Weekend News! A Weekly Writing Activity

Overview

From Theory to Practice

OVERVIEW

Students' weekend adventures make the headlines in this lesson that uses personal events to have young students practice authentic writing. This recurring lesson, which is meant to be conducted each Monday, asks students to write about one "newsworthy" event or activity from their weekend. Each session includes a 10-minute writing minlesson based on what students have demonstrated that they need to know from the previous week. Students then write for approximately 20 minutes, applying their knowledge about spelling and grammar as they work. Students become reviewers as they assess their writing before sharing it with the class.

back to top

FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

Sipe, L.R. (2001). Invention, convention, and intervention: Invented spelling and the teacher's role. The Reading Teacher, 55(3), 264–273.

• It is important to recognize that teachers' activities during the drafting stage of writing, when children are first getting down ideas, must not inhibit children's willingness and desire to write.
  
  
• In interactive writing, students are actively engaged each time they write using what they already know about writing and spelling.
  
  
• Interactions between the student and an "expert other"� are crucial for scaffolding understanding with a variety of instructional techniques.

Fraser, J., & Skolnick D. (1994). On their way: Celebrating second graders as they read and write. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

This book includes a weekly "weekend news" writing activity that also has students generate their own set of criteria for evaluating their writing.

back to top