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Mrs. Graumann's 5th Grade CREATIVE WRITING ELECTIVE
First Quarter 2008 – 2009 155th Academic Year
I – 1, August 21:
Introduction to Writing Elective – Review handout and grading expectations
Introduction to Writing/Research Elective Curriculum resource– Read “The
Writing Life”
I – 2, August 26 & 28:
Establish a three-ring binder dedicated to the creative writing elective.
Include sleeves for all writing so that the original publication-ready
document is never harmed.
Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Ideas and Content
Complete a Formula Writing exercise. Note the example in the book.
Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Ideas and Content
Complete at least one activity from Strange Comparisons and Crazy Riddles.
I – 3, September 2 & 4:
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Voice
Complete a Frustration Writing exercise. Note the example in the book.
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Voice
Complete an Imagery Writing exercise. Note the example in the book.
I – 4, September 9 & 11:
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing –
Organization
Complete a Five-Sentence Paragraph.
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing –
Organization
Complete a Five-Paragraph Essay with a personal narrative.
A personal narrative:
• is a true story the writer tells about himself or herself
• is written in the first person
• reveals a writer’s feelings about an event or events
• usually presents events in time order
• is written to a specific audience with a specific purpose
These are some suggestions that might be used:
• Birthday parties provide an opportunity to celebrate another year of
life with family and friends.
• Visiting San Antonio renewed in me an appreciation for another
culture.
• Visiting a part of God’s beautiful creation that I had never seen
before instilled within me greater wander and awe for the majesty of the
Creator.
• Visiting Washington, D.C., renewed in me a sense of patriotism.
• Family vacations produce memories that last a lifetime.
I – 5, September 16 & 18:
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Ideas
and
Content
Complete an Association Poem.
• Internet search engines are available especially for young people:
o www.goodsearch.com (List Concordia Historical Institute as your
charity of choice, and begin the search.)
o www.askforkids.com
o www.aolatschool.com
o www.kidsclick.org
o These search engines have been checked out by experts and are safe
for young people to use. Information found through these search engines is
also more likely to be accurate. If you are using a general search engine
like Google, information may not always be correct.
I – 6, September 23 & 25:
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing –
Organization
Complete one of the assignments this week in Practice the Trait of
Organization or Compare and Contrast Writing.
I – 7, September 30 & October 2:
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Voice
Complete one of the assignments in Practice the Trait of Voice.
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Voice
Practice the art of Synesthesia Writing.
I – 8, October 7 & 9:
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Word
Choice
Complete a Bio-Poem.
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Voice
Practice the art of Synesthesia Writing.
I – 9, October 14 & 16:
Read from Writing/Research Elective Curriculum: Six-Trait Writing – Word
Choice
Complete activities from Practice the Trait of Word Choice.
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GRADING CRITERIA: Creative Writing Elective
To earn an A for the semester, the student must:
• Comply with behavioral expectations outlined in introductory class.
• Submit quality publication-ready entries for at least ten writing
activities outlined in the syllabus.
To earn a B for the semester, the student must:
• Comply with behavioral expectations outlined in introductory class.
• Submit quality publication-ready entries for at least eight writing
activities outlined in the syllabus.
To earn a C for the semester, the student must:
• Comply with behavioral expectations outlined in introductory class.
• Submit quality publication-ready entries for at least six writing
activities outlined in the syllabus.
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An extended opportunity for Mrs. Graumann's creative writing elective
students:
Daughters of the American Revolution Essay Contest 2008
Due Date: October 28, 2008
Topic: “The Ideals of the Gettysburg Address”
What message did the Gettysburg Address communicate
to our war-torn nation in 1863?
How are the ideals articulated in the speech
still relevant for our country today?
Grade 5: 300 – 600 words
Grades 6, 7, and 8: 600 – 1,000 words
Title Page Format:
“The Ideals of the Gettysburg Address”
(A subtitle is permitted if written below the topic.)
Student Full Name
Student’s Full Address (If you are uncomfortable providing your own address,
the school contact information may be substituted.)
