Choice Piece At Home

Choice Piece at Home

Due Date: Monday, 12/17

Any student questions must be directed to Mrs. Stone by FRIDAY AT 2PM.

If you need us to print your choice piece, requests are due FRIDAY AT 3PM.

Due to the amount of students working on this project, we will not accept requests to print after that point.

Please take the time to read through these directions with your student. This is the best way to insure that all steps of the writing process are completed carefully and with the intention to get the best writing piece possible! Please sign the bottom of this page and return. Your student will bring it back home after I record. You can also find a copy of this document on my website.

What should I be doing first?

First, create a recipe for your new Choice Piece. That means you need a topic, genre, purpose & audience. Next, read an example or two of your chosen genre to get a better feel for your goal. Then, you can begin to work through the writing process at your own pace. Use the Writing Process Guide (attached) to help you remember what you should do for each step. Please note: The writing recipe was done in class and approved on November 15. You will find it in the folder.

Can I get help from adults at home?

Yes! Of course, all the actual writing should be done by you, but the more adults who read your writing and ask questions, the more you will think about what you have written and how to make it better. The Writing Process Guide explains each stage of the process so adults will have an idea of how to help you, including final expectations for a published piece.

Can I get help from my teacher?

Absolutely! You may speak with Mrs. Stone during Paws or Homeroom about your piece if she is not working with other students. Please come with specific questions, and don’t wait until the last minute!

Your Voice Matters—Happy Writing!

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Writing Process Guide

Pre-writing: There are three parts to pre-writing:

1. First, students should create a recipe that includes the student’s chosen topic, genre, purpose and audience. Done in class, November 15.

2. Second, students should brainstorm: this looks like lists of words/phrases, webs or even pictures to get ideas down on paper. Complete sentences at this stage are discouraged so that a writer doesn't get too attached to particular wording before looking at the piece as a whole. I have included a brainstorming template to use. Brainstorm by answering some questions:

· Who, what, where, when, why and how

· What senses could be shown (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste)

· What feelings could be part of this

3. Third, students should organize their brainstorm. The organizing should show the order those ideas will appear so that the piece will flow--this could be done by creating and completing a graphic organizer (included in folder), simply numbering, highlighting w/a color code, or even drawing arrows from one idea to the next on your brainstorm. This stage may also include items crossed out or added as the writer considers that flow. Please don’t erase as you may want to use an idea later!

Rough Drafting: Rough drafting means you are developing your graphic organizer into complete sentences and paragraphs (or stanzas if writing poetry).

· This is not the time to worry about perfect wording or the conventions of writing--it just needs to be clear enough for the students to read back their own writing to a peer or an adult.

· Students MUST skip lines on their rough drafts. This is the time to be sure students are meeting the quantity requirement. Drafts must be a minimum of 2 pages prose; 4 pages non-prose (poetry, greeting cards, letters), with a maximum of 6 pages prose, 8 pages non-prose. I have included drafting paper in the folder.

· If a student hasn't reached the length requirement, he or she should write an additional piece in the same genre. For example, let's say a student has chosen to write a fan letter to his or her favorite basketball star, but it's only one page long. The student should write another fan letter to a different celebrity of choice until the required rough draft quantity has been reached. All of those letters should then be taken through the entire writing process and all will be part of the completed final Choice Piece.

Peer Conferencing: Next, complete a peer conference with another student from any Lopatcong 4^th grade class. The peer conference is to help you think about how you are communicating your ideas. This may be done at home if that's convenient, or may be brought into class to do during the appropriate conferencing time of Writer's Workshop. Your student has a pink peer conference handout to accomplish this. The peer responses should be complete with examples and offer some suggestion as well as positive reinforcement.

Revising: After completing the rough draft and conferencing with a peer, students should read over and make multiple revisions to their pieces, which means they should be looking carefully at the content of their pieces. There are four basic aspects to revision (show you CARE):

C – Change words and phrases to make your writing stronger and more vivid.

A – Add details and examples to strengthen and make your writing more interesting.

R – Re-arrange the order if needed to make the writing more clear.

E – Eliminate words or details that don’t belong.

Editing: At this point, the content of your piece should be exactly as you see fit for meeting your original goal of the writing recipe. This is the time for editing:

· Students should check for correct mechanics in their final piece—everything from spelling to capitals to punctuation and even appropriate spacing/indenting of paragraphs, etc.

Publishing: You are ready to publish! Your piece should be presented in published form, which means one of the following options:

1. Typed in black, 12-point readable font, double spaced.

2. Hand-written in cursive in pencil on lined paper with no frayed edges.

3. Printed handwriting in pen on lined paper with no frayed edges. If you choose pen, please use white-out to fix any errors in your printing. Do not cross out.

You will turn in your entire Choice Piece project in this folder with EVERY step of the process included, as well as your peer conference form and rubric. The final piece should be on top and the rubric should be on the bottom.

Any questions, please email me! turkerv@lopatcongschool.org

Enjoy expressing yourself! I look forward to reading your creations.