Procedure Day 1-Draft class paragraph Divide students into groups of 2 or 3 to write 1 sentence about rocks/soils. Provide students with 1 sentence strip and marker. As groups finish, have students come back to meeting area to take turns reading their strips. Have students (with a partner) discuss what should go first, last, what should not be included etc. As a whole-group, put sentences in order to form a paragraph. The teacher tapes sentence strips on chart paper, modeling tearing the strip when you get to the margin, and adding the rest of the strip to a new line. Day 2-Revise for grammar and content Teacher reads aloud the paragraph created on day 1, and explains what it means to revise. Students discuss in pairs what might be changed so the reader better understands the paragraph. Teacher facilitates a class discussion about what should be revised. Teacher facilitates discussion around grammar usage (if needed), and content (e.g. if the same thing is said more than once). Teacher makes the actual revisions on the sentences strips, and/or calls up individual students to assist. Day 3-Edit for spelling Teacher reads aloud the revised paragraph and explains what it means to edit (punctuation, and spelling). Teacher models underlining, or writing above misspelled words. “sp” Students write the misspelled word on individual whiteboards, and use known spelling patterns to try spelling the word 2 more times. Teacher models using known spelling patterns to correctly spell the word. Teacher has one student write the new spelling above the misspelled word on the sentence strip. Repeat the process with each misspelled word. Variation: depending on the amount of words, pair students up and give each group a misspelled word. Have students use known spelling patterns to try spelling the word 2 more times. Day 4-Edit for punctuation, begin publishing Students independently read class paragraph. Teacher facilitates editing for punctuation, having individual students come up to make corrections on the sentence strips. Teacher begins modeling how to transfer revised and edited work onto chart paper for the published copy. Teacher can finish the writing at another time, as long as the students see what it looks like to make the revised and edited changes when writing a new copy.
Procedure Day 1-Draft class paragraph Divide students into groups of 2 or 3 to write 1 sentence about rocks/soils. Provide students with 1 sentence strip and marker. As groups finish, have students come back to meeting area to take turns reading their strips. Have students (with a partner) discuss what should go first, last, what should not be included etc. As a whole-group, put sentences in order to form a paragraph. The teacher tapes sentence strips on chart paper, modeling tearing the strip when you get to the margin, and adding the rest of the strip to a new line. Day 2-Revise for grammar and content Teacher reads aloud the paragraph created on day 1, and explains what it means to revise. Students discuss in pairs what might be changed so the reader better understands the paragraph. Teacher facilitates a class discussion about what should be revised. Teacher facilitates discussion around grammar usage (if needed), and content (e.g. if the same thing is said more than once). Teacher makes the actual revisions on the sentences strips, and/or calls up individual students to assist. Day 3-Edit for spelling Teacher reads aloud the revised paragraph and explains what it means to edit (punctuation, and spelling). Teacher models underlining, or writing “sp” above misspelled words. Students write the misspelled word on individual whiteboards, and use known spelling patterns to try spelling the word 2 more times. Teacher models using known spelling patterns to correctly spell the word. Teacher has one student write the new spelling above the misspelled word on the sentence strip. Repeat the process with each misspelled word. Variation: depending on the amount of words, pair students up and give each group a misspelled word. Have students use known spelling patterns to try spelling the word 2 more times. Day 4-Edit for punctuation, begin publishing Students independently read class paragraph. Teacher facilitates editing for punctuation, having individual students come up to make corrections on the sentence strips. Teacher begins modeling how to transfer revised and edited work onto chart paper for the published copy. Teacher can finish the writing at another time, as long as the students see what it looks like to make the revised and edited changes when writing a new copy.
ela-2-rock_on-summative_assessment-interactive_paragraph_writing.docx