Intermediate Writing Club

Would you like for your young author to practice a variety of writing skills in a structured and supportive environment? Do you have a young author who is eager to learn new writing skills to incorporate into their everyday writing? Or do you have a more reluctant writer who is at times disinterested in writing who would benefit from writing lessons that are relevant to them? All young authors are welcome here!

This course was developed with the Common Core ELA Standards for 2nd-4th Grade in mind by an experienced teacher with nearly a decade working with this age group. Since this course focuses on a different writing topic during each session, your learner could join once or each time the class is scheduled and always practice a new writing skill. The skills that we practice here can easily be incorporated into your child's writing after class. 

This course was designed with a Balanced Literacy Approach that follows a gradual release of responsibility. The teacher first models that session's skill as either a modeled writing (the teacher’s ideas) or a shared writing that incorporates the students’ suggestions. Then the students will brainstorm what to write about and provide feedback to one another. Finally, the students will have the opportunity to practice the new writing skill independently while the teacher guides and assists them. 

This class provides an authentic context for writing that is similar to a Writer’s Workshop model in a traditional classroom setting. We will focus on skills such as, incorporating dialogue, sequencing, word choice, how to hook your readers, developing strong endings, and varying types of sentence usage. 

Some of the classes will follow a journaling style of writing where there is a prompt and the students will respond with information about their own lives (narrative writing). Other classes will focus on a piece of writing (mentor text) that the teacher will share and the students will mimic in their writing. We will write for different purposes (to persuade, to inform, to explain, to entertain, or to describe). We will practice different writing formats (journal entries, writing a letter, note taking, or writing a short story.)

This class focuses on the revision of writing versus editing. Your learner will not likely produce writing that is without spelling errors. When working on encouraging learners to write, focusing too much on spelling errors can lead to frustration and a feeling that they “cannot write.” Instead, learners are encouraged to use invented spelling to get their ideas on paper without a spelling struggle. (Spelling is an important aspect of writing, but is not a main focus of this class.)  The teacher will provide a list of high frequency words while the students are writing if they wish to use it.


Schedule- 
Class Session 1- How to hook your reader- writing introductions
Class Session 2- How to write a strong ending
Class Session 3- Word choice makes your writing interesting
Class Session 4- Varying types of sentences in your writing
Class Session 5-Writing longer more elaborate sentences
Class Session 6- Organizing your writing (Sequence of events) 
Class Session 7- Author's purpose (writing for a variety of purposes)
Class Session 8-  Adding dialogue to your writing
Class Session 9- "Show, Not Tell" - Adding observable details to your writing
Class Session 10- Editing your writing
Class Session 11- Opinion Writing
Class Session 12- Persuasive Writing 
Class Session 13- Expository Writing
Class Session 14- Expository Writing text features 
Class Session 15- Narrative Writing

*Full list of all 52 Weeks is displayed in classroom and can be seen upon enrollment. Please message me if you have any questions.

(Please note that this schedule is subject to change.)