November 19
Next week is our final class meeting until January 7. Do you know what that means?
It means that you have just ONE more writing assignment to finish before the break – yay!
- Write your picture KWO into three paragraphs.
- In each paragraph, include at least 2 good describing words. Underline each one.
- Somewhere in your story, please write a sentence with a “because” clause in it. We talked about this today. “Because” clauses are easy-peasy! Here are a few examples.
- Scout whines for her food because she is hungry.
- Leaves are falling from deciduous trees because it is November.
- Mushrooms are not plants because they don’t make their own food.
Ta da! I am excited to read your Picture Writing stories!
And, practice your lines for your Readers’ Theater performance. I’m inviting your parents to watch us!
November 12
Okie dokie, elementary writers — it’s time for you to go crazy with a new picture writing assignment!
I let you choose your next picture, and if you’ve decided to change your mind, or if you weren’t in class today, you can print a new one from the link, below:
This week, use your new picture and write a KWO for it. I’m looking for lots of backstory here, everybody! Think: what’s happened? Who are these characters? What do they want? What do they need? What will they do next? What are their names?
Your KWO must have three paragraphs (I, II, and III), and each paragraph needs 4-7 detail lines for it.
Have fun!
Althought I only want to see your KWO next time, you are welcome to begin writing your rough draft if you want to.
November 5
Students who were absent today — I’ll get the handouts to you in a day or two!
Today we started a new type of writing called Picture Writing. You have a handout that I called “Snorkeling in a Fountain”, and a KWO paper. I will link both of those below for the people who were absent today.
We learned that there are rules for Picture Writing, but also that you can have fun and use your imagination! Here are the rules:
Rules:
- Always start with a sentence describing the picture.
- Fill in with your own details.
- Think: Who? What? Before? Thinking? Feeling? How? After?
- End by restating the picture
We worked on a KWO in class today. You can find it on the link, below. (Unfortunately, I erased the board this afternoon before I remembered to copy our KWO! So, this one is what I remember. If it’s a bit different than yours, you can either use mine or use the one you copied in class.)
Your job is to write the paragraphs to go with the picture. These are rough draft paragraphs, so just write sentences and don’t worry about making everything perfect for now.
October 29
Use the Pumpkin Word Cache to write a paragraph about pumpkins! You may write about “your pumpkin”, or you may write about another pumpkin. Your paragraph should be at least four sentences long, and you must include at least 6 words from the word cache.
October 22
Use the “Life Span of an Oak Tree” handout and outline those three paragraphs onto your Key Word Outline paper.
Then, choose just ONE of the paragraphs to write into sentences. (Sure, you can do all three…but you only need to do one!) When you write your sentences, make sure you begin each one with a capital letter, and put an end mark at the end.
October 15
Thank you for helping me write the first three paragraphs of our Ivan the Gorilla story! You also helped make our paragraphs even better by suggesting good descriptive words to add to it.
Here is our story. I’ve titled it A Special Gorilla.
Your job is to write the last two paragraphs from the KWO you wrote last week. Remember, you are writing one sentence for each line in the outline, and you cannot ever look back at the original story!
After you’re finished, add describing words. Ask yourself questions: Which one? What kind? How many? How much? These will help you find describing words to improve your paragraph. (Ours are in red on the copy. Yours should not be in red, but you can underline them if you wish.)
October 8
Today we read a short, true story about Ivan the Gorilla, and you made a Key Word Outline for the first three paragraphs. If you didn’t finish in class, you can finish it now.
There are two more paragraphs to Ivan’s story, which tell about his life after he left Tacoma and moved to a zoo in Atlanta. Please read those paragraphs and use the linked KWO form to outline those. Bring all your Ivan papers to class next week. (Don’t write your own paragraphs yet, please!)
If you were sick today, you’ll find the pages we used in class here, also.
October 1
Were you confused today? I understand, and I promise you’ll be fine.
We learned a new concept – the Key Word Outline. This is what we did –
- We looked at our “chicken poem” again.
- Using the outline handout, we wrote TWO WORDS from each line of the poem onto the lines. (Parents, I’ll link that here). Chicken Poem KWO
- Then, you saw how I used my outline words to rewrite the first stanza of the poem as a paragraph. I pretended that I was the one who dreamed of chickens, and that I wrote it into a dream story instead of a poem! (Here is my story paragraph). chicken dream paragraph
- Then, I told you to do the exact same thing with the second stanza of the poem. Most of you finished your Key Word Outline in class. Good job.
- NOW! Without looking back at the poem, write your very own paragraph for the second stanza.
- Write your paragraph on a new piece of paper, formatting it correctly.
- You are welcome to add details to your paragraph! For example, you could think of words to describe the chandelier (sparkly, big, swinging). You could write a description of the eggs on your head (blue, green, brown, runny, soft, warm).
- Have fun!
September 24
Today we learned how to format a paper for writing class. I am attaching directions here.
- Write another Word Cache. Make sure you have at least 20 words! Choose from these ideas:
- Your grandma or grandpa
- A favorite food
- Your best friend
- Your mom or dad
- A wild animal
- Desserts
- Using your Word Cache, write a paragraph. Follow the formatting rules I taught you today..
- Read the “chickens” poem out loud to someone! (You could even read it to your pet chickens.)
September 17
- Finish your Word Cache about your pet.
- Using your Word Cache words, write sentences about your pet.
- Do you remember the story I read aloud today? It was called “A Fish Named Dog.” Tell one person in your family what the story was about.
September 10
Hello Parents!
Welcome to your students’ “homework blog page” for Elementary Writing. Each week, by Wednesday morning, I’ll post assignments here.
Homework should not take your child more than 20 minutes a day to complete. If you find that your student is frustrated with his/her assignment, please contact me! I have a range of ages and abilities in class this year, and it may take me a couple of weeks to know how to best meet everybody’s needs. Thanks!
Above all, please don’t fret if your child is “not where he/she should be”. My overall goal is to take students from where they are right now and move them forward, expressing their ideas in words with confidence and ability.
So, without further ado this is your child’s assignment, due September 17:
- Write a Word Cache titled “All About Me”! You can use the page linked here, or you may write on your own paper.
- After you have a cache of words, use them to write sentences about yourself!