Ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency. Members of the northern nevada writing projects technology team created and demonstrated eight brand new picture book lessons to the first 100 teachers who signed up. Members of the northern nevada writing projects technology team created and. Everything you need to teach and assess student writing with this. Its primary author, ruth culham, is unit manager for the assessment program at northwest regional educational laboratory nwrel in portland. Great resource to hang in the classroom or print for every student to as a reference in their writing notebook. This approach defines the ingredients of effective writing for students to practice and teachers to assess, equipping both parties with tools for strategically analyzing written work. Although the writing done in kindergarten doesnt look like the writing done in later years, there are still plenty of details ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and convention skills to teach to kinders via pictorial writing, list writing, and early sentence writing. Use a mentor text each time you teach a skill to your students, so that they can emulate the craft of the experts. This book is an amazing resource for teaching the six traits of writing. Explanation of how to recognize the six traits in pictorial writing k1, intermediate writing grades 25, and secondary writing grades 6 12. The six traits of writing is a resource for both students and teachers.
Eric ed496418 6 ways to teach the 6 traits of writing. Oct 23, 2019 the six traits of writing model provides a recipe for successful prose writing. Ideas organization voice word choice sentence fluency conventions. Ways to introduce the trait language to students of all ages. The 2nd best player named christeon ronaldo additional 6 traits resources. Teaching writing through mentor texts for the love of. At the inservices end, each of the 100 participants brought in a different picture book to share, and each wrote a brief proposal for a 6 trait lesson inspired by their books. Youll learn 3 key things to remember about each trait, great books for modeling the traits, how to provide valuable writing practice without cutting into other learning time, how students can assess their own writing, and much more.
The six traits become a scoring guide and a tool for writing and using the writing process. See more ideas about teaching, mentor texts and 6 traits. Books, lessons, ideas for teaching the six traits book. Ideas are strong when they are clear and focused and move from the general to specific. Daily 6trait writing, grade 8 teachers edition, ebook. Mar 26, 2020 australian mentor texts for teaching writing using the 6 traits. Read a book during readaloud just for fun, and then ask students to listen to that same story from a writers perspective to demonstrate how writing skills apply to the real world of words. Writingfixs bibliography an extensive list of mentor texts and writing activities. Authors might convey ideas by drawing andor writing. The six traits of writing model is versatile, flexible, and great for differentiation. How the six traits unify your instruction of state and national standards and the expectations of statenational writing assessments. Mar 4, 2012 check here each day for new books that can be used to teach writing. See more ideas about mentor texts, teaching writing and 6 traits. The six trait writing model as an effective strategy in writing instruction.
Choose a book which is heavy in the convention you wish to teach. In fact, some of my best selling teachers pay teachers items are a huge list of mentor texts to teach a variety of reading and writing skills. Please use this link if purchasing james and the giant peach from, and help keep writingfix free and on. The ideas trait is the first trait taught in the 6 traits writing program. In this book, experienced educator and presenter betty hollas offers scores of strategies for building strong writers in the classroom. The picture books are great to use for any age group and provide a way to illustrate the separate traits quickly for older students and they get a kick out of having books from their childhood as part of the. Everything you need to teach and assess student writing with this powerful model. I cant tell how these two books may be different, so id like to know if youve used either of these books, how you liked them, and might one be better than the other. You are looking at our webpage devoted to our 2008 publication. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book s author, especially from chapter 16 of the book. Your middle schoolers will delight in reading fun, simple texts that will help you hone in on the six traits of writing while your readers improve their writing skills. And you get to keep it with you for future reference.
Add to this culhams bestselling professional book, using picture books to teach writing with the traits, and colorcoded stickers, and youve got a complete resource for teaching with the traits. Includes scoring guides, focus lessons, and activities for teaching each trait. Using picture books to teach writing isnt just for early childhood and elementary students. Mentor texts for writers workshop make a 6 traits tub. This list includes picture books as well as chapter books. To support your childs first writing assignments, we made lists of picture books that match up with the six traits that teachers in arizona look for in childrens writing.
Making up a story that has all the elements of a piece of narrative writing is difficult for young children. Look at good writing in any genre, and youll find these traits. Download kristinas favorite picture books for teaching the 6 traits. The best of those proposals became the lessons you can still find on this page. Therefore, i decided to make this supplement using books and ideas that could go along with the start of the school year as i plan to start modeling, practicing, and writing with my first graders as soon as possible. Mar 18, 2010 i have found that asking students to wait to title their books helps them to think of a more fitting and interesting title. The six traits of writing have 6 key characteristics that define quality writing, they are. No matter what your level, please check the other book lists.
Sentences can be long and winding joining one idea to the next or can be purposefully short and choppy, but the message is. Ive noticed a change in my students writing, and i must admit this is the first resource i turn to for writing tasks. A book about interjections and conjunctions conventions stevens, janet from pictures to words. Its primary author, ruth culham, is unit manager for the assessment program at northwest regional educational laboratory nwrel in portland, oregon.
By supplying a set of specific criteria for thinking and communicating about writing, the six trait writing model offers a practical and successful technique for teaching, implementing, and assessing effective writing. With this book, teachers will learn how to assess student work for these traits and plan instruction. It has become a highly respected, essential tool for evaluating student writing and planning instruction. Teaching the sixtraits of writing with middle schoolers. Buy a cheap copy of 6 ways to teach the 6 traits of writing book by betty hollas.
You are able to search the lesson plans by grade level and the specific trait. Designed with an eye to saving teachers time, the book focuses on. Young people watch movies often and talk about them. I use each one of these in my own classroom, and they work.
