# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The lessons are grouped by writing trait, which I think could be used as a kind of structure for teaching. The groups are based on a 6 Trait writing model.

# data[].attributes.headline
Use the terms, "Salsa Words verses Rice Cake Words" to create a culture/language of having juicer words in writing! 

# data[].attributes.subject
Use the terms, "Salsa Words verses Rice Cake Words" to create a culture/language of having juicer words in writing! 

# data[].attributes.headline
Use SLINKY's to have students determine if their sentence structure has a balance short, medium, or long sentence lengths. They expand their slinky as their peer reads their work aloud. If their slinky is moving a lot (getting smaller and bigger depending on sentence length), they know they have sentence fluency! 

# data[].attributes.subject
Use SLINKY's to have students determine if their sentence structure has a balance short, medium, or long sentence lengths. They expand their slinky as their peer reads their work aloud. If their slinky is moving a lot (getting smaller and bigger depending on sentence length), they know they have sentence fluency! 

# data[].attributes.headline
Have students draw boxes around their sentences with colored pencils or markers. One color for long, one for medium, and one for short sentences. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Have students draw boxes around their sentences with colored pencils or markers. One color for long, one for medium, and one for short sentences. 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Traits of Writing | Professional Development by Smekens Education - Stretch Sentences with the Dice Game

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ready to push your students to elongate their sentences? With the Dice Game, you can help students supersize their sentences.

# data[].attributes.headline
Using a chart to strengthen sentence fluency.

# data[].attributes.subject
Using a chart to strengthen sentence fluency.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Boost Writers' Sentence Fluency with Specific Strategies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sentence fluency is the hardest trait to master. Fluency requires more than correctness. Sentences need to flow easily, smoothly, and musically.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
WritingFix: Sentence Fluency Resources and Lessons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
every year that students learn to write in school; both kindergartners and high school seniors can be taught to think about developmentally appropriate skills that are associated with sentence fluency . This page contains sentence fluency lessons and resources that we consider appropriate for sharing with third graders and up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Traits of Writing | Professional Development by Smekens Education - Create a Customized Classroom Thesaurus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As you build word-smiths and encourage students to use stronger word choice in writing, consider creating a place for students to log those better words.

# data[].attributes.headline
Use a picture and break it into parts to have students think more descriptively. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Use a picture and break it into parts to have students think more descriptively. 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Strong descriptive writing requires that students do more than just identify a scene for their readers. They need instruction on how to carefully study and deeply think about a subject in order to bring it to life with precise word choice.

If shown a picture of a firefly, most students simply state I see a firefly or I see a lightning bug. However, if the right questions are applied, students can dig deeper, see more, and generate vivid descriptions. Using embedded photos within the See, Think, Wonder prompt resource, guide students to develop a strong description using the following three-step process.

1. What do you see?
Encourage students to lean in and notice smaller, close-up details within the photo. How would you describe the (subject)? Size? Color? Shape? Where is the (subject)? What is the (subject) doing? What is the time of day? How does the (subject) feel? Break it into quadrants and look at a portion, one at a time.

As students provide answers to these questions, challenge their word choice. Through collaborative discussions, fine-tune their suggestions, looking for the most precise words and vivid phrases. The growing list of details are then crafted into a sentence: I see a glowing lightning bug resting on the palm of someone's hand at dusk.

2. What do you think?
Like all texts, the reader/viewer may experience text-to-self connections when studying a photograph. Ask students if they can remember a time when they caught fireflies. What details could be added to the descriptive sentence based on their own past experiences? Who were you with? Where were you? (For students who have never had such an experience, have them imagine the perfect scenario. Who would they want to be with? Where would they want to be? What would be the surrounding circumstances?)

Adding in these details offers the reader more information beyond what's evident in the picture. It adds emotion, connection, memories; it adds life to the moment.

Reread the first part of the description. Then, include these new details:I see a glowing lightning bug resting on the palm of someone's hand at dusk. I vividly remember chasing fireflies in the backyard of my grandparents' house with my brother Stephen when we were seven and eight years old. As the sun was setting, my grandma Conway brought us glass jars to lure the lightning bugs for capture and lemonade to sip as we scampered across the yard.

3. What do you wonder?
If the "see" and "think" details capture the present, then the "wonder" questions push students to think beyond it. Ask students what about the picture, the subject, or the scene piques their interest. In the case of the lightning bug, What would they ask a lightning bug expert? What would they like to know about lightning bugs?

