Students will observe dance movements depicted in a drawing and a painting. Partners will use simple lines to draw their partner's movements and paint dance costumes on the figures using various brushstrokes. Students will write a persuasive speech to the school superintendent explaining why they believe dance should be a regular part of the curriculum. They will then model dance movements for classmates in teams of four and recite their persuasive speech to the class.

This unit teaches students to identify the persuasive techniques used by
advertisers to entice you to buy their products. Students learn to evaluate the
messages they are hearing, differentiate facts and opinions, and determine their
own opinions. I use this unit to lead into persuasive writing.

The resource offers video lessons on the three of the writing traits at the grade 3 level, using the resource "Write Traits Student Traitbook" Grade 3, by V. Spandel and J. Hicks.
The traits covered include:
- organization
- word choice
- sentence fluency

The resource offers multiple video lessons for each of the writing traits at the grade 5 level, using the resource "Write Traits Student Traitbook" Grade 5, by V. Spandel and J. Hicks.
The traits include:
- ideas
- organization
- voice
- word choice
- sentence fluency
- conventions and presentation are embedded throughout the unit lessons

The resource offers multiple video lessons for each of the writing traits at the grade 6 level, using the resource "Write Traits Student Traitbook" Grade 6, by V. Spandel and J. Hicks.
The traits include:
- ideas
- organization
- word choice
- sentence fluency
- voice
- conventions and presentation are embedded throughout the unit lessons

In this writing mini unit we developed our Persuasive Writing Skills moving towards being able to write a
Before
- Discussion of prior knowledge of persuasive writing
During
- Watched a SMART exchange video on persuasive writing
- Reviewed understanding of and practiced doing some persuasive exercises
- Read various examples of persuasive writing and noted the differences and similarities. (Also, noting the variety of writing dress-ups; so that we can hear the persuasive words.)
- Co-constructed criteria for the writing process of persuasive writing.
- Students created their own persuasive paragraph writing examples.
- Learned how to improve so the writing incorporated the specific writing strategy and dress-ups so that the listener, reader could hear the conviction of being persuaded.
- Students then chose one of their samples to create a power point presentation for class.
After
- Analyzed the writing using the criteria together as a class. Using the feedback we will created another piece of persuasive writing. The final goal: moving towards the five paragraph essay process/product.

In this minilesson, students practice identifying and purposefully using vocabulary in persuasive writing that is intended to have an emotional impact on the reader.

Students will imagine that they are an 18th-century "marchand-mercier", or salesman, and will write a persuasive letter to sell a French bed, the "Lit a la Polonaise", along with other bedroom furnishings for a client.

Using an interactive mapping template, students are guided to design an argument for a persuasive essay or debate. After the Persuasion Map is created, it may be printed, emailed or saved.