In this ongoing class, kids will take their writing to the next level as they do a variety of different types of writing. My classes are structured in such a way that each week we have a new topic, so students can drop in on any given week. The first 2 days of each week, kids will plan, use graphic organizers, and outline their weekly assignment. They will also read examples. Next, they will complete a rough draft of their writing assignment. On the 3rd day of class, they have the opportunity to share it will the class and create an editing checklist. Students can use this editing checklist to edit and write their final copy. We also do a short grammar lesson on the 3rd day of class. This is a perfect class for kids who are ready for 6th and 7th grade level writing. Students should be able to read and write in English at a 6th grade level or higher to succeed in this class.

There are optional worksheets for some of the classes. They will be made available in the classroom a day or two before class starts for that week.


Here are the weekly topics:

Week of Feb 10, 2025: Writing a Descriptive Essay/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn about writing a descriptive essay using sensory details to engage the reader's senses. 


Week of Feb 17, 2025: Developing a Story's Setting/Grammar lesson on Parentheses vs Dashes
Students will use worksheets to develop a story's setting. They will also create maps of a story setting.

Week of Feb 24, 2025: Writing a Process Essay/Grammar lesson on Avoiding Fragmented 
Sentences
Students will write a Process Essay. A key concept will be including all the steps in a process and using transition words. 

Week of March 3, 2025: Writing a Story Plotted on the 8-Point Arc/Grammar lesson on Using Colons
Students will learn how to plot a story on an 8-Point Arc. This is a more complex plot than the usual 5 Elements Plot that is often used. It will help kids gain a deeper understanding of how a plot develops a story.

Week of March 10, 2025: Poetry as a Literary Form/Grammar lesson on Run-on Sentences
Students will learn the difference between verse and prose. They will put their knowledge into practice with a writing assignment.
Key concepts are meter, rhyme schemes, stanzas, and common poetic forms


 Week of March 17, 2025: Poetic Devices/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn how poets create rhythm, engage the senses, and help the reader feel the topic more deeply.
Key concepts are repetition, enhancing meaning through similes, metaphors, symbols, and imagery, and using hyperbole and onomatopoeia to enhance the mood of a poem. Students will learn to closely read a poem and annotate it. 

Week of March 24, 2025:  Shakespearean Sonnet/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn what a Shakespearean Sonnet is, read examples, and write one themselves.
Key concepts will be iambic pentameter, rhyming patterns, and the 14-line structure.

Week of March 31, 2025: Writing a Science Fiction Story (There is no Monday class this week.)
Students will learn the elements of a science fiction story, read an example, plan, and write a science fiction story. This type of story involves science and/or technology. Some key terms and concepts are time travel, space ships, hard science, soft science, and revolving the story around a "What if?" question.

Week of April 7, 2025: Writing a News Article/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn the structure, tone, and details included in a news article. They will use a graphic organizer to plan a news article, and they will write one. 
Key concepts will include being factual, writing with authority, including who, what, where, when, and why, and to always include the most important details at the beginning.

Week of April 14, 2025: Writing a Review of a Product or Service/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will choose a product or service to review. Key concepts will be giving their honest opinion in a tactful way, writing in first person, and comparing the product or service to another similar product or service.

Week of April 21 2025: Story Plots and Subplots/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn about the 5 elements of a plot. Next, they will learn how longer stories, such as novels, can have several smaller plots within one larger plot, how chapters in a book can have their own plot, and how smaller plots work to fulfill the larger plot.


Week of April 28, 2025: The History of Storytelling/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn how humans have used storytelling throughout the ages to pass on family history, tell about events, and to entertain. Then they will write a fable that has a moral.


Week of May 5, 2025: Folklore/Grammar lesson TBD 
Students will learn about the characteristics of folklore, talk about examples of this genre, plan, and write their story.
Key terms and concepts: fairy tales, legends, urban/contemporary legends, tall tales, and oral tradition.


Week of May 12, 2025: Writing a Definition Essay/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will plan and write an essay about a single term of their choice. They will analyze the term, think deeply about it, and write about what it means to them, some examples of it, and create their own definition.


Week of May 19, 2025: Writing a Story Using a "Save the Cat!" Plot/Grammar lesson TBD
"Save the Cat!" is a type of story plot created by Blake Synder, a popular screenplay writer in the late 20th century. Kids will plot out a story using this method and then write a story. This is a great class for learning how to develop an engaging plot.

