickly develop arguments on a variety of topics through a speed style variation of Philosophical Chairs. In turn, students will not only craft their thesis statements and come up with arguments for their essays, but they will also increase their public speaking and collaboration skills!

Overview:

Philosophical Chairs: Speed Formation utilizes many of the same components of the classic version, but is a fun, fast-paced variation that can be utilized during shortened class periods. This variation of Philosophical Chairs should only be utilized after students have developed their skills through the classic style.

What's Included:

• 1 student objective slides
• 1 overview slide
• 1 argumentative prompt slide
• 2 thesis statement teaching slides
• 6 rules of engagement slides/steps
• 2 basic norm slides
• 1 google doc where students reflect on the philosophical chairs

Click HERE to see our other AVID resources. We also have several great AVID bundle options available down below!

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The first version of our Collaborative Story Time has been so popular that we decided to create a second edition to give our valued teachers more options. You do not need to have the first edition to enjoy this one but definitely check it out!

"Collaborative Story Time" is a communal writing activity in which students practice using Freytag's Pyramid plot structure in their own narrative writing. In this activity, each student begins a story inspired by a unique evocative photograph. They are prompted to write the exposition of the tale by introducing the setting and main characters. After the allotted amount of time, the story is then passed to another student who is prompted to write the inciting incident or conflict and begin to detail the rising action. The paper is passed from student to student twice more until the story is resolved. When the stories are finished, the worksheet is returned to the original student who can then make edits and is responsible for producing a final draft.

With this intrinsically engaging activity, each student has the chance to tap into their creativity while applying knowledge of the 7 steps of Freytag's Pyramid. It is a great activity to introduce or reinforce the plot diagram and is perfect for a Friday, a substitute plan, or simply for when students need a creative break without sacrificing learning and hard work. I trust you will find that your students will ask for this activity again and again!

Product Includes:

• 30 unique "Collaborative Story Time" worksheets with evocative photographs (2-sided)
• 1 blank worksheet so that you may include your own picture or photograph

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And because your students will be begging for more of these unique communal writing activities:

⭐ Christmas Collaborative Writing Activity

⭐ Fall Themed Collaborative Writing Activity

⭐ Halloween Collaborative Writing Activity

⭐ Summer Collaborative Writing Activity

⭐ Valentine's Day Collaborative Writing Activity

⭐ Winter Themed Collaborative Writing Activity

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Digital Writing Prompts for Growth Mindset - Fun and Engaging!

Post the link in Google Classroom, or project the link so your students can make a copy of this Google Slides presentation.

The students open the Google Slides Document “Copy of Growth Mindset Journal” from their Google Drive.

Don't want to use a digital copy? Print the included PDF for your kids!

Each Journal is 10 pages - a total of 20 slides for both the digital and print copy.

Each month the students complete one slide of the Growth Mindset Journal. This can be done in one day, or one section of the journal each week. Instructions for each slide are in the notes section of Google Slides.

At the end of the year, you can print each student’s journal so they can have a hard copy.

Check out these fabulous resources!

Growth Mindset Poster Set.

5th Grade Math Interactive Notebook.

Interactive Word Wall.

Reading Logs for a Full Year.

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Inspire your students with our Pumpkin-Themed Writing Paper! Perfect for fall-themed activities, this fun pumpkin-shaped design will make writing assignments more engaging. Featuring clip art pumpkins around the main shape, you can easily choose from six different line styles to suit your students' needs. Each style is also available with or without name and date lines for added convenience.

Check out my store for more themed writing paper!

Gamify learning and foster critical thinking with this fun and engaging game to review claim, counterargument, and rebuttal. This Balderdash-style game, including 60 game cards, requires students to think on their feet and stretch their thinking by creating claim statements or counterarguments (with rebuttals) to be voted on by the player "hosting" the round, depending on the type of card drawn ("Topic" or "Claim").

Resource Includes:

• Game instructions
• Printable Point Tally Card & Blank Answer Cards
• 30 Topic Cards
• 30 Claim Cards

Educational Benefits:

• Low prep, high engagement
• Supports argumentative constructed response writing
• Targeted skill practice
• Encourages students to think beyond their own point of view
• Differentiated playing cards
  -Cards vary and include simple, humorous, and more challenging topics/claims to respond to

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Follow along with Mandy in the Middle for more resources!

