A Little Bit of This and That

We just finished Round One of our state testing which was ELA and Long Composition.  During our test prep sessions, the children used answer sticks when going over their multiple choices.  I used tongue depressors and simply marked A, B, C or D.  It made it a little fun and I could quickly assess the room.

 This was a project that I did last year with the book Many Luscious Lollipops, to teach adjectives.  I did not wrap in cellophane this year…love the tye-die coloring!

 These are a few sample of the kid's opinion essay on Dr. Seuss.  It was their first piece.  I will share our newest pieces soon.  They have made some great gains.

Here are some water bottle wraps wishing each other good luck.  I cover with packing tape and we have used them several days.

I read the book "Under, Over, By the Clover" and had the kids go on a preposition hunt.  I did this lesson using ghosts but tweaked it for the spring.

Free Printable

Tools for Long Composition

Today I dressed up like Ms. Fix-it MCAS!  I know that I have stooped to gimmicks...but they are loving it!  I have to admit...I am too!!!!

Can I just say that overalls are not flattering???
I am so glad they never came back in style after the 80's.

Tomorrow is our MCAS long composition day!!!  My first one as a fourth grade teacher.  We have been working on strategies all year and today we are reviewing the acronyms:  VOICES and CUPS.  I have (hopefully) taught the children that these two words are their revising and editing checklists.  Everything in the room has to be covered and the only resource they can use is a dictionary.  I am sending home the sheet for them to study for homework.

  

My tool belt is full of tools that have the acronyms on them! 
Voice
Organization
Ideas
Conventions (see CUPS)
Excellent Word Choice
Sentence Fluency

Capitals
Usage
Punctuation
Spelling

Hallwarts School of Writing

We are getting ready for the" MCAS Long Composition" in a couple of weeks.  We have had two practice days as a grade level and over the next two weeks I am reviewing the six traits of writing and empowering writers. (plus many months of writing practice) I don't want to burn out my students so I was inspired by something fun that I saw on Writing Fix http://writingfix.com/traits.htm.  I tweaked her lesson!  We are going to spend the week at "The Hallwarts School of Writing." 

Click on the image:

First, I reviewed the 6 traits of writing by creating anchor charts with my students and using the posters from http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/sixtrait/menu.htm.  I did one trait a day and had the kids do that step in the writing process.

I used the Fourth Grade MCAS prompt from last Year.  Write about a special memory of a teacher, a funny memory, something your teacher taught you, a field trip or a time that your teacher made you feel proud.

Day 1- Ideas (Brainstorming)

Day 2- Organization (organization)

Day 3- Voice and Word Choice (Drafting)

Day 4- Sentence Fluency (revising)

Day 5- Conventions (Editing)

I continued going over these  6 Traits of Writing at the "Hallwarts School of Writing." I put the 6 areas of writing cards into my sorting hat and had the children each draw a trait.  The child read over their final draft and identified where and how they used that trait.  The children became the experts on that trait and highlighted the skill. I had each group use a specific color marker. (The teacher could assign the traits prior to the activity but I am going to take my chances with the luck of the draw)

I took pictures of each child with their trait hat.  (for those with the dreaded bug problems...I cover each head with paper towels for pictures)  I found a star border at Walmart.

I even downloaded some musical scores from the Harry Potter movies to play while the children worked on their writing.  The children enjoyed their magical week!