Spend time generating questions, and then click on the image. (The See, Think, Wonder prompt resource includes 24 photographs from Wonderopolis, each one linked to its Wonderopolis page.)

Read aloud the corresponding article on the website (or assign students to read it individually). They are looking for interesting facts and information (and possibly the answers to their "wonder" questions).

Then, once more, reread and add to the description, weaving in some of these new facts and details. I see a glowing lightning bug resting on the palm of someone's hand at dusk. I vividly remember chasing fireflies in the backyard of my grandparents' house with my brother Stephen when we were seven and eight-years old. As the sun was setting, my grandma Conway brought us glass jars to lure the lightning bugs for capture and lemonade to sip as we scampered across the yard. With fireflies being nocturnal, we learned that they sleep during the day. The insects are commonly found amid tall grasses close to the base of the plant.

Depending on the grade level, this activity could be a recurring one that progresses from whole-class participation to individual written descriptions.

The class progresses through the three questions and pools their thinking. Then students participate in all-class description (with the teacher scribing it on the board). Or, using the details brainstormed as a class, students then each write an independent description.

Pairs could study an image, answer the three big questions, and then produce a shared writing (or individual ones).

With much instruction and practice, students could complete this activity during an independent literacy station where they are "reading" the visual text (i.e., photographs) and writing a detailed description of what is literal (i.e., "see" details) and what is implied ("think" and "wonder" details) within the scene.

Online Form - Newsletter horizontal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Push Students Beyond Obvious Descriptions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Strong descriptive writing requires that students do more than just identify a scene for their readers. They need instruction on how to carefully study and deeply think about a subject in order to bring it to life with precise word choice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Do your students struggle using strong word choice in their writing? This post is geared towards the upper elementary or middle school curriculum and uses the term MILLION DOLLAR WORDS when referring to word choice. It is part of the revising stage of the writing process. It is also part of a series of writing mini lessons designed for scaffolding in writing workshop.

Using good WORD CHOICE will make students' stories more creative and descriptive. Follow these steps to find ways to exchange boring words for MILLION DOLLAR WORDS.

1. TEACH

Use anchor charts to teach the lessons. Place the anchor charts on a smart board and then add them as posters to a bulletin board or writing center. With the FAAVS, point out that each letter represents a type of million dollar word and they each have a color to represent it. Students can color-code their sentences. Also explain that many of the sense words can also be adjectives. They were added as a separate category to help students think of ways to add million dollar words to their sentences.

Explain each of the FAAVS

2. MENTOR TEXT

It is important to use MENTOR TEXT to show students how real authors use that skill. In my mentor text PDF included in all of the STEP-BY-STEP INTERACTIVE WRITING NOTEBOOKS, these are the books I suggest. If you aren't using the suggested mentor text list in your school, you don't necessarily have to stick by the grade levels below. If you have one of them in your classroom library already, use it! I broke it down in grade levels for schools and districts who purchased my writing notebook programs to keep it fresh each year.

(I provided links to some of the books. I use affiliates solely to keep my blog running so I can provide quality content and ideas for teacher.)

K- Brave as a Mountain Lion by Ann Herbert Scott
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

1st- Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
Same Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Conner

2nd- Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
Dinorella: A Prehistoric Fairy Tale by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Tulip Sees America by Cynthia Rylant

3rd- The Whales by Cynthia Rylant
The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg

4th- The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter
Amos and Boris by William Steig
Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson

5th- When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz Ryan
Noah Webster and His Words by Jeri Chase Ferris
Caves by Stephen Cramer

6th- If Not for the Cat by Mary Blount Christian
The Man Who Carried His Heart in a Bucket
Roxaboxen by Barbara Cooney

7th- The Bunyans by Audrey Wood
Monkey Business by Wallace Edwards
The Cat's Pajamas by Wallace Edwards

8th- Tiki Tiki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
Oh the Place You'll Go by Dr. Seuss

How do you use mentor text?

Go through the book and pick out places where the author shows good imagery. As you read the book to the students, stop and point out the words you marked. Here is an example form I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joossee. Say to the students, "Close your eyes and make a picture in your mind as I read a few sentences."

"The lake slowed its thrashing to a soft, even beat. The mosquitos dipped low to the water and the water bugs skittered on top. The moon glowed on one side of the lake while the sun shimmered on the other."

3. MODEL

Give examples of each one of the FAAVS using the same sentence to show how to BUILD A SENTENCE.