Week of May 26, 2025: Writing an Opinion Article/Grammar lesson TBD
This week kids will learn how to write an opinion article. They'll learn how this is different from a strictly "news" article. They'll learn how to express arguments to support their opinion, use data to prove it, the format of an opinion article, offering solutions, having a strong opinion, and being clear and direct. They will also learn that they should not be wishy washy, apologetic, or repeat facts or reasons. 

Week of June 2 2025: Writing a Play/Grammar lesson TBD
Kids will plan and write a play. They will learn the format of a play and how it is different from writing a story.

Week of June 9, 2025: Writing a Story Focusing on Having a Good Main Conflict/Grammar lesson TBD
Kids will learn how to develop a main conflict for a story. Then they will plan and write a story with a good conflict.

Week of June 16, 2025: Writing a Literary Analysis Book Report/Grammar lesson TBD
This week kids will write a book report that examines how the author used themes and literary devices.

Week of June 23, 2025: Annotating on Your Writing/Editing/Grammar lesson TBD
This week kids will learn to edit their own writing using annotation.

Week of June 30 - July 3: TBD

Week of July 7, 2025: Writing a Short Story with Figurative Language/Grammar lesson TBD
This week we will talk about figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification, euphemism, metonymy, synecdoche, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, antithesis, oxymoron, and irony). They will write a story that includes figurative language.

Week of July 14, 2025: Synthesizing, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing/Grammar lesson TBD
Kids will spend time learning how to write a paragraph that synthesizes information from 2 or more sources, summarize an article, and practice paraphrasing.
 
Week of July 21, 2025: Student's Choice Story/Grammar lesson TBD
A couple times a year, I like to let kids write any type of story they want to write. 

Week of July 28 - August 1, 2025: Writing a News Article/Grammar lesson TBD
Kids will plan and write a news article.

Week of August 4, 2025: Writing an Expository Essay/Grammar lesson TBD
This week the kids will learn what expository essays are, how to write one, and they will plan and write their own. Special focus will be on academic voice, point of view, and writing in past tense.

Week of August 11, 2025: Writing a Story Plotted on Freytag's Pyramid/Grammar lesson TBD
Kids will write a story using Freytag's Pyramid as a method to plot the story. Special focus will be on developing an inciting incident.

Week of August 18,2025: Types of Characters in a Story/Grammar lesson TBD
Kids will learn about the different kinds of characters in a story (mentor, threshold guardian, herald, shapeshifter, shadow, trickster) and write a story that has at least 4 of these types of characters.

Week of August 25, 2025: Points of View: Writing in First, Second, and Third Person/Grammar lesson TBD
This week, kids will learn about the three main points of view and how to use them in their writing.

Week of Sept 2, 2025: Writing a Sword and Sorcery Story/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn about the characteristics of sword and sorcery fiction, talk about examples of this genre, plan, and write their story.
Key terms and concepts: character has personal goals, magic, battles, hero often has a sword or some sort of special weapon.


Week of Sept 8, 2025: Problem and Solution Essay/Grammar lesson TBD
Kids will identify a problem, describe it, and offer some solutions in this 4-5 paragraph essay.


Week of Sept 15, 2025: Writing a Fantasy Fiction Story/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn about the characteristics of fantasy fiction and write a fantasy fiction story.


Week of Sept 22, 2025: Writing a Book Report/Grammar lesson TBD
Students will write a book report on a book they have already read. They will need to bring a book to class that they have read through to the end. They will learn to examine themes, events, characters, tone, and impressions of a story. Students will identify the plot of the story. Then they will write a book report to explain their analysis.

Week of Sept 29, 2025: Writing a Blog Post /Grammar lesson TBD
Students will learn how to write a blog post, including how to include links to outside resources, use headers, write in second person, and add or respond to comments on a blog post.

Week of Oct 7: Elements of Character Development/Grammar lesson TBD 
Students will learn to create one-page character sheets, write good monologue, dialogue, and direct thought, and how to "show" a character's emotions.

Week of Oct 14: Plotting a Hero's Journey/Grammar lesson on Using Commas Correctly Part 1
Students will learn about the 12 steps in a hero's journey and use some worksheets to create a hero and plot out the journey that hero will take. 

Week of Oct 21: Writing a Narrative Essay/Using Commas Correctly Part 2
This week, kids will plan and write an essay based on a personal story.


