Building Writers: An Inspiring Writing Curriculum for Grades 4-6

In this class, students in GRADES 4-6 learn to develop their own unique writing voice and style as they play with words, share ideas, and complete writing projects at their own pace.  My writing instruction is heavily influenced by Julie Bogart, from Brave Writer, who writes: 

"A good definition of writing:  Getting the stuff that's in my head down onto paper.  
A better definition:  Getting the stuff that's in my head into yours so that you think, feel, see and perhaps even better, believe what I've written."

My goal in this class is to help children express themselves in writing so they can persuade, convince, explain, or tell a story.  Each class period has a writing challenge that is focused on a specific part of writing (dialogue, description, perspective, tone, etc.).  As students become more comfortable playing with words to complete these challenges, they learn to write more fluidly and begin to develop their own personal style and voice.  The class periods are divided into the following parts:

(1) Students are given prompts or writing challenges, and then allowed to write freely.  The goal each week is to PLAY WITH WORDS for a given purpose, NOT to write perfect stories with correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar.  

(2) Students are encouraged, but never forced, to share what they've written so that everyone in class can appreciate the many different ways to say the same thing.   

(3) Many students get inspired by these short writing exercises to write whole stories.  Therefore, students are given time at the end of class to work on any ongoing stories they may be creating.  At this time I will be available for questions or feedback.   (Any new students may also bring any stories they have been working on prior to joining this class.)

Students are encouraged to keep all their writing exercises in one notebook--or file, if they prefer typing--so that all of their ideas stay together in one place.  This makes it much more likely that they will use the skills they are learning when writing their own stories.  

EXAMPLE WRITING CHALLENGES:
-Describe an everyday object in a way that tells us if you love or hate that object (without saying whether you love or hate it)
-Explain how your basketball rolling onto a neighbor's lawn leads to your family winning a vacation to Hawaii
-Show a boy's mood by only describing his actions

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PREREQUISITES
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Students joining this class should be able to write FLUENTLY.  When given instructions, they should be able to write at least one paragraph WITH MINIMAL SUPPORT in about 5-10 minutes.  If your student struggles to simply get words and thoughts onto paper, this class will be very frustrating for them.  

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SUMMER 2023
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SESSION FOCUS:  We all have our own voice and unique way of looking at the world.
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Week of JUL 24:  Learning to Freewrite
Students will practice Stream of Consciousness Writing to help them hear their own voices and write without overthinking.

Week of JUL 31:   Our Unique Imagination
Students will each write a paragraph that contains the same 3 words, showing how even with the same prompt we can all put a different spin on our writing.

Week of AUG 7:   Descriptive Writing
Students will experiment with different ways of describing an everyday object. 

Week of AUG 14: Describe a Scene
Students are all given the same scenario.  They have to fill in the details.  
 
Week of AUG 21:  Finish a Story
Students hear the ending of a story.  They have to write the events that lead up to that event. 

Week of AUG 28: Perspective
Students choose an animal and write from that animal's perspective.

Week of SEP 4:  Invent a Product
Students invent a new potato chip flavor and describe it in an appealing way. 

Week of SEP 11:  Describe the Everyday
Students experiment with describing different things like "blue" or "smelly" to someone who has never experienced those things. 

Week of SEP 18: Inventing a Backstory
Students try to invent how common objects came to be.  

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FALL 2023
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SESSION FOCUS:  We use writing to convey exactly what we want to say. 
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Week of OCT 16: Describing Silly
Students try to describe something "silly" in several different ways. 

Week of OCT 23:  Omitting Words
Students describe different scenarios, like a cat attacking something, without using certain key words, like "hiss," "scratch," or "pounce."

Week of OCT 30:  One Sentence Writing
Students write just one sentence to convey ideas like "fear." 

Week of NOV 6:  Descriptions for a Purpose
Students learn to describe different articles of clothing for different purposes.  For example, to evoke a feeling of dislike, to try to sell the item, or to explain a person's intentions.  

Week of NOV 13:  Reactions 
Students describe the reactions of three different people in the room after a person tells a joke.  The reactions have to tell us something about each person.  

Week of NOV 20:  Concise Writing
Students invent a superhero, telling as much information about them as possible using only 200 words.  

Week of NOV 27:  Multiple Meanings
Students write three different sentences that convey three different meanings for words like "crumpled."  

Week of DEC 4:  Hands
Students try to create an impression of a person by only describing their hands. 

Week of DEC 11: Advertisements
Using only 25 words or less, write a billboard for a new product.  

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ONGOING CLASS 
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Students may join or leave this class at anytime.  Topics rotate frequently, and may be adjusted according to specific needs of the current students.  Topics do not build on each other, but students who join for an entire year or semester will naturally make connections between topics and start to incorporate the skills into their everyday writing.  Students may also repeat topics, since each exercise can be written differently.