Writing Expectations

Writing Expectations

We are excited to be using the 6 + 1 writing traits strategies in our classrooms to continue to build upon each student’s writing skills.  The six traits (or aspects) of writing that we focus on each year are Ideas, Organization, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Fluency and Conventions.  The + 1 part of the writing is the overall presentation of the writing piece.  We encourage each child to do their own personal best in their writing work to make it look “picture perfect.”  We first read about excellent strategies published from Northwestern University about 6 + 1 writing traits that focused mainly on grades 3 and up.  After seeing the success that many elementary schools have had by using 6 + 1 strategies to teach writing, Dansville Primary School decided to adapt these strategies for use in our building at the Primary level.   We have been involved with a team of teachers in Dansville Primary who have spent time during the school year and summers to develop rubrics for both students to use to guide their growth as well as teachers to use to analyze student writing.  We will be using the student rubrics to demonstrate to your child how they can continue to progress in each of the traits as the year progresses.  These help to give your child the tools to see how they can continue to improve upon their own writing.  As teachers, we will utilize the teachers’ rubrics for each trait to demonstrate growth as well as to help us to guide our instruction.  We are always so excited to score our students’ writing work using the traits as we see them grow and as we get more information about how to next help the children progress as writers!

To Learn More About 6 + 1 Traits:
http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/about.php?odelay=1&d=1

Our classes are using a handwriting program called “Handwriting Without Tears.”  This program does an excellent job of helping students to easily learn the formation, directionality and size of letters. 

Click below to have a copy of the alphabet that we use:

A-H                    I-U                  V-Z

Click below to read more from the Handwriting Without Tears Website:
http://www.hwtears.com/method.thm 

Students who are in First Grade in Dansville Primary are expected to meet, and encouraged to become fluent, with the following Writing Expectations:	Students who are in Second Grade in Dansville Primary are expected to meet all of the First Grade expectations and the following Second Grade skills:
* uses sounds * uses whole words * uses one-to-one correspondence * uses spaces between words * writes in complete sentences * puts sentences together about a single topic * uses capital letters at the beginning of the sentence * uses end of sentence punctuation	* uses more correct spelling than invented spelling * writes a passage with a beginning, middle, and end * capitalizes proper names * rereads to make sure writing makes sense * begins to self-edit

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