FREE Six Traits of Writing Mini Lessons – Ideas

Get a FREE sample of 3 Six Traits of Writing mini lessons focused on the Ideas trait in informational writing!

These brief, teacher-led mini lessons are designed to take approximately 10–15 minutes and help students develop strong ideas for their writing. Each lesson targets a different grade band, making this resource useful for elementary teachers in grades K–5.

This FREE resource includes 3 Ideas mini lessons:

• Grades K–1: Sparking Ideas
• Grades 2–3: Getting Focused
• Grades 4–5: Choosing a Topic

These lessons are part of a larger collection of 18 informational writing mini lessons covering all Six Traits of Writing: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Sentence Fluency, Word Choice, and Conventions.

The lessons were developed to support teachers using a trait-based approach to writing instruction and incorporate mentor texts and lesson ideas inspired by The Writing Thief by Ruth Culham. Ideas and language originating from the book are clearly cited within the resource.

Use these mini lessons during your writing workshop, whole-group instruction, small groups, or as a quick introduction to the Ideas trait.

Try these three lessons for FREE, then check out the complete 18-lesson Six Traits of Writing bundle for even more writing instruction!

This is a FREE digital download in PDF format.