Welcome! This site have been created to help you achieve success throughout the year. You will find assignments, handouts, activities, and links to websites that will allow you to fully participate in your learning. Below is some general information and guidelines explaining how Language Arts is run. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. I am looking forward to working with you this year.
04.06.09-05.01.09
04.07.09, creative writing due
Students will create an original picture book using the content areas as their subject matter. This is a meaningful way to review the writing process as well as reinforcing concepts from other subjects. This is a multi-step process so it is imperative that students meet the checkpoints on time. It is not possible to complete this monthlong project in a matter of a few days. Please see that your child is on top of each assignment. Although students have received a packet with all due dates, I have attached a link below in case further copies are needed.
03.06.09-03.20.09
03.18.09- diversity essay due (typed)
03.19.09-2nd trimester report cards go home
This week, students will turn their poems on diversity into essays. This assignment is in conjunction with the Ethnic Fest later this spring. Students will develop their essays using all of the 6 Traits of Writing. It is a good way to review all that has been learned thus far. It also allows me to assess each student's areas of strength and areas that should be focused on during this last trimester.
02.17.09-02.20.09
typed poems (5 total) due 02.19.09
This week students will finish up a mini poetry unit. We have reviewed figurative language devices and formats for writing poems. Next, we will focus on expository writing. Students will write an essay about the meaning of diversity and how to promote it. This assignment is part of the 29th annual Ethnic Fest that takes place in Oak Park.
02.02.09-02.06.09
02.06.06 creative writing due, typed, no late papers will be accepted
02.11.09 poetry anthology due, typed
return conference forms, all classes
This week we will begin our unit on poetry. Students will create an anthology of five poems using a variety of formats such as tanka, found poems, Bull Durham credo, etc. Poetry reviews basic writing traits such as word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions, as well as allowing students to develop their voices as writers. Please see the link below for directions and samples of the types of poems students may select.
01.20.09-01.23.09
01.21.09 The Last Lecture essay due, no late papers accepted
01.22.09 return signed progress report
This week we will watch the swearing in of our first African American president. This historic event provides a wonderful opportunity to study across all content areas. We will then begin our unit on poetry and proverbs, using examples of presidential speeches as our guide. We will also focus on some of the more dry aspects of writing such as grammar. It is my hope that by using speeches (Obama, Lincoln, Dr. King, etc.), students will gain a greater understanding of the skills needed to write and speak well.
01.12.09-01.16.09
01.16.09-Progress reports go home
This week, students will finish Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture. We will then move into the publishing portion of Writing Workshop. I will provide websites and magazines for students to review, selecting pieces of original writing that they would like to try and publsih. In order to send pieces in, students will need to edit their work yet again (both peer review and via conferencing with me). This is a wonderful way to get students to perform the more dry aspects of the writing process in a meaningful way.
12.01.08-12.18.08
12.04.08 - Values and Mission statement due
12.18.08 - Final typed version of creative writing assignment 1 due
We will spend the three weeks until break studying the genre of memoir. We will be reading Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture in class. Assignments and class discussions will be used to assist students with their creative writing by closely examining this very moving piece of writing. Both the style and the content of this memoir provide excellent examples of the 6 Traits of writing, especially voice and sentence fluency. There are also excellent examples of figurative language throughout, which will help ease students into our poetry unit upon return in January.
11.17.08-11.25.08
PLEASE NOTE CHANGES TO DUE DATES!
RESEARCH PAPERS WILL NOT BE DUE ON 11.25.08. WE ARE STILL WORKING ON THE REVISION PROCESS.
Due to the pacing of student learning and my desire to have students be successful through all stages of the writing process (currently we are in the revision stage so that we can take pieces to publication), due dates have been changed to as follows:
11.21.08 Typed final draft of creative writing due
11.25.08 Typed final draft of research paper due
ALL FINAL DRAFTS SHOULD HAVE THE ROUGH DRAFTS ATTACHED SO THAT I MAY BETTER ASSIST EACH STUDENT IN UNDERSTANDING THEIR STRENGTHS AND AREAS IN NEED OF FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.
