 |
John Collins Writing Program
We follow the John Collins writing program in the fifth-grade, as it is a system wide writing program. One of the aspects of this program are Focused Correction Areas, that are referred to as FCA's. The writing template requires that the children skip a line when they write, so that the space is provided for editing and comments. With each writing assignment there are FCA's that are the focal points of the writing piece. For example, with our descriptive writing last week, the students needed to write a minimum of three sentences that described their pair of scissors. For the limericks that were created, one of the FCA's was following the schematic pattern of a limerick's rhyming pattern. FCA's will also focus on the grammatical content of a piece and are specifically selected to coincide with a mini-grammar lesson that I have taught in
class. The children have been assigned a writing folder, that will house all of their written work for the year. During the year, pieces are revisited, and then revised using specific areas of corrections, or content writing skills. Pieces are then published when it is considered to be a finished product. Students used the John Collins writing program last year so that it is a somewhat familiar process to them this year.
PARAGRAPH EXPECTATION
As the school year starts students are expected to write a paragraph that is at least 5 sentences long.Emphasis is placed in the beginning of the year on the writing of good topic sentences, with supporting details, followed with a strong clincher.
The learning strands that we will be covering for Reading and Literature in class for the month of September and the beginning of October are: identifying the main idea with supporting details, identifying story elements, setting,characters and plot, identifying and responding to poetry, rhyming and free verse, and the characteristics of genres - fiction and non-fiction, short stories and novels.
The learning strands for language that will be covered in the classroom are the seven basic parts of speech(noun,verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, pronoun), expand sentences, and work with verb tenses-past,present, future.
| |
