Six-Trait-Overview
The focus trait in this writing assignment is word choice; writers will brainstorm strong adjectives before composing their paragraphs. The support trait in this assignment is voice;
requiring the paragraph to be "voiced" from another character's
perspective gives developing student writers practice as they develop
their own voices.
Description
After enjoying the onomatopoetic word choices and imagery from Phyllis Root's picture book, Rattletrap Car, students will brainstorm lists of words that imitate sound effects. Inspired by their word lists, students will plan a story that centers on some sort of field trip or journey outside. To help tell their creative stories, students will use a thoughtful amount of onomatopoeia, and they will read their final stories out loud to each other.
Author
This lesson was created for WritingFix after being proposed by Northern Nevada teacher Karen Mitchell.
Materials
Lesson Plan
student samples
Student Instructions Page
Little Red Riding Hooks handout
Two-page drafting sheet with word choice checklist
WritingFix's list of onomatopoetic words.
Sheet of 6 Word Choice Post-It Notes
Sheet of 6 Idea Development Post-It Notes
Step One (sharing the published model)
Teachers
should stress, as they read the cited book aloud, what the author has
done particularly well in writing this story: in this case, author
Phyllis Root has chosen marvelous sounding and mind-picture inducing
onomatopoeias to center her story around; in addition, illustrator
Jill Barton has ingeniously contributed pictures that illustrate
onomatopoeias in a personal way. The interactive activity below is a
follow-up to reading the story, and it attempts to inspire students to
create an original, personal story by matching onomatopoeia sounds with
an interesting setting.
Step Two (introducing student models of writing)
In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson. The groups will certainly talk about the word choice, since it's the focus of the lesson, but you might prompt your students to talk about each model's idea development as well.
Step Three (thinking and pre-writing)
The interactive button game on the Student Instructions Page will
get your students thinking about field trip location choices and
onomatopoeia choices. Your students can certainly brainstorm original
locations and onomatopoetic words for this assignment.
Once
students have chosen a location to visit in their imaginary field
trips, ask them to spend some time brainstorming an exciting moment
that might happen on this field trip.
Then
I say, "Next, what will happen to continue this exciting moment? You
know you'll have enough details when you can tell me just about the
second part in four or five sentences. Can you use at least one
onomatopoetic word to help tell this part of the exciting moment?"
Continue brainstorming.
After that I say, "What will happen to bring this exciting moment to a close? You
know you'll have enough details when you can tell me just about the
third part in four or five sentences. Can you use at least one
onomatopoetic word to help tell this part of the exciting moment?"
Continue brainstorming.
Once
students have brainstormed their exciting moment in three parts, ask
them, "How will you introduce this field trip and the exciting moment
that is about to happen to your reader? How can you launch them into
this story without giving every detail in the world? Can you write a
four- or five-sentence introduction that sets up the exciting moment?"
You might pass out the Little Red Riding Hooks handout to help them begin with a very powerful sentence.
Finally, can students think about an interesting way to finish their stories?
Once
students have thought about their story, have them discuss their plans
with several other students. When students hear their own thinking
aloud before writing, drafts become much better. Plus, they might pick
up some good strategies for story-telling from their partners.
Students
can draft their stories on the drafting sheet below. The onomatopoeia
handout might help your students choose the perfect three or four
examples of onomatopoeia to use in their stories.
Step Four (revising with specific trait language)
Two tools for revision are provided below. To
promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach
WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts. Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific
skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one
"5." Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It
rankings. For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response
Post-Its, click here.
Step Five (editing for conventions)
After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers. With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.
Step Six (publishing for the portfolio)
When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your
students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming
writer's workshop block. Their stories might become a longer story, a
more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the
story they started here. Students will probably enjoy creating an
illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their
portfolios.
Website(s)
The Northern Nevada Writing Project: WritingFix
Extension of Lesson
Interested in publishing student work on-line? We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers. This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is
posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.
Content Provider
The Northern Nevada Writing Project: WritingFix
