Want to elevate your students' writings from the beginning. These brainstorming ideas can set your students up for better writings.
When teaching narrative writing in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, there are so many writing skills to cover. They range from creating a sequence of events (beginning, middle, and end) to more difficult
Writing stories together can be a great exercise for little ones to develop storytelling, literacy and writing skills. Connect storytelling and yoga by asking kids to write stories about their favorite yoga poses. Use our Mountain Pose template to help kids develop proper story structure!
"Come On, Rain!" is one of my favorite books. It's a wonderful resource to teach your students the power of strong choice words and imagery!
Using strong verbs is one of many tools a writer has. There's a time and place for making your writing stronger with them, and we'll teach you how.
With so many types and formats of writing that we ask of students, it can be overwhelming for them to know where to start, what kinds of language to use, and what the structure of
There's a lot of ground to cover when you teach creative narrative writing. Here are 5 creative narrative mini-lessons you should be sure to use!
Seven pencil control worksheets to help build important handwriting skills needed for writing. Download your free worksheet pdfs!
50+ Bible verses to bless your new home so that it is built on a strong foundation.
I used to find it the most difficult to teach kids how to expand on their writing. I could help them organize and structure the order that things should go in, but it was difficult for me to pull additional details out of them…without just telling them what would sound better. So, as I do so often
Use these middle school writing lessons to help your students enjoy writing.
I finally nailed teaching symbolism! Using candy was both engaging and efficient - a major win that students remembered all year long!
The biggest gap between a student's attempt at writing a personal narrative and a fictional narrative is a really strong character. ...
Did you know the fewer words you write, the more impact you can make? Your writing is punchy, to the point and enticing for your readers. Click through to discover the easiest way to write less and say more. #writeless, #concise, #cuttheclutter, #wordcount, #compellingcopy, #writingtips
It is always a challenging period for the person in rehab. Writing encouraging words for someone in rehab can have a positive effect on their morale.
Use Mentor Sentences in your ELA middle school classroom to improve student writing! Find practical ideas to teach writing skills.
Do your students need help developing the body section of a narrative essay? This post provides ideas for creating a strong body using the power of 3. It is an effective approach to building up the body of a story. These ideas are ideal for any writing curriculum and
Here is a fun tracing activity for preschoolers and toddlers! They are easy to print and a great way to prepare young kids for writing!
Teach your students to create strong leads in writing by studying mentor texts with strong leads! This blog post contains 10 great examples of strong leads taken from young adult books!
Struggling with your child's writing? Teach them to write with confidence, clarity, and creativity. What's the secret? Find out now!
How to write chapter outlines or chapter summaries for your memoir book proposal, including examples of how long they should be.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the first and foremost thing that comes to our mind is how far we have come in the term of respecting women
Empowering words for women to express themselves and others. Inspiring words of empowerment to describe a strong woman. Use them today!
Expanding Sentences Anchor Chart and Mini-Lesson
Paragraph writing activities and tips for teachers in upper elementary
Activities, free resources, and ideas to teach how to write a thesis statement in middle school and high school English Language Arts!
The biggest gap between a student's attempt at writing a personal narrative and a fictional narrative is a really strong character. ...
by The Daring English Teacher Desmond Tutu, a South African theologian, cleric, and human rights activist, once said that “there is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.” This famous analogy can help teachers in many ways: when they are stressed, when they have a seemingly impossible amount of work to do, and even when they are faced with the daunting task of helping their students become strong writers. Writing is a multi-faceted art, and teaching students how to write, mainly, how to write well, is quite a challenge. One piece at a time One successful strategy I’ve employed in my classroom is focusing on just one small aspect of writing at a time. Yes, it takes time, but it also gives students the time they need to master a writing concept. I don’t teach, nor do I grade, the entire elephant at a time. I only focus on one bite at a time, and it works. When I do this, I teach just one concept, and then I assign a small writing assignment. I start this process at the beginning of the year during our short story unit when I teach students how to correctly embed quotes in their writing. For each short story we read, I assign a short three-sentence prompt. For example, the prompt might be as follows: How does the author include foreshadowing to create a suspenseful mood? Click HERE to sign up for the free download! Provide immediate feedback For their response, students answer the prompt and give relevant information in their topic sentence, include a properly embedded and cited quote for their second sentence, and finish the prompt with one sentence of commentary. I grade the paper as a 10 or a 5. A 10 signifies that a student has mastered the concept I just taught, and a five means they attempted it but fell short. Since the student response is so short, I can quickly assess my students’ writing and provide meaningful feedback during the class period. As my students work on their responses, I circulate throughout the room and grade each response as students finish. If they didn’t quite show me that they understand the concept, I point out to them in a one-on-one setting at their table what they did well, what they need to work on, and how they can fix it. Also, since the 10 or 5 grade is so harsh, I give my students unlimited opportunities to revise their work throughout the week until they get a 10. I’ve done this for a few years now, and the vast majority of my students revise their papers to 10s. Want to receive this free writing organizer? Click HERE to sign up! Practice makes perfect I typically repeat this process 2-3 times with short responses before moving on to a more substantial writing assignment. By the time my students have completed a few different three-sentence writing responses, they are ready to demonstrate mastery in a full-length essay. When I grade the essay, I take a look at other writing concepts, but I really focus my efforts on assessing the concept I just taught. If I recently covered properly embedding and citing quotes, that is the concept in which I want my students to do well. When I finish a unit with my students, I move onto a new writing concept with them. Each new writing concept builds on the previous concept. Another writing concept that I single out and focus on is commentary writing. After reading my students’ commentary from their previous passages, I’ve noticed that so many of them write “this quote shows” or “in this quote” at the beginning of their commentary sentences. To help my students move away from this, I teach my students how to write about quotes. I urge them to refer back to a word or phrase from the quote rather than saying “this shows.” And we repeat the same process, but this time with new writing assignments. With each new writing concept I teach, I add that concept to my list of elements to grade in student writing. I find this strategy is more comfortable to manage for my students; it does not overwhelm them. Also, this helps me with my grading time. Rather than marking up every single error in an essay, I focus my efforts on just one concept at a time. In doing so, I can provide all 170 of my students with meaningful feedback that helps them become stronger writers. This strategy might take a bit longer to get to all of the writing concepts I want to cover with my students, but this slow and steady strategy sticks. My students become stronger, more confident writers one bite at a time. More Writing Resources: Paragraph of the Week by Presto Plans Word Choice by Room 213 Sentence Fluency by Stacey Lloyd Free Writing Anchor Chart by Tracee Orman
Many of you were wanting more information on Mentor Sentences (warning there aren't many pictures in the post). I guess let me first defi...
Four Square Writing has endless possibilities! You can get it here for free or you can get it by clicking on the picture. I left it blank so you can put in your own topic. You can check out my previous post about how I used 4 square writing in my classroom during our author study …
Each classroom brings students of multiple learning styles and backgrounds. It is our job to provide opportunities that reach all of the many different learning styles that come to us. For this reason, it is
A heartfelt thank you note for a gift card is the perfect way to show your appreciation to the other person or people for their thoughtful gift.
