Six Word Summaries
Yesterday students completed a reading assignment either individually or in partners. When we came back together at the end of the hour to discuss I had each student write a six word summary of the what they read. At first, they thought it would be impossible, but with a little encouragement (and the hint that […]
Out of sight…but NOT out of mind
As I sit here, thinking about what my students will be reading, learning, and discussing with their guest teacher today while I join area colleagues to read, learn, and discuss, I find myself with mixed feelings. It is always so powerful to come together with other teachers to discuss our practices and work through issues […]
Publication Celebration ~ 6+1 Traits of Writing
Our seventh grade students recently learned about the 6+1 Traits of Writing. Ideas Organization Word Choice Voice Sentence Fluency Conventions Presentation As a way to keep these ideas in their mind as they both read texts and write their own pieces, we connected each trait to an aspect of the ice cream sundae The ice […]
6+1 Traits of Writing Celebration
This past week, our seventh grade students have been reviewing the 6+1 Traits of Writing. Ideas Organization Word Choice Voice Sentence Fluency Conventions Presentation This framework provides a common language for talking about the strategies we see in writing pieces and for practicing them in our own individual work. By the end of this unit […]
WritePrize – Writing Contest
I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working with the Lake Michigan Writing Project (LMWP) for nearly 6 years now, so I’m thrilled to share the news of the second annual WritePrize writing contest they are sponsoring. This being a local competition and with ArtPrize being practically in our backyard, I certainly hope students will […]
Myths and Legends
Last week we began our study of Greek mythology in preparation for an upcoming writing assignment. In lieu of the flu we were closed for a couple of days, which means we will be looking at reading some myths and beginning to learn about legends through this week and the beginning of next. By the […]
6 + 1 Traits – Conventions
Students have spent the past week reviewing the 6+1 Traits of Writing. Today we are taking a peek at conventions through the use of a student exercises and text examples. Eats, Shoots and Leaves The Girl’s Like Spaghetti
6+1 Traits – Sentence Fluency
Today we learned a bit about sentence fluency. This is a little harder concept to grasp, but one that takes writing to the next level. Students listened to an audio recording of Whirligig Beetles by Paul Fleischman. There are several other poems he has written that do a great job of emphasizing sentence fluency! Just a […]
Writing Cause and Effect Essays
We recently discussed the difference between affect and effect, which puts us in the perfect position to really put that new-found knowledge into practice. Today, students will be writing their own cause-effect essays. This information writing experience will help refresh them of the skills essential to performing their best on the statewide assessment in October. […]
Discovering the Difference ~ Effect v. Affect
While searching for additional information to prepare our 7th grade students for the upcoming writing portion of our MEAP test in October, I found the following article that does an adequate job of making the distinction between two words that, to be honest, still confound me from time to time. The article is posted here […]
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