Give your students one article each from a magazine for children. Alternatively, give each a short story. Give them time to read the texts, and ask them to write what they think are the writer's five main ideas. Once they have done this, ask a few volunteers to read the main ideas they wrote down and discuss why they chose those. Give feedback about the main ideas they mention.
Assign each student a different topic, which can range anywhere from a type of animal to a historical event. Ask the students to research their topics using online or print encyclopedias, and instruct them to write a one-page analysis of the topic based on one or two encyclopedia articles. Encourage students to cover in their papers the main ideas of the encyclopedia article(s) and the strengths and weaknesses of the article(s) they choose.
Give your students 10 sentences each. Every sentence contains two underlined words your students are probably not very familiar with. Ask the students to use clues in the context of each sentence to make an educated guess of the words' meanings.. Assign the students to write two or three paragraph stories that contain the underlined words for which they now have a meaning.
You can do this exercise by playing one song in class or sending students home with a whole CD. After they listen to the song or CD, instruct them to write a review of it by writing down what the song is about -- what the story and the message the song writer is trying to tell the audience is about. Give students feedback on what they have written.