ENGLISH Writing Conventions TEXT TYPES K 3 Performances

ENGLISH Writing Conventions

TEXT TYPES K– 3 • Performances. • Imaginative performances. • Short statements. • Historical narrative. • Recounts. • Persuasive reviews. • Poetry (rhymes). • Narratives. • Poetry (descriptive). • Informative representations. • Procedures. • Persuasive representations. • Literary retellings. • Character descriptions.

TEXT TYPES Years 4 – 6 • Performances. • Historical descriptions. • Information reports. • Historical recounts. • Procedures. • Historical narratives. • Expositions. • Explanations. • Persuasive reviews. • Poetry discussions. • Information reports. • Newspaper reports.

1. PRE-WRITING

2. DRAFTING

3. EDITING

4. PUBLISHING COMPUTER HANDWRITTEN • Select font and size. • Ruled margin. • Line spacing. • Underline heading. • Use thesaurus. • Date in margin. • Use spell check. • Neatest writing. • Date at top of page. • Neatly erase mistakes. • Underline heading. • Name at bottom of page.

BUILDING WITH THE SIX TRAITS 1. Idea development. 2. Organisation. 3. Voice. 4. Conventions. 5. Sentence Fluency. 6. Word Choice.

IDEA DEVELOPMENT Like the foundation of a house, idea development serves as the solid base on which a good piece of writing rests. If you start with a solid idea, your writing can grow as big as you want. • Topic: personal experience; investigated; personally important. • Focus: zooms in or zooms out; narrow and straight. • Details: interesting and important; rich; quality beats quantity; memorable. • Makes Sense: easy to follow; understandable; all pieces fit together; ideas connect. • Ownership: research is in own words; risks taken; personal insight shown; writes uniquely.

ORGANIZATION The structure of writing. Just as a house has an entrance, an exit, hallways that connect, and a sensible layout, so too does a piece of good writing. Plans are drawn before a house is built; writing should be “planned” too.

ORGANIZATION Plan • • appropriate graphic organizer used to plan writing the order of the writing makes sense the most important ideas receive the most attention transitions sound natural Beginning • hooks or grabs the reader • an inviting lead • effective topic sentence • shows where writing is going

ORGANIZATION Middle • • parts fit together smoothly subtopics or parts are clearly separated ideas connect contains the “heart of the writing” End • might leave you thinking or wondering • Makes the writing feel complete • leaves the reader feeling satisfied • ties things together

ORGANIZATION Title • • hits at the writing’s big idea catchy makes sense is memorable

VOICE The author’s voice (a. k. a. you) should be present in every piece of writing you make. Sometimes your presence needs to be strong, but sometimes it should be kept subtle. How will you ensure that your reader recognizes this as your writing?

VOICE • Your Personality: sound honest and sincere; shows passion and confidence • Your Emotions: energetic, heart-felt; shows feelings toward the topic (tone) and invites feelings from reader (mood) • Your Style: either a storyteller or reporter; showcase your techniques; sound like you; show personal risk • Your Point of View: show an opinion, consider perspectives; audience awareness and sensitivity • Your Experience: know own voice; show insight; sound believable; write own topic

CONVENTIONS The roof of a house – though planned from the beginning – is not built first. Think about conventions near the end of your process. • Spelling: “sight words”; use a dictionary; abbreviate correctly • Punctuation: check end punctuation (periods, questions marks, exclamation points), middle punctuation (commas, apostrophes, semi-colons) and dialogue punctuation; check hyphens • Capitalization: proper names; sentence beginnings; titles; do not mis-use/overuse capitals.

CONVENTIONS • Grammar: check noun and verb and noun and pronoun agreement, check appropriateness (“gonna” versus “going to”); check verb tense • Spacing: indent paragraphs; spacing between words; do not put black spaces between paragraphs; use appropriate margins

SENTENCE FLUENCY Just as white clouds float peacefully in the sky, or thunder clouds arrive with alarm, sentences and phrases float through a piece of writing. Do you want your sentence fluency to be subtle or alarming? • Variety of Sounds: repetition; natural sounding; rhythm and cadence; experiments with language • Variety of Beginnings: prepositions; conjunctions; participial; phrases; question words • Variety of Sentences: complex and simple; declarative and interrogative; exclamatory and imperative; short and long

SENTENCE FLUENCY • Variety of Connectors: transitions; connecting words and phrases; sentence flow together; experiments with colons and semi-colons • Has Readability: carefully crafted; smooth and flowing; sounds natural when read aloud; parallelism

WORD CHOICE Word choice – like the sun in the sky – can accomplish many things: comfort or sunburn, thirst or relaxation. The words you choose to include in your writing have profound impact on your reader. • Verbs: precise and unique verbs; consider synonyms; balance of action and linking verbs • Adjectives: precise and unique adjectives; considers synonyms; using fewer quality adjectives is better than using a string of weak adjectives • Nouns: precise and unique nouns; purposeful use of pronouns; correct noun and pronoun agreement

WORD CHOICE • Word Pictures: sensory images; memorable phrases; uses word pictures when appropriate; verbs, adjectives and nouns work together • Word Play: personification; tries new vocabulary; onomatopoeia; effective similes and metaphors; alliteration

ONLINE READING SITES • Children’s Storybooks Online – Stories for Kids of All Ages: http: //www. magickeys. com/books/ • Stories to Read Online: http: //www. beenleigss. eq. edu. as/ and http: //www. storytimeforme. com • Story Place – The Children’s Digital Library: http: //www. storyplace. org • Aesop’s Fables: http: //www. aesopfables. com

E-BOOKS FOR OLDER STUDENTS • Doctor Who the Classic Series: http: //www/bbc. co. uk/doctorwho/classic/ebook/index. shtmm • Open Cultures – 450 Free Audio Books: http: //www. openculture. com/ (includes The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis and The Jungle Story by Rudyard Kipling) • Online Story Collections: http: //www. vrml. k 12. 1 a. us/curriculum/stproes/storiesolder. htm

ENGLISH Writing Conventions