This semester class is aimed at children who are beginning their journey in written communication. It is designed to take the fear out of writing by breaking it into small, manageable elements. By approaching these elements in fun but effective ways, the student will grow in confidence and come to see that writing is desirable instead of a chore.

Students will begin by learning the magic and power of the sentence. Sentences by themselves are not intimidating, yet the greatest works ever written are made of nothing but meaningful sentences. From sentences we will move on to learning how to organize sentences into paragraphs. When students realize that paragraphs are merely small groups of sentences, the intimidation fades away and the fun begins. Paragraphs can be seen as mini essays. Paragraphs are short and very writable. By learning to write a simple one-paragraph essay, the fear of essays will diminish. Then it’s on to the five-paragraph essay with confidence and enthusiasm. Words grow into sentences. Sentences bloom into paragraphs. The fruit of paragraphs is the essay. Spreading this learning over sixteen weeks gives the student time to discover their voice and ability.

Class Organization:
Units 1-4: Making connections with the reading/writing relationship. Recognizing why we like the writing we like. Writers are people like me. I can write, too.

Units 5-6: Fun writing sentences. Discovering the place of short sentences. Building longer sentences. Confidence in sentence building. Writing sentences that sing.

Units 7-10: The anatomy of a paragraph: Introduction. Body. Conclusion. Paragraph as a mini essay. Strong sentences—strong paragraph. Confidence in a paragraph.

Units 11-16: The idea/essay connection. The essay magician—finding the essay in anything. Outlining your essay. The victory of the first draft. The beauty of the second draft.

Classes are led by the teacher using lecture integrated with interactive discussion. There will be some in-class writing as well as assignments done out of class. And there will be fun. By finding the games in essay writing students will begin to look forward to each writing experience.