This includes two Articles "The History of Narcissistic

Personality Disorder" and "Selfies, Facebook, and Narcissism: What's the Link? Exploring the link between Facebook and Narcissism" plus a graph titled "College Students' Narcissistic Personality Inventory Scores 1982-2006" . After reading these two articles students are given a prompt for an expository essay on narcissism. There is also an outline sheet included for students to use in order to help them organize their essay. Plus a rubric for easy grading of final essay.

***** Check out my other Writing Resources*****

Counterclaim and Rebuttal

Interactive Essay Writing Flipbook

Argumentative Essay

Writing Thesis Statements

Essay prompt and articles: Hurricanes

Essay prompt and articles: Colonization in Africa

Get ready for argumentative units with this engaging activity centered around persuasive techniques in rhetorical devices, and logical fallacies.

Teacher students what makes a good and bad argument with a short lesson and 5 practice paragraphs to evaluate for effectiveness. Afterwards, students can practice rhetorical devices in advertisements and analyze why the device was chosen (author's purpose).

ALSO INCLUDED IS AN EXTENSION ACTIVITY where students can get creative and make their own ads.

- Teacher directions

- Grading Rubric

- Student instructions

- Research and Brainstorm document

(no templates for creation are included)

PROVIDED IN WORD/POWERPOINT & PDF

One-page quiz for introduction or assessment to working with citations. Whole group or individual activity that combines technology and how to properly cite research materials.

Are you an AVID teacher or English Language arts teacher? Need to explain how to write a thesis statement in an argumentative essay to middle or high school students? In this product you will find everything you need to help your students craft their thesis statements!

What You Get:

✏️5 teach slides

✏️"make it better" activity direction slide

✏️7 bad thesis statements

✏️7 better thesis statement examples

✏️argumentative writing prompt

✏️21 argumentative writing topic ideas

✏️4 steps guiding students in crafting their thesis statements

Make it Better Directions:

• Each slide students will be given a bad thesis statement.
• In small groups, their goal is to fix it and make it better.
• Classmates, selected judges, or teacher will vote on the best one and that group earns a point.

Click HERE to see our other AVID resources. We also have several great AVID bundle options available down below!

AVID Mega Growing Bundle

AVID Teambuilding Bundle

AVID Writing Bundle

Follow KJ Inspired Resources:

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*Note this product may be used in brick and mortar classes as well as virtual systems like Outschool

Includes prompts for writing informative and argumentative essays. Also includes writing powerpoints, outlines, and rubrics

Ready for a road trip? My Road Trip to the Top Ten National U.S. Parks lets you think about and plan to visit the top ten U.S. national parks:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Grand Canyon National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

Olympic National Park

Zion Canyon National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Acadia National Park

Glacier National Park

35 pages of fact-based fun and interesting facts, such as how many visitors pass through parks and scenic and wildlife information, along with where each park is located. Note park spellings are based on National Park Service website for student research purposes.

Includes:

Directions with Ideas for Implementation and for Assessment

Includes writing prompts, diorama, research ideas, and more...

Research and Writing Components

Math and Science Skills Connections

Info Sheet Handout with Junior Ranger Motto and core values of the

National Park Service

My Road Trip U.S. Map to plot itineraries

My Road Trip Mileage Chart for incorporating math skills

Location of Parks

Established Dates of Parks

Sizes of Parks

Scenic Beauty coloring sheet for each park

Scenic Beauty facts

Fact Boxes to add visitor/researched info

Fun Sheet to List the Top 5 places to visit in each park

Record Yearly Temperatures and Averages (Science)

Best Time to Visit

Best Features

Excellent across curriculum lesson plan that encourages critical thinking and planning skills for a fun U.S. national parks road trip! Students who have visited listed parks can be class experts as the lesson plan progresses.

Meets CCSS.

Need a great accompanying packet?

Try "Dialects of the U.S." at Educator Helper storefront.

This includes two Articles "How do hurricanes form? A step-by-step guide" and "How Do Hurricanes Form?" plus a graph titled "Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale" . After reading these two articles students are given a prompt for an expository essay on how hurricanes are formed. There is also an outline sheet included for students to use in order to help them organize their essay. Plus a rubric for easy grading of final essay.

