Activities

1. Make a list of ideas to find spelling mistakes in writing.
   
   
2. Make a flip book explaining ways to plan writing.

3. Given a paper in need of editing for spelling, find spelling mistakes by reading the paper backwards.
   
   
4. Given a paper in need of revision for word choice, revise the paper.

5. Given an article in need of revision, make necessary changes using focused revision.
   
   
6. Given an informational article in need of editing, make necessary changes using focused editing.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Student makes a list of ideas to find spelling mistakes in writing.  Student understands editing spelling helps writing become more grammatical and mechanical correct.  This list may include a few of the following ideas:

• Wait a few days after writing to look for spelling mistakes.  It is easier to pick out errors when the piece isn’t fresh in your mind.
• If writing using a prompt or article, use the prompt and article to double check words used from those sources.  “Steal” the spelling from those sources.
• Read the piece backward, focusing on each word by itself to find spelling errors.
• Look for words that are homophones and ensure you have the correct word meaning and spelling for words such as their, there and they’re or your and you’re.
• Look for words that look wrong.  Double check them in a print or on-line dictionary.
• Check words that have too many consonants in a row.  Consonants that are next to each usually need to be broken up with a vowel, except in the case of beginning blends, final blends and trigraphs  such as ch, bl, sh, nd, rd, sk, sch, scr, shr, and thr.
• Use a computer and spell-check.
• Ask a teacher or peer who is a strong speller to spell-check your work.

2. Student makes a flip book explaining ways to plan writing.  Flip book is accurate and complete.  Each page contains one idea for planning writing and has an example.  Student understands planning is important because it helps the writer put ideas on paper, develop additional ideas, organize ideas and decide if you need additional resources to write.  Student understands before beginning to plan they should be able to answer:

• Who is the audience?
• Why am I writing this?
• What is being asked or what topic is being addressed?

Some ideas students might use for planning their writing could be:

• Make a plan in your mind.
• Use a graphic organizer to organize writing such as a concept map, sequence of event chart or Venn Diagram.
• Use a bulleted list.
• Make an outline.

3. Given a paper in need of editing for spelling, student finds spelling mistakes by reading the paper backwards.  Student understands editing helps writing become more grammatical and mechanical correct.  Student reads the paper word by word by reading backwards.  Student focuses on each word.  Student finds spelling mistakes.  Student looks for:

• words that look wrong.
• words that come from a source around them to ensure they are spelled correctly.
• homophones and ensures the correct word with the correct meaning and spelling is used.
• words that have too many consonants in a row with a vowel in between.  Consonants that are next to each usually need to be broken up with a vowel, except in the case of beginning blends, final blends and trigraphs such as ch, bl, sh, nd, rd, sk, sch, scr, shr, and thr.

Student asks for assistance from an adult in finding spelling mistakes if needed.

4. Given a paper in need of revisions for word choice, student revises the paper.  Student understands that revision makes the message clearer.  Student highlights or circles words that may need replacing, such as meaningless words, low-level vocabulary or vague words.  Student uses a thesaurus to assist in choosing better words.  Student looks to replace meaningless words, low-level vocabulary or vague words with:

• sensory words that help the reader see, hear, taste, touch and smell the world the author is creating (violet, buzz, swish, buttery, silky, bitter). 
• tier 2 words that are higher-level vocabulary words that are used across the content areas (equality, discourse, industrious).
• tier 3 words that are academic-specific or content-specific words (tetonic plates, amino acid, isotope) .
• strong, action verbs.
• more precise language.  Vague words make the meaning unclear because the reader can’t see or imagine what is being written about.  Student chooses words that are specific and show the reader what is meant.

If needed, student asks for assistance from an adult in finding words that need replacing or if unsure if the new word is appropriate.

5. Given an article in need of revision, student makes necessary changes using focused revision.  Student understands revising includes making changes that will improve the organization, voice, word choice and sentence fluency of the writing.  Revision makes the message clearer.   Focused revision means looking at one trait at a time.  For example, the first time the student rereads the article he only looks for organizational changes that need to be made.  The next time, he looks only at the voice and so on.  Student makes revisions that make the message clearer or change the message for the better.  Student asks for peer or teacher assistance when necessary.  Student first identifies if there are any organization issues.  

When looking at organization, student wants:

• a topic that is made clear from the beginning
• a clear introduction
• ideas that are easily followed throughout the article.
• a conclusion that wraps up the article.

When looking at word choice student wants:

• sensory words that help the reader see, hear, taste, touch and smell the world the author is creating (violet, buzz, swish, buttery, silky, bitter). 
• tier 2 words that are higher-level vocabulary words that are used across the content areas (equality, discourse, industrious).
• tier 3 words that are academic-specific or content-specific words (tetonic plates, amino acid, isotope) .
• strong, action verbs.
• precise language.  Vague words make the meaning unclear because the reader can’t see or imagine what is being written about.  Student chooses words that are specific and show the reader what is meant.

Voice is a trait of writing that allows the reader to hear what the author is really like.  When looking at voice, student wants to:

• hear a personality within the piece without it being too conversational or informal.
• easily identify the author’s tone or easily identify how the author feels about the topic.

When looking at sentence fluency, student wants to have:

• sentences of varying lengths.
• smooth, natural flowing sentences that make the paper easy to read.  There might be a rhythm or the sentences might sound interesting, musical or beautiful.
• transition words that show relationships between ideas and create a flow.

6. Given an informational article in need of editing, student makes necessary changes.  Student understands editing helps writing become more grammatical and mechanical correct.
   Student uses focused editing, looking at one convention at a time.  For example, the first reread, the student may only look for incomplete sentences.  The next read, he only looks for capitalization errors and so on.  Student looks for:

• sentence fragments.  Student adds the missing subject or predicate.
• missing words or duplicate words.
• unnecessary capitalization.   Student understands capitalization is only used for proper nouns, acronyms, titles and the beginning of sentences.
• captilization of the beginning of sentences and proper nouns.
• punctuation at the end of each sentence.
• incorrect spelling.  Student notes words that look wrong or have homophones and ensures they have the correct spelling.  Student looks for words with too many consonants in a row that are not a beginning blend, final blend or trigraph. 
• Pronouns are in proper case.  I, you, he, she, it, we, they, and who are used as subjects of the sentence and are who the sentence is about.  Me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom, are used as objects or they receive the action of the sentence.
• Verb tense matches the subject.  If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular.  If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural.