Epic Books offers a collection of books that students can read or listen to online. We have already invited the children to use our class code to join this site.  Our class code is: GSN4321

During school hours, students can log in to Epic School from school or home with their Class Code, and read between 7am-4pm.

We help students develop as writers in the six traits which are:

• Ideas (The Main Message)

• Organization (The Internal Structure of a Piece)

• Voice (The Personal Tone and Flavor of the Author’s Message)

• Word Choice (The Vocabulary a Writer Chooses to Convey Meaning)

• Sentence Fluency (The Rhythm and Flow of the Language)

• Conventions (The Mechanical Correctness)

We use a 24-point rubric to assess these areas, which has a range from 1-4 in each of the traits.

Each of the units in our writing program helps students to become stronger writers by placing an emphasis on the use of the six traits, but also in the process of writing as we move from one genre to another throughout the year. At home, you can help students develop as writers, too! I would suggest keeping a writing notebook at home for your child and providing a quiet place to do some writing. Your child can write stories, plays, poems, non-fiction articles, or simply use the notebook as a journal. No matter what you do, make writing an enjoyable experience.

Here are some suggestions for how to help with each of the traits.

Ideas

• In the classroom, we talk about how writing ideas can come from anywhere--a book, an experience, an interest, someone they know, a movie. Encourage your child to create a bulleted list of ideas that they could turn into a story. They can even make two lists, one for fiction and one for nonfiction topics. Help your child to add to this list from time to time by reflecting on experiences from events such as family trips, sporting events, playdates, etc. As your child develops a new interest in a topic or an activity, suggest that they add this to the list, too. Use the lists as a source for selecting ideas for a new writing piece.

• When you are reading with your child or when your child is reading independently, ask where the author might have gotten the idea to write the magazine article, book, or play.

• Suggest that your child create their own version of a book or a series that they love using the same characters or creating someone new.

• When you help your child to select an idea, remind them to keep it simple. They can still embellish and write a great story even when the idea is simple.

• As your child develops his/her ideas in a draft, make sure they are not including too many details or trying to fit in too many ideas. Sometimes children are on the other side of the pendulum and they don’t include enough. Either way, have your child think about which details enrich a story and which ones can be omitted.

• Here are some websites to help your child come up with an idea:

• Scholastic

To attain the highest score, a four, for ideas on the rubric a child would have to show that the writing is clear and focused throughout the piece with its main ideas and/or problem. It holds the reader's attention. It includes relevant and vivid details that enrich the main idea or topic.

Organization

• Once your child selects a topic, encourage him/her to think of a creative way to start the story. Suggest that they start with a question, dialogue, onomatopoeia, or a statement with vivid words. Together you can look for creative beginnings from the books your child reads and see how other authors begin their stories.

• As your child writes, remind them that they have to include a beginning, middle, and an end. They should put the problem of the story, if there is one, in the beginning and then have characters try to solve the problem throughout. At the end, the solution should match the initial problem. Some children benefit by writing down their plan of what will happen in the beginning, middle, and end before they even begin writing. If they need this kind of support, they can use a graphic organizer. Graphic organizers are also great for making sure your child stays on topic. Have them revisit the organizer as they proceed from beginning to end. Download this sample  Story_Organizer.pdf 

• Encourage your child to think logically on how to solve a problem by having them imagine what they would do in a given situation. As your child writes, encourage him/her to use transition words such as then, next, after, which will help with the sequence of the story.

To attain the highest score, a four, for Organization on the rubric a child would have to demonstrate that the organizational structure of the writing enhances the main idea/problem of the paper. The beginning should hook the reader and introduce the characters. It should have a middle with a problem and at least three events that lead to the resolution. The ending should show how the problem was resolved and links to the initial problem. Finally, the events occur in sequential order with the effective use of transitional, spatial and chronological words.

Voice

• Writing a personal narrative lends itself well to developing voice. In the classroom, when children write these types of stories, I encourage them to reflect on how they felt at the time of the event, so they can incorporate details about their feelings in the story.

