word_choice -- NEISD.net

Effective Writing:  Week by Week

WORD CHOICE

 

Writing Prompt:  Write a composition about something that you do very well.

Effective Writing Trait:  Word Choice

Focused Revision / Editing:

  • 4.19E  edit drafts for specific purposes such as to ensure standard usage, varied sentence structure, and appropriate word choice (4-8)
  • 4.18C  employ standard English usage in writing for audiences including subject-verb agreement, pronoun referents, and parts of speech (4-8)

MINI-LESSON: 

GOAL:

Day 1

Preparing to Write Using a Prompt

Students will prepare to use the prompt stated above and write their compositions.

Day 2

Subject/Verb Agreement

Students will edit drafts for specific purposes such as to ensure standard usage.

Day 3

 Is More Always Better? 

Students will rewrite road signs using "flowery language" to show why more is not always better!

Day 4

What's in a Word? 

Students will brainstorm more interesting words for "everyday words" and use them in their writing.

Day 5

Focused Revision and Editing Using Student Papers

Students will analyze examples of compositions.  Then students return to their compositions to revise and edit.

 

TAKS Question Stems:  (compiled from TAKS Information Booklet and release tests)

  • What change, if any, should be made in sentence (number)?
  • What change should be made in sentence (number)?

Read-alouds for Word Choice:  (for additional suggestions, refer to Picture Books: An annotated bibliography (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory)

  • Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
  • My Mama had a Dancing Heart by Libba Moore Gay
  • Earthdance by Joanne Ryder
  • Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle
  • Hoops by Robert Burleigh
  • I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse
  • Verdi  by Janell Cannon
  • My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch by Graeme Base

·         Amber on the Mountain by Tony Johnson

·         Double Trouble I Walla Walla  by Andrew Clements