Writing Workshop

The second-grade units are written with seven-year-olds in mind. These youngsters are chomping at the bit for something new. They feel very big now and want work that feels big and important. That’s what they’ll get—this series invites second-graders into author studies that help them craft powerful true stories, science investigations and lab reports, and finally, into some very grown-up writing about reading. Across the writing genres, children learn to understand—and apply to their own writing—techniques they discover in the work of published authors. In Unit 1 Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing students learn how to create engaging narratives by stretching out small moments and writing in detail. In Unit 2, Non Fiction Writing, students learn how to use their expert knowledge of a topic and use inspiration from nonfiction texts to create their own nonfiction writing. In Unit 3, Realistic Fiction, students enhance their narrative skills by applying and building on all of the skills from the small moment unit but learn how to develop and write with characters.  In Unit 4, Poetry: Big Thoughts in Small Packages helps children explore and savor language. Students learn to use line breaks to express the meaning and rhythm they intend and use visualization and figures of speech to make their writing more clear and powerful.  Writing with Figurative Language is encouraged.  Lastly, in Unit 5, Opinion Writing, students learn how to state their opinion and give reasons for their opinion in a cohesive paragraph with a Main Idea, Reasons, and a Closing Sentence.