This course is set up as a writer’s workshop. Students are assigned new blog posts each week and move through the writing process during the week. Students publish their writing in a class blog at the end of the week and make comments on other students’ blog posts. Writing mini-lessons are taught each day to improve writing quality.
Primary Ongoing Standards:
W.7.6 – Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
W.7.10 – Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Week 1: 6 Traits of Writing, The Writing Process, Ideas for Writing, Begin Personal Narratives
W.7.4 – Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Week 2: Set up Kidblog.org; Blog Post 1: Personal Narratives
W.7.6 – Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
W.7.2a – Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
W.7.2b – Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
W.7.2c – Use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
W.7.3 – Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
W.7.3a – Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
W.7.3b – Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
W.7.3c – Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.
W.7.3d – Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
W.7.3e – Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
Week 3: Blog Post 2: How-To
W.7.2 – Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
W.7.2b – Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
W.7.2c – Use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
W.7.2f – Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.
Week 4: Blog Post 3: Top Ten List
Week 5: Blog Post 4: Book Review
Week 6: Blog Post 5: Fictional Narrative
Week 7: Blog Post 6: Tribute to a Person Who Taught Me Something
Week 8: Blog Posts 7&8: Evolution of a Term and Fables
Week 9: Final Blog Post Using a Structure Previously Taught, Celebrate Writing