***** Check out my other Writing Resources*****

Writing Thesis Statements

Counterclaim and Rebuttal

Writing Graphic Organizers

Interactive Essay Writing Flipbook

Argumentative Essay

Essay prompt and articles :Narcissism

Essay prompt and articles: Colonization in Africa

Students can chart Earth's changes from the beginning of time through the future with this 35 page, interactive timeline for students to make and share. Uses fact-based writing, inferencing skills, interpreting information, research skills, application of knowledge, and writing skills.

Includes handouts/printables of:

Directions

Extra Handout/Video Resources

5 Title pages

5 The End pages

My Earth Timeline page to fill in

Covers time periods:

Beginning of Earth

Compare/Contrast over how Earth was formed

Cambrian Period

Permian Period

Mesozoic Period

Forming of 7 Continents

Stone Age

Ice Age

Neolithic Period

Bronze Age and hieroglyphics

Pyramids/Stonehenge

Iron Age

Hellenistic Period

Roman Period

Byzantine Period

Middle Ages: Classic, Middle, Modern

Renaissance and Reformation

Enlightenment and Age of Reason

Industrial Revolution

20th and 21st Century

What about Earth's future?

A brief overview of Earth's time periods for students to learn about, and review then apply knowledge to complete their books. Can be used for assessment, journaling activities, history/social studies, for celebrating Earth Day, or as overview of unit on how Earth was formed and changed. Requires critical thinking skills for completion.

Have you ever wondered how fake news makes such big headlines? Circular reporting, or false confirmation, is the term used to show how information spreads and becomes truth. This active learning, critical thinking, visual lesson plan and presentation introduces students to how we believe, and how false news spreads, as well as introduces how to define research sources. Students learn about primary, secondary, and tertiary sources for research and writing. Contains upper level current events content; use with appropriate ages and grades. Activities and Lesson Plan Includes: Teacher Lesson Plans with Step-by-Step Discussion Guide Evaluating Valid Information (Dr. Jeremy Dean) Class Poll: Gullible or Skeptical? False Advertisement by April Uno about Phillip Morris (Marijuana) Descartes and Spinoza 17th Century Debate on How We Believe Daniel Gilbert's 1993 Robbery Study Define: Circular Reporting and False Confirmation How False Information is Circulated 1994 Microsoft Hoax Benghazi and False Reporting Examples of False Information Reported as Truth How to Avoid Circular Reporting Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources (with labeling activity) Re-evaluating Beliefs and Class Poll Discussion Questions on Citing Sources and Social Media Optional Activities: Classic Telephone Game, Class Debate and Jury Trial, Evaluating Websites Excellent for teaching fact-based information, citing sources, propaganda in the news, journalism reporting, beliefs/ethics/morals, AP courses, Dual Credit, Philosophy. Lots of engaging, critical thinking activities for debates and discussions. Meets CCSS ELA.

The first Friday in June is National Doughnut Day! Celebrate the day with this across-curriculum packet of fun-filled, critical thinking activities. Includes: Advertisement writing and designing Business Planning Handout and Rationale Crossword Puzzle with answers (quick assessment) Doughnut Designing Contest History Timeline Making Donuts Presentation with Research Survey with Chart/Graph and Explanation Vocabulary/Spelling Activity Writing Prompts (Expository) Great way to incorporate CCSS history, economics, home ec, and English skills.

Can you persuade your group members to let you have the serum to survive the plague? Students use higher level critical thinking skills to convince, debate, persuade, and outwit others to save their lives! 35 pages that includes: Directions Differentiated Project Ideas 24 male avatars 24 female avators Character traits Character flaws Character Reflection Sheet Extra Resources Students choose their avatars, fill out character sheets traits and flaws, and use their bargaining skills to try to survive the deadly plague! Includes whole group option, as well, and other activities for expository writings, oral presentations, and more... Excellent for use in ELA, SS/History,Science, and Life Skills classes. Helpful with units covering character studies, life skills, the Middle Ages, epidemics, major events in history, and more. Meets CCSS.

Students learn to write a thesis statement with this interactive presentation. Comes with: Handouts Examples Individual and group writing activities Peer Workshopping Answer Key Supplemental Resources Easy to understand, implement, and use as introduction, reinforcement, or assessment. Meets CCSS.