Week of Oct 28: Writing a Fantasy Fiction - High (Epic) Story/Grammar lesson on Using Commas Correctly Part 3
Students will learn about the characteristics of high fiction, talk about examples of this genre, plan, and write their story. Key terms and concepts: epic (larger than life) hero, big scope, 12 steps in a hero's journey.

Week of Nov 4: Writing a Personal Response Essay/Grammar lesson on Using Italics
Students will observe a work of art and record notes and feelings they have. They will do research on the artist and the work of art. They will write an essay based on their personal response to the work of art. 

Week of Nov 11: Writing a Low Fiction Story/Grammar lesson on Writing Plural Forms of Nouns
Students will learn about the characteristics of low fiction, talk about examples of this genre, plan, and write their story.
Key terms and concepts: personified animals or toys, supernatural events, magical powers

Week of Nov 18: How to Use Anecdotes in Academic and Creative Writing/no grammar lesson
Students will learn what anecdotes are and how to use them effectively in different types of writing. They will learn about anecdotal evidence vs scientific evidence, metaphorical anecdotes, and other ways to use them. 

Week of Nov 25:  Please note that this week we have classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, there will be no grammar lesson this week.
Writing a Short Story - Kids can write a short story. It can be any kind of story.


Week of Dec 2: Note: Classes will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week.
Writing a Realistic Fiction Story/No grammar lesson
Students will learn the elements of a realistic fiction story, read and example, plan, and write a short realistic fiction story. Key concepts will be to write a story in which the characters and plot could exist in real life, but they are made up.

Week of Dec 9: Writing an Historical Fiction Story / Grammar lesson on figures of speech
Students will learn the elements of an historical fiction story, read an example, plan, and write a short historical fiction story. They will learn to weave historical events into their story. The historical events must be accurate, and the characters and scenes should represent the time period.


Week of Dec 16: Writing a 5 Paragraph Essay/no grammar lesson
Students will learn about the basic parts of a 5-paragraph essay, use a graphic organizer to plan one, and then write a rough draft and final copy of an essay on any topic they choose. The learning goal for this week's lessons is for kids to master writing good paragraphs and the basic format of a 5-paragraph essay.

Note: There will be no class from December 23 through January 3.

Week of Jan 6, 2025: Using Tables and Figures/Grammar lesson on Using Dashes
Students will learn to add tables and figures to their writing. Tables and figures are used mainly in research reports but can also be used in other types of writing such as essays.


Week of Jan 13, 2025: Week of Writing MLA Citations (hard copies of books, encyclopedias, and dictionaries in print)/no grammar lesson
Students will learn to cite different types of resources in the MLA formatting style. We will thoroughly cover one type of citation each day. This will help to prepare students for writing research reports in junior high and high school. This week we are focusing on hard copies and not electronic sources. They will see example citations from the following sources:
Book: "Mary Poppins Opens the Door" by P.L. Traverse
Encyclopedia: The American Horticultural Society Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening: Cacti and Succulents
Dictionary: Mirriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Ed.
Note: Students do not need to have the books listed above. I will use them in my teaching. However, they will need to bring a dictionary to class with them on the 3rd day of the week.

Week of Jan 20, 2025: Writing MLA Citations (electronic sources)/no grammar lesson
Students will learn to cite different types of electronic sources in the MLA formatting style. This will help to prepare students for writing research reports in high school. Students will choose resources of their own to cite, with guidance. We will thoroughly cover one type of citation each day. They will see example citations from the following sources:
Online Encyclopedia Examples: https://www.britannica.com/animal/Siberian-tiger
Jasiewicz, Krzysztof. “Poland.” Britannica, May 14, 2022, www.britannica.com/place/Poland.
https://www.britannica.com/animal/tyrannosaur#ref120203
Online Dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/

Week of Jan 27, 2025: Writing Paragraphs for a Research Report/Grammar lesson on Using Acronyms
Students will learn how to write paragraphs for a research report. Thier paragraphs will be factual and include an in-text citation. They will also write a full citation to match in-text citation. They will learn how every in-text citation has a full citation on the Works Cited page, and every entry on the Works Cited page has at least one in-text citation in the body of the report. Students will not be writing a research report - just learning how to write paragraphs for a research report.

Week of Feb 3, 2025: Writing to "Show" vs "Tell"/Grammar lesson on Using Adjectives and Adverbs
Kids will learn the difference between "showing" and "telling" in their writing. They'll also learn some keys for showing. They'll practice writing sentences that show vs tell and they'll edit a story, changing the sentences to be more engaging for the reader.


After this week, we will start back at the beginning of this list of lessons.