11.10.08-11.25.08
11.19.08 Typed final draft of research paper due
11.25.08 Typed final draft of creative writing due
11.25.08 1st trimester ends
Students will spend the final weeks of the trimester revising and editing both their research paper and a self-selected creative writing piece. Students will experience whole class, small group, and partner conferences to strengthen their ability to critically assess both their own and others' writing. Students have spent the trimester learning about the 6 Traits of Writing and will use these skills throughout the revision process. Critical analysis and self-reflection are useful formats that allow students to better understand their strengths and areas that need further development. They also foster independence, allowing students to take responsibility for their own learning.
10.20.08-10.24.08
10.20.08 Typed rough draft due
10.23.08 Conferences, students in school A.M. only
10.24.08 Half day, school in A.M. only, Friendly letter due, typed
The focus this week will be on letter writing. Students will write a friendly letter to their favorite author. The focus will be on defining key elements of the writing process that made the novel meaningful to each reader. The letters will then be posted so ideas can be shared with one another. This will help foster ideas for students' own writing as well as making wise choices when selecting novels. Please note that my reviewing of research papers usually takes a week to ten days due to the intensive nature of such projects. I will conference with each child following my analysis so that every student has an individualized plan to improve his/her writing according to the 6 Traits of Writing.
10.13.08-10.17.08
10.15.08 Watch the debate for extra credit
10.20.08 Typed rough draft for research paper due
Parent-Teacher conferences are on October 23
This week, students will conference with me about their creative writing assignments. We will focus on strengths and areas that need further development based upon the 6 Traits of Writing. The three traits we are currently working on are ideas, organization, and voice. Students will have their outlines for their research papers returned to them on Tuesday. We will review how to organize a research paper from an outline, how to develop a strong thesis statement, and how to introduce detail elements. Students are to follow MLA format, which can be found in both their Language Resource Guide and their Research Basics booklets. They have already been introduced to the EasyBib website to help them with their works consulted page. Homework for the week is to begin writing the rough draft of their research papers.
09.29.08-10.03.08
09.29.08: Creative writing due, typed
10.03.08: Notecards and works consulted/cited due
Students will continue research in the library. Students are in the process of defining the lasting impact George Washington has had on the office of the presidency and how he created the office via his actions. The next benchmark checkin is September 30, when all 5 sources and source cards are due. At least one source must be from an area other than the Internet. Students have been given the opportunity to locate sources for three class periods. Homework for the entire week is highlighting relevant material from their sources and creating notecards, all of which are due October 6.
09.22.08-09.26.08
Students will begin research in the library. This is an interdisciplinary assignment with social studies that will ask students to determine the qualities needed to be an effective presidential leader. Students will support their beliefs by looking at past and present elections, candidates, and campaigns. We will spend the week reviewing keyword searches, source cards, and defining reliable sources.
Research questions handout DUE 09.24.08
Please note that on 09.29.08, students have a typed rough draft of their free write stories due. They are due at the start of class, and a full grade is deducted for each day they are late.
Writer's Workshop
Writing Workshop is the primary format in our classroom that allows students to participate in a wide variety of writing tasks. Writer's Workshop usually begins with a teacher presented mini-lesson on a specific topic The students are then given the opportunity to write, using the mini lesson's contents to strengthen their writing. Students regularly revise with one another, and edit during repeated conferences with the teacher. Students enjoy this process as they are able to focus a great deal on content. Many teachers enjoy this process because it allows them to really get to know their students while teaching the writing process, grammar, and the skills necessary for expressing ideas well via writing and reading.
6 Traits Writing
A trait can be defined as a quality or characteristic critical to successful performance. Just as there are traits for good ice skating, like balance, grace, technical skill and so on, there are traits for good writing. The traits for good writing include ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Traits give writers a clear picture of what to do to revise their writing - making it the best it can be.
The purpose of using Six Traits during Writing Workshop is to give teachers and students the same language and expectations of writing. This allows students to transfer the writing skills they have developed in Language Arts class to writing whenever it’s used across the content areas. Please refer to the KimsKorner site below under "Helpful Links" for a more detailed explanation regarding this writing process.
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