Writing Workshop: Setting and Characters

In this 4 week live course, students will learn skills to improve their writing, practice those skills in class, and use new skills to produce works at home to share with classmates. We will look at great stories to see how the author creates the setting and develops characters.
Week 1: We will work on creating settings to add more interest to our stories. We will read settings in stories that may be familiar to students to see how authors set the scene. Then, we will work together in class to create settings to add interest to our stories. Finally, students will create a setting on their own at home to share during the next class. 
Week 2: Students may share the setting they wrote about for homework. We will look at pictures of different settings and describe the setting in more detail in words together and then independently in class. Students will write about a new setting for homework.
Week 3: Students may share their writing assignments. We will work on developing strong characters. We will study characters in books that may be familiar to students. Then, we will work together to create and develop characters in class. At home, students will create characters in a story to share with classmates.
Week 4: Students may share their writing assignments. We will continue to work on developing characters, learning how the character's actions and words show their character. Students will work together to develop strong characters through actions and dialogue in the story.
 Students will need a notebook, either a spiral or a composition book, to keep their writing in.