• Another way to develop voice is to encourage your child to write stories about characters that are unique. When the characters interact with one another, the dialogue should show that the characters experience a range of thoughts and emotions, too, whether they are fictional or not.

• Encourage your child to think about the audience as s/he writes, so that there is a stronger connection to the reader.

• In a writing piece with strong voice, the writer’s personality often manifests. Help your child to include his/her personality into what they’re writing.

To attain the highest score, a four, for Voice on the rubric a child would have to create a writing piece that speaks directly to the reader in a manner that is individual, compelling, engaging, and shows understanding of the audience.

Word Choice

• Have your child think about including sound words (onomatopoeia) and movement words in their writing. This is something they can try with any genre, but use of the these words should be appropriate; therefore, ask your child to reflect on whether the word enhances the piece or not.

• Helping your child to develop his/her vocabulary can do wonders for word choice. Including interesting and descriptive words helps readers to imagine what is happening in a story. Introduce your child to new words in your daily interaction. You can also help them to learn the meaning of unknown words from books they are reading. Download this great resource to help your child develop in the area of word choice.  banish_boring_words.pdf 

• When talking to your child about an object or an event, encourage him/her to use sensory details. Sensory details are words and phrases that work to show rather than tell. Help your child to use adjectives and adverbs when speaking by asking him/her to describe how something moved or how something feels on their hands, etc. As children begin to do this naturally in their everyday speech, they will eventually do it, too, when writing. You will have to do a lot of prompting in the beginning, and you might even have to show your child where to include a more descriptive word.

• When you sit with your child to listen to his/her writing, think of alternatives for overused words such as good, nice, and said. Replace these words with something more vivid.

• Using figurative language (for example, simile and personification) really enhances a piece of writing. If you have your child get accustomed to using figurative language in their everyday speech, it will happen naturally as they start to write.

To attain the highest score, a four, for Word Choice on the rubric a child would have to demonstrate a vocabulary that exceeds grade-level expectations. The words have to be specific, accurate and vivid to enhance and clarify meaning. The written piece should also include use of adjectives and adverbs to describe.

Sentence Fluency

• To improve the fluency of your child’s writing, encourage him/her to read the writing aloud to check that it makes sense. While reading, your child should be able to recognize and correct run-on sentences.

• The goal is for the writing to flow easily. It should include a good balance of simple, compound and complex sentences with sentence beginnings that are varied.

• Have your child record himself/herself while reading the story so that they can hear it again and again. Ask whether the story makes sense. If they have difficulty while reading, have them visit the part or parts of the story to check if their sentences are correct.

• If they keep hearing the same word repeated, like the word then, remind them that they can change words into something more vivid or use a different transition to start their sentences.

To attain the highest score, a four, for Sentence Fluency on the rubric, a child would have to demonstrate that the writing has an easy flow, rhythm and cadence, and invites expressive oral reading.

Conventions

• Hold your child accountable for writing in complete sentences as much as possible.

• If your child spells a word incorrectly and it is one of the words we’ve learned during spelling, please have them correct it. If the word is in the text as part of a reading passage for homework, even if it is a challenging word to spell, they should spell it correctly when using it to answer the questions.

• Have your child proofread his/her story by reading it out loud. Remind your child that if it’s difficult to read out loud they probably forgot to put endmarks where they belong.

• Conventions are certainly important to putting together a strong piece of writing, but some children benefit by editing and revising after they have finished writing, while some children can do it during the writing process. If your child has difficulty with jotting down ideas or elaborating, it might be best to focus on writing down their thoughts first. Asking them to consider conventions may impede on their ability to move forward with their writing. Regardless of when it’s best for your child to check for conventions, please make sure it’s not a step that is omitted.

• Use an editing checklist to make sure your child has checked for conventions. Download this sample Editing Checklist.pdf to remind your child to check their writing for conventions.

To attain the highest score, a four, for Conventions on the rubric, a child would have to demonstrate complete control over standard writing conventions. Spelling should generally be correct. Punctuation should be correct, including commas and quotation marks to punctuate dialogue. Words need to be capitalized correctly. Grammar and usage, including subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement should also be correct.