Writer's Workshop

Get multiple ages writing simultaneously with these 9 creative, in-depth writing units. The flexible structure and content will appeal to a wide variety of learners and mini-lessons found throughout target specific writing skills.

Pacing is simple; most students will complete approximately one unit per month. Each unit introduces concepts and assignments, and then provides a plethora of mini-lessons and exercises with PDF tools and other available resources to work through concepts. The first unit, the Writer's Workshop Jump Start, introduces the writing process and students compile their notebooks as they practice. The units that follow run the gamut from sentence and paragraph level exercises, to varied types of creative writing (fanciful and poetry) and nonfiction (true stories, essays/reports, letters and persuasive) writing.

Grammar, punctuation, the writing process, literary devices, and other writing skills are taught within the context of the assignments. You'll find multi-varied exercises to gain, practice, and firm up skills—as well as lengthy idea banks to get creative juices flowing. Start daily with one of the five to ten-minute mini-lessons listed in the margins to hone in on specific skills (such as allusions or paragraph development). These skills tie into the larger unit tasks. You'll find lots of resources: writing exercises, transitions, rubrics, worksheets, and activities that provide multi-level practice and even clever mnemonics such as writing on synonym rolls or “ant-onyms." The publisher also provides additional PDF resources (code inside text), and a dedicated website with an extensive list of video and online resources. Worksheets and activities are reproducible for individual use. 282 pgs, pb. ~ Ruth