Write with me

What do I need to teach?What do I need to teach?How do I teach it?How do I teach it?What can I use?What can I use?

6+1 writing traits6+1 writing traits• Ideas• Organization• Voice• Word choice• Sentence fluency• Conventions• presentations

IdeasIdeas

• Select a topic or idea• Narrow the idea• Develop the ideas• Add details and examples to the

ideas

Teaching the idea traitTeaching the idea trait• Show examples from literature• Have the students describe objects• Use poetry• Write like a good movie on paper

organizationorganization• Develop a beginning or lead and an

ending• Decide on the organizational

structure compare/contrast sequence main idea/detailUse transitions

Teaching the organizational Teaching the organizational traittrait

• Read leads from books and have the students guess who the author is

• Play a game by scrambling a text and having the students put the text in the correct order

• Give examples of leads and rate them

• Review transition words

voicevoice

• Show individuality, perspective, and expression in your writing

• Let your writing sound like you• Be sensitive to the audience• Show enthusiasm for the topic• Show confidence in your writing

Teaching the voice traitTeaching the voice trait• Read passages from stories, poetry,

advertisements, brochures and posters

• Use literature books• Read greeting cards and try and

guess the type of message• Write letters

Word choice Word choice • Use interesting words in your writing• Make sure the reader knows what

your words mean• Use colorful words and phrases• Make sure the writing sounds

authentic

Teaching the word choice Teaching the word choice traittrait

• Encourage the use of strong verbs. Start a verb wall for the students

• Review adjectives using a mystery box or describe how an object in a bag feels

• Use advertisements to identify adjectives

• Keep a word journal

Sentence fluency Sentence fluency

• Make sure your sentences make sense

• Begin your sentences in different ways

• Vary the length of your sentences

Teaching sentence fluencyTeaching sentence fluencyManipulate and rewrite sentences in a

variety of waysCount the number of words in each

sentenceRead aloud examples from literatureDiscuss rhyme and rhythmCombine choppy sentences

conventionsconventions• Make sure you have capitals• Make sure you have punctuation• Correct grammar and usage• Correct spelling

Teaching the convention Teaching the convention traittrait

• Use checklists for capitals and punctuation

• Read literature that uses different forms of punctuation

• Teach dictionary and thesaurus use

presentationpresentation• Take a look at how your paper looks• Make sure you leave spaces• Make sure you used good

handwriting• Make sure you have some text

features• Make sure you work is neat

Teaching the presentation Teaching the presentation traittrait

• Use checklists• Peer correction• Give examples of different types of

work and have the students discuss how to improve the writing

Let your writing show the type Let your writing show the type of great person you are!of great person you are!

• Use writing as a tool • Enjoy writing, it is a lot of fun• Let writing take you places• Learn from your writing and others

writing• Writing is what you make of it!• Have fun with it!!