Creating a Reading Rich Home and
Writing Tips for Parents
Dear Parents
and Students,
In fourth grade, students must use all six steps of the writing process. I’d like to briefly outline those steps for you.
Idea finding:
Organize:
Draft:
Edit:
Revise:
Publish your final copy.
Students often ask about word processing their papers. All papers should be written in cursive and neat, unless instructed to do otherwise. There will be times your child will be asked to use the computer at school or at home (if available) for their final copy or projects.
Grammar skills are important! It gives them the dialogue they need to conference with me about their writing. Knowing the skills will help them write better papers. It will increase their knowledge about what needs to be corrected and what is already correct. Help your child learn the grammar skills each week to be successful!
It is a pleasure working with your fourth grader each day!
In fourth grade, students must use all six steps of the writing process. I’d like to briefly outline those steps for you.
Idea finding:
For a non-fiction writing
assignment, the writer does
research, uses reference materials, and consults various sources to
gather
information.
For a fiction assignment, the writer brainstorms – by himself or with others – remembering that the best ideas come later in the process – often after he feels he has totally run out of ideas.
For a fiction assignment, the writer brainstorms – by himself or with others – remembering that the best ideas come later in the process – often after he feels he has totally run out of ideas.
Organize:
Sequence the ideas.
This can be done in a variety of ways such as with an outline, a
web, a
list, a diagram or a chart.
Draft:
Write the rough draft on every
other line. The empty lines allow space
for editing and
revising.
Edit:
Fix capitalization, punctuation,
spelling, and indenting.
Use a dictionary.
Revise:
(Polish it.)
Add, delete, restate, refine, and move ideas around.
Use a thesaurus.
Add, delete, restate, refine, and move ideas around.
Use a thesaurus.
Publish your final copy.
Use your best penmanship.
Indent properly.
Proofread your final copy to make sure it says what you want it to say. (DO NOT SKIP LINES!)
Proofread your final copy to make sure it says what you want it to say. (DO NOT SKIP LINES!)
Students often ask about word processing their papers. All papers should be written in cursive and neat, unless instructed to do otherwise. There will be times your child will be asked to use the computer at school or at home (if available) for their final copy or projects.
Grammar skills are important! It gives them the dialogue they need to conference with me about their writing. Knowing the skills will help them write better papers. It will increase their knowledge about what needs to be corrected and what is already correct. Help your child learn the grammar skills each week to be successful!
It is a pleasure working with your fourth grader each day!
Sincerely,
Pat King
Giggle
Poetry
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