Writing

Reading and Writing go hand in hand so as we enrich and improve the students' reading we see the growth in their writing.   Write From the Beginning The program includes both narrative and expository writing for grade levels K through 5. Teachers build upon and extend the instruction of the previous grade level by using Improvement Rubrics and Focused Mini-Lessons. In first grade, the students worked on descriptive sentences and and ordering of events.  We will begin here this year with a review and then move on to writing about an experience.  Students will be taught to organize their thoughts in a flow map about an experience/event. They will learn about using: Opening Sentence, Closing Sentence, transition words, adjectives, and details Daily Journal Journal writing is  is used primarily to give students an opportunity to speculate on paper, confident that their ideas, observations, emotions, and writing will be accepted without criticism. The potential benefits of journal writing are many, including opportunities to: Sort out experiences, solve problems and consider varying perspectives. Examine relationships with others and the world. Reflect on personal values, goals, and ideals. Summarize ideas, experience and opinions before and after instruction. Witness his/her academic and personal growth by reading past entries. By reading journal entries, teachers get to know students' anxieties problems excitements joys and with this information, make plans tailored for their students. Creative Writing Using Nancy Fetzer's Movie Scripts to Story Writing the students get a chance to be creative. On butcher paper the the students and I plan the beginning, middle, and ending parts of a story. After planning the beginning, middle and ending, we label each section with secret formulas, they then record words or pictures to construct at least two powerful sentences, an action and a reaction, for the beginning, middle and ending. Interactive Writing The teacher and the children work together to compose messages and stories. The teacher models how " a good writer thinks" and encourages the children to write words or parts of words they know. The children are encouraged to say words slowly and listen for the sounds they hear. With this guided practice the children learn how words work. The children easily reread the text that they helped to write.