Writing

These are the main programs and instructional approaches I will be using to teach writing this year:

Six Traits of Writing

When you read a great story, or a fascinating article, what captures your attention and makes you want to keep reading? This year, students will begin to learn about the Six Traits of Writing that are important to communicating clearly and engaging readers.

The Six Traits are the key characteristics of good writing. Learning the Six Traits will give students the tools to develop and improve their own writing. We will read wonderful picture books together that model great writing and we will talk about how the author used interesting words (word choice) or described something very well (ideas). We will connect the reading and writing process together by focusing on the traits one at a time.

What Are the Six Traits?

Ideas: Good writing has clear ideas, a purpose or focus. It should have specific ideas and enough details to "paint a picture" in the reader's mind. Good writers show, don't tell.

Organization: An effective writer is well organized and thinks about the beginning, middle and end of a piece of writing. The writer uses proper paragraphs and transition words if needed. The ideas are easy to follow.

Voice: An author with voice connects with the audience. The writer shows his or her personal voice, personality or style of writing. The voice should fit with the author's purpose for writing.

Word Choice: Sentences should have strong and specific words that deliver the message. The writer uses adjectives, adverbs and well chosen verbs and nouns to help illustrate his or her ideas. Words are not repeated over and over, unless it is for effect.

Sentence Fluency: A good writer uses sentences that vary in length with a variety of sentence beginnings. Their writing flows smoothly from sentence to sentence.

Conventions: Strong writing is edited for grammar, punctuation, capitalization and spelling so the writer's ideas are understood.

The Writing Process

Students will learn how to use the writing process to improve their writing for all formal writing assignments. Active participation in the writing process is an important part of a student's final grade for each assignment.

We will have opportunities to write and publish on the computer and iPads as well as with pencil and paper. When completing writing assignments, we will only focus on spelling, grammar and punctuation during editing so we don't stop our ideas from flowing! Students will develop their ability to express themselves by writing proper sentences and paragraphs in both narrative and expository writing. We will publish our work by reading it aloud to our class, posting it on the classroom walls, adding it to writing portfolios and sharing it online.

Graphic Organizers

Below you will find links to some graphic organizers that may help with students writing assignments at home. These graphic organizers and more will be available in the classroom for students to use during the writing process.