The six traits of writing collection activity guide. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book s author. I love using mentor texts in my classroom for reading and writing. A book about making a book conventions safire, william fumblerules conventions. Ideas organization word choice sentence fluency voice conventions the 6 traits of writing by jennifer heidlknoblock and jody drake. The picture books are great to use for any age group and provide a way to illustrate the separate traits quickly for older students and they get a kick out of having books from their childhood as part of the curriculum. Six trait writing tips and tricks ideas for teaching. Teach even the youngest writers about the 6 traits. The six traits of writing collection activity guide activities in this guide accompany charlesbridge picture books. When i think of books that demonstrate strong sentence fluency, i think of books that have creative sentence structure. Reading aloud is teaching writing, even if no writing activity follows the. The ideas trait is about the writings overall message and meaning.
The ideas trait is about the writing s overall message and meaning. Many teachers choose to introduce each of the 6 traits by reading a text that exemplifies the trait. Try sharing a favorite book prior to using it as a springboard for a minilesson in writing. When carla from comprehension connection started her six traits sunday blog posts, i thought it was a great idea. And theyll be amazed at how the writing in their classroom improves. For beginning writers of any age, the blank page can be daunting. Teaching the 6 traits of writing has changed the way i teach writing. The six traits of writing are presented in this pdf resource using lists of books to illustrate each trait. Youll learn 3 key things to remember about each trait.
Sep 11, 2012 the six traits of writing are presented in this pdf resource using lists of books to illustrate each trait. Using picture books to teach writing with the traits scholastic. Teaching writing through mentor texts for the love of teachers. Please use this link if purchasing owl moon from, and help keep writingfix free and online. This helpful tool contains pages and pages of strong literature to support you in teaching the six traits of writing. Prior to joining nwrel, ruth was english teacher of the year in montana, a highlight of her 19year teaching career. Use these resources to teach your students the six traits of writing. Mentor texts for writers workshop with images writing. Mentor texts include all kinds of books of all genres, an essay or article, magazines like scholastic news or time for kids, and even your own writing. The intended mentor text to be used when teaching this online lesson is the picture book owl moon by jane yolen. Using picture books to teach writing with the traits. Basically, all writing can be scored using an analytical rubric based on the six traits plus 1. Using picture books to teach writing with the traits by ruth culham, 2004 and picture books.
Used consistently and well, your elementary learners will become better writers. Using fiction and nonfiction childrens books as mentors, trait crate plus adds new life and energy to the teaching of writing through thoughtful and creative lessons that are readytouse tomorrow. Theyll give your child a great start, with examples of how to put these basic concepts into action in simple and fun ways. Readaloud books to teach reading and writing skills. This dynamic online workshop utilizes video footage from a fullday smekens workshop to equip k12 teachers with the knowledge and tools they need to start teaching the six traits of writing right away. Traits crate plus helps students learn and use the six traits ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventionsto improve. Think of them as the fuel that stokes the engine of writing. The six traits provide a system for accurate, reliable feedback to students as well as a helpful. Download kristinas favorite picture books for teaching the 6 traits many teachers choose to introduce each of the 6 traits by reading a text that exemplifies the trait. Using picture books to teach writing in middle school. It has so many practical ideas and my students have been really enthusiastic about the activities.
The six traits of writing your kids teacher wants to see. Students can see the trait in action within such mentor text. The six traits professional development model its not a program or curriculum. Six traits training helps us teach the qualities of good writing. While using this fantastic book, i created a few companion resources which is a bundle of 18 lessons plans that teach the six traits of writing ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions and is intended for grades k5 within informational, narrative and persuasive writing. Teaching word choice is essential for strong creative writing skills and thorough 6 trait writing instruction. Not every book is a great book for teaching voice, so it is important for us to be selective to make sure our books match our unique teaching. Set aside 12 writing minilessons to introduce each trait thats 612 days total. I implemented it in my classroom, and i just cant say enough about how well it has been received.
Inspire a love of reading with prime book box for kids discover. It gives teachers simple lesson plans to follow for each trait. The complete guide, grades 3 and up, as well as many other trait related teacher resources. Sentences flow well and are carefully crafted to best express the authors message. The lesson plans are broken down by grade levels, 45, 6 8, and 912. It is a shared vocabulary for teachers and students. The following books provide great teacher resources for bringing the power of word choice into your classroom. Our 6 most visited picture bookinspired idea development lessons. Within this model, teachers choose various mini lessons and activities to teach each of the six qualities traits to students during writers workshop.
Author book title trait heller, ruth a cache of jewels and other collective nouns conventions. Six trait analytic writing model a collection of links to explanations, examples, and lesson ideas. Classroom teachers, currently teaching the primary grades, who have explored how to teach the traits to five and six year olds, created this guide of thirty six lessons. In this outstanding book, betty offers scores of strategies for building strong writers in your classroom. Teaching writing through mentor texts a mentor text is any piece of writing that can teach the writer. The following sections will give you specific ideas for mentor texts and suggested activities to jump start activities for 6 trait writing.
Ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. Teaching the six traits of writing with middle schoolers using popular writing as mentor texts james blasingame arizona state university, tempe. In the book creating writers 2005 vicki spandel identifies six traits. For students, these six areas break the task of writing into pieces so that you can focus on one part at a time. With this book, teachers will learn how to assess student work for these traits and plan. Not only do you want to consider the pacing of your introduction but also the common. The text is short which is important for a minilesson.