Weekly Writing

As students grow as writers, one important element is choice. Students will have ample choice in our writing workshop. Part of the work writers do in their notebook is generating or collecting ideas for future drafts. As writers gather and collect ideas in their language arts notebook, they may use those ideas to compose three one page writing entries.  Writing entries can be completed in the notebook, through google docs, or a blog. Our goal is to engage students in digital writing as part of their experience as a writer. Weekly, students need to write outside of class. Typically on Mondays, we will monitor weekly writing which is worth 10 points.  All entries must have a title and date.

For many of the writing entries, writers have choice about their topic. For writers who are struggling, we encourage them to use the following to help generate a topic:  heart map, scar map, neighborhood map, expert list, bank of experiences (8th grade) and other entries from their notebook.

Where I am From Poem

"Where I am From Poem"

Students studied a mentor text, "Where I am From" by George Ella Lyon. Students then wrote a poem of their own. The rubric for this assignment is available. Final drafts are due this Thursday.

Where I'm From I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. I am from the dirt under the back porch. (Black, glistening, it tasted like beets.) I am from the forsythia bush the Dutch elm whose long-gone limbs I remember as if they were my own. I'm from fudge and eyeglasses, from Imogene and Alafair. I'm from the know-it-alls and the pass-it-ons, from Perk up! and Pipe down! I'm from He restoreth my soul with a cottonball lamb and ten verses I can say myself. I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch, fried corn and strong coffee. From the finger my grandfather lost to the auger, the eye my father shut to keep his sight. Under my bed was a dress box spilling old pictures, a sift of lost faces to drift beneath my dreams. I am from those moments-- snapped before I budded -- leaf-fall from the family tree. George Ella Lyon

Book talk about Animal farm

Sean Huizing, an eighth grader, book talked Animal Farm. Click on the link to see his thoughts about Animal Farm. Youtube animal farm book talk

Gathering Potential Writing Topics

One way to grow as a writer is to gather future writing ideas.  Over the course of the year, we will explore various ways to gather potential writing ideas.  To gather potential writing ideas, students will create the following:

7th Grade Mining Ideas:

Monday - Heart Map

Tuesday- Pick one topic from the heart map to write about

Wednesday - Neighborhood Map - number the potential topics to write about

Thursday - Scar/Injury Map and pick one scar or injury to write about

 8th Grade Mining Ideas:
Monday - Writing Territories List
Wednesday - Bank of Experiences
Friday- Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words