As part of our independent writing unit on small moments from our lives, we will begin the task of making our good writing even better. How can that be? The children are already doing great work by zooming in on one small moment to write about. They are already including setting, action, and characters. They can read their own great stories and and so can others. They usually spell the 50 sight words from our word wall correctly. They use great phonics skills to sound out the longer, tricky words. What else can they do to make their writing even better?
We will challenge them to include more detail in their stories by adding more words to their writing. The stories can be lengthened by adding on at the end of sentences. The children will be taught to use a carat symbol to add words in the middle of sentences. We will encourage them to add more details to their pictures, to include the time, how they were feeling, and the weather. We will also show them how to add speech bubbles and use quotation marks so that their characters can talk. We will talk about using punctuation so their stories are easier for the readers to read.
Wow! So many ways to help improve our good writing! But how will the students be motivated to tackle these strategies? We have a magic wand that they will love! It's a purple felt tipped pen for each child to use as they work on the various revisions of their stories. Watch out for some terrific stories to follow!
