Our writing program is called “Units of Study for Teaching Writing,” and it comes out of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University. The series grew from close to thirty years of research on the teaching of writing at Teachers College, as well as many years of action-research in elementary school classrooms. It has been piloted in every classroom in New York City, and the test scores of these schools show tremendous percentage increases when compared with other large cities. I had the opportunity to attend a week-long training in New York on this very curriculum, and it is truly remarkable!
The writing program emphasizes:
The primary goals of our writing program are to train students to communicate effectively by writing, enable them to recognize writing as a process, AND help them to enjoy writing! Writing will be integrated throughout the curriculum whenever possible, as well. Writer’s notebooks will be sent home from time to time as homework; we want our students to live writerly lives!
Conventions and spelling are also studied on a weekly basis. Students learn punctuation and grammar based on the book Everyday Editing by Jeff Anderson. Individualized spelling lists are developed using a combination of high-frequency words and specific spelling patterns. Students spend some time practicing spelling words in class, but they are encouraged to practice at home, as well. Students always keep a copy of the week's words with their homework packet, and they normally are tested on the last day of the school week.