Student telephone number with area code (School phone may be used: 281-351-
8223.)
kgraumann@Salem4U.com
Salem Lutheran School
Grade (5, 6, 7, or 8)
22607 Lutheran Church Road
Tomball, Texas 77377
San Jacinto Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Number of Words in Essay: _________
Judging and Awards:
Judging will be based on historical accuracy, adherence to topic,
organization of material, interest, originality, spelling, grammar,
punctuation, and neatness. Pictures, maps, drawing, graphics, and other such
additions will not be considered in judging and should not be included.
Judging and awards will take place at the chapter, state, division, and
national levels. The winner of the San Jacinto Chapter contest will be
recognized by the chapter at its meeting in the spring of 2009. A
certificate, gold pin, and monetary award will be presented to each national
winner at the Continental Congress in July 2009.
Writing Process
Prewriting:
Brainstorm before you start writing about what you want to say, and begin
the
research process:
• Use this search engine: www.goodsearch.com . List Concordia
Historical Institute (CHI) as the charity of your choice. (CHI will receive
a
penny for each search made.) On the top line, write in your search request:
Gettysburg Address.
• Read the sources; list ideals you have identified; determine your
focus.
• Select books from the library that provide a background to the
Gettysburg Address and also highlight the values upon which you choose to
focus.
• Develop a story line using a graphic organizer such as one found in
the Salem Writing Curriculum:
o Determine a central thought, or focus.
o Include:
characters (provide an interesting description of what the
character
is like)
setting (create a picture of where the story is happening)
plot (the events and action that take place in your writing)
o Develop at least three key activities to write about, and provide at
least three details with each activity.
Writing:
• Capture the reader’s interest in the very first sentence.
• Each paragraph will have:
A topic sentence that conveys your main idea or activity
Several sentences within that paragraph to support topic
sentence
A final sentence that re-emphasizes what you wrote
• Be careful about neatness, spelling, and punctuation.
• The first line of each paragraph is either indented or preceded by a
blank line. Either way makes it clear at a glance where your thoughts begin.
• Say what you want to say, but make sure you do it the right way!
Evaluating:
• Does what you wrote make sense if you read it out loud?
• Is there a reason for everything that happens in your story/essay?
• Do the events in the story happen in an order that makes sense?
• Do the characters seem like real people? Would you want to know them
in real life?
• Did you use different verbs in your essay/story?
• Does the beginning of your writing grab the reader’s attention?
• Does your ending tie up all the loose ends?
• Are the supporting details congruent with the topic sentence of each
paragraph?
• Have you checked and rechecked your grammar and spelling?
• Are all the sentences complete?
• Have you created a picture with words to “show” more than “tell”?
Revising:
• Use a thesaurus to see whether some changes will make your words
create a clearer, more vivid, picture in the reader’s mind, provide more
information, or appear more convincing.
• As you revise, ask yourself, “Will people understand what I am
trying
to say?” This means you may have to go back and rewrite things or add new
parts.
• If some parts do not fit in with the rest of the story, remove it
from your work, set it aside, and save it. Perhaps this piece of writing
might inspire something else and be a great part of another piece of writing.
• Many good writers often revise at least three or four times before
they move on to the next part of the process!
Editing:
• Editing is when you check to make sure that all the technical things
about your work are correct—including spelling, capitalization, punctuation,
grammar, sentence structure, subject/verb agreement, consistent verb tense,
and word usage.
• Correct punctuation helps the reader understand what you are saying.
• Be sure that every sentence has two parts: subject (who or what the
sentence is about) and predicate or verb (what is happening to the subject).
• Use sentence-combining words, such as and, but, or, yet, so, who,
whom, which, that, whose, because, and although.
• Use capital letters at the beginning and periods at the end of every
sentence. Use commas where necessary, but try not to overuse them.
• Do not overuse the exclamation mark!!! Your reader should sense the
excitement in your words.
• Use a dictionary to check spelling and word use.
• Let a friend read and edit your work.
Publishing:
• Your work should be neatly presented in black ink in good
handwriting
or typed carefully on your computer using Arial or Times New Roman in 12-
point font.
• Number the pages, beginning with the second page.
• Essay must have a bibliography listing all references used. Internet
resources, if used, should be cited in similar format to that used for
printed resources. Add the electronic address used to access the document as
supplementary information.
• Any essay with information copied directly from sources without
using
quotes will be disqualified.
• It should follow the format as shown above.
Mrs. Graumann, 09/03/2008