Also model using FAAVS in a class story as part of the revising step.

4. TAKE NOTES

Students should take notes to help retain the information and gain ownership of their writing. Here is an example using interactive writing notebooks.

5. STUDENT RESOURCES

Provide students with copies of some of the information to keep in their writing folder as a reference when writing independently in the future. Another great idea is to provide a Million Dollar Dictionary with million dollar words and lines to add more.

6. PRACTICE

A great way to provide practice during center time is with task cards that scaffold from choosing the best million dollar word to rewriting sentences with million dollar words.

Another idea is using color. Have students color areas with that particular FAAVS or add words to a sentence and underline them in color.

7. APPLY

Students should then take their rough draft and apply million dollar words. Use color to see how many times they were able to revise! Color-code to see if students were able to use all of FAAVS.

8. SHARE

When students share their work, it provides them with a deeper understanding and they can gain knowledge from each other.

DO YOU NEED A BULLETIN BOARD IDEA?

Write a million dollar sentence, color-code, and illustrate. GREAT IDEA: Walk around the room while students are adding million dollar words to their narrative stories. When you find someone who created a great example, give him/her something to write on and place it on a MILLION DOLLAR BULLETIN BOARD. Students get so excited to see classmate doing this and start busily doing the same! It makes an adorable bulletin board. I actually kept mine up all year and referred back to it and shared examples from it when we were revising a story. Here are some examples:

When your students are finished with this lesson, you will see their writing transform into a beautiful descriptive story!
LAST LESSON: WRITING MINI LESSON #27- ROCKIN BEGINNINGS NEXT LESSON: WRITING MINI LESSON #29- VARIETY OF SENTENCES! CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL LIST OF WRITING MINI LESSONS
This lesson can be found:

A part of this lesson is also included in the STEP-BY-STEP Writing Program available for Grades 1-8 designed to scaffold through each type of writing with modeling through every step. It includes EVERYTHING you need to teach writing for the year: Anchor charts, mentor text, interactive notebook pages, practice, modeling, tracking charts, students resources, graphic organizers, examples, paragraph writing, narrative writing, opinion writing, informative writing, prompts, checklists, rubrics, etc etc.

"I can't say enough about how great this resource is. We've finished the first unit, and I followed each lesson as written out! The grade three and four aligned, but had different lessons, so I looked like a superstar teacher in the first paragraph writing month. Best thing bought from TpT! Would recommend wholeheartedly from a veteran 22 year teacher!" - Diana

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Writing Mini Lesson #28- Million Dollar Words- WORD CHOICE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Do your students struggle using strong word choice in their writing? This post is geared towards the upper elementary or middle school curriculum and uses the term MILLION DOLLAR WORDS when referring to word choice. It is part of the revising stage of the writing process.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Develop Paragraph Writing--One Sentence at a Time

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The paragraph is the building block of solid writing. A paragraph (or set of paragraphs) develops a part of the topic; it explains a facet of the topic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The number one reason students dont pass standardized writing prompts is lack of idea development. Kristina Smekens compiled list of 20 ways to develop ideas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers want more detail. Students don't know how to add more. Rather than tell students to add more detail, explicitly reveal a variety of ways to add information.

# data[].attributes.headline
Use music...listen to a song three times all being sung by different artists (that are extremely different). Talk about the mood or differences between artists, just like how as writers we have a different "voice."

# data[].attributes.subject
Use music...listen to a song three times all being sung by different artists (that are extremely different). Talk about the mood or differences between artists, just like how as writers we have a different "voice."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Traits of Writing | Professional Development by Smekens Education - Teachers Share Their Voice-Filled Lessons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Voice doesn't just happen; we have to provide opportunities for students to experience it and experiment with it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Traits of Writing | Professional Development by Smekens Education - Define Differences Between Perspective & Point of View

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers promote the trait of voice in assignments using point-of-view. What's the difference between perspective and point of view and how do we teach these concepts?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How Do You Teach Voice in Writing?

After teaching students how to write for an audience and with a purpose and how to effectively evaluate point of view, I felt good about myself once again. I called my mom and told her what a smart son she had. Then I realized my students had no idea how to effectively maintain a personal voice while writing. In shock, I called my mom, advised her to give me up for adoption, and cancelled the appointment with my time management advisor. I was too busy.

I had work to do. I had to teach my student's not to turn in dozens of bland assignments. Here's what I came up with.

Explain Voice to Students

When I began teaching, I had no idea how to teach voice. I wasn't even sure what it was. I asked several colleagues "How do you teach voice in writing?" I'll summarize their answers: "Voice, you either have it or you don't. You can't really teach it." Translation: "I don't know what it is either."

Here's what I teach now:

Each writer has a distinct personality.

Each writer has passions, opinions, prejudices, and information.

Words should capture the writer's personality.

Writers with strong voice capture the reader's attention with individuality, liveliness, and energy.

Strong voice makes the writer's purpose clear.

Strong voice helps readers experience the emotions of the writer and understand the writer's ideas.

Careful word choice, punctuation, paragraphing, and style help strengthen a writer's voice.

Activity

Show students two sample passages. You can find two of your own or use some of mine as examples: Memorable Moments from the 2007 NBA Finals and Reflections: What I Should Have Known About Essay Writing.

Read the first sample passage and ask the following questions: Does the author convey his or her voice? How does the reader know? What can be inferred about the author of this piece

Write the student responses on the board

Read the second passage and ask the same questions.

Discuss how these two passages, written by the same brilliant author, have two distinct voices with two different purposes: the first to entertain; the second to inform or persuade.

Effective Voice in Student Writing

If helping students with revision, instruct students to read their draft (rough or final).

Ask: Who is your intended audience? What voice would be most effective?

Discuss that when you determine the most appropriate voice for your purpose, write with that voice.

Remind students that knowing the audience is the key to finding your voice.

If using this assignment for revision, have students read their rough draft and change sentences, words, or phrases that do not convey their chosen voice.

Divide students in to groups of 3-4.

Instruct each student to read his or her draft to the group.

Listeners should identify passages that should be changed.

Instruct students to work individually on revision.

After revising, instruct students to reconvene and read their final draft.

Each group should choose the best revision and share it with the class.

Lesson Plans: Fine Tune Your Writing Focus

Writing that lacks focus confuses readers. Student writing lacks focus because they rarely have a purpose, do not know how to make a point, and write to an imaginary, non-existent audience. End their pointless meanderings with these simple lesson plans.

1. Lesson Plan: Determining Audience and Purpose

2. Teaching Students to Maintain a Personal Voice in Writing

3. A Lesson Plan on Using Tone Effectively

4. A Lesson Plan in Creating the Perfect Title

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Do You Teach Voice in Writing: It's Easier Than You Think

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After teaching students how to write for an audience and with a purpose and how to effectively evaluate point of view, I felt good about myself once again. I called my mom and told her what a smart son she had. Then I realized my students had no idea how to effectively maintain a personal voice while writing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rather than giving a recipe for informative introductions, teach optional ingredients to build into the first paragraph. Think of a puzzle rather than a recipe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Traits of Writing | Professional Development by Smekens Education - Self-Assess Organization of Writing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When teachers announce a new writing assignment, or a specific writing project, or even a single writing prompt, there are often multiple tasks for students to juggle.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Traits of Writing | Professional Development by Smekens Education - Beginnings & Endings Are Crucial on State Writing Tests

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The top two reasons students fall short of passing scores on standardized assessments their writing is too short and lacks development.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One key component to reading fluency is how students break phrases and word groupings among sentences. A huge area to work on in classroom instruction includes their attention to punctuation marks when reading.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Punctuate Dialogue with Comic Strips, Candy Hearts, & More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Remind students that the purpose of all conventions, including punctuation marks, is to aid the reader in understanding the writer's message.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Traits of Writing | Professional Development by Smekens Education - Annual "Editing Games" a Big Hit

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Getting students excited about editing is a challenge. A sixth grade teacher found a way to combine her students' interest in The Hunger Games with the idea of editing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
WritingFix: Conventions Resources and Lessons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
state writing test . Conventions is a complex trait that should be discussed, explored, and further developed every year that students learn to write in school; both kindergartners and high school seniors can be taught to think about developmentally appropriate skills that are associated with conventions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I highly recommend reading Ruth Culham's book: 6+1 Traits of Writing to enhance your teaching of writing to elementary age students. The following links are examples of student work taken from her...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Six Traits of Writing Collection Activity Guide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Activities in this guide accompany Charlesbridge picture books. Use these resources to teach your students the six traits of writing: ideas, organization, word choice, voice, fluency, and convention.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a demonstration video of what PowToon, an interactive presentation creator website can do for your presentations or student presentations. It's a great resource! http://www.powtoon.com