Applying The Standards: Evidence-Based Writing Series

Nonfiction writing has become the goal of many writing programs, and this series can help your student with knowing how to find and use facts in their writing.  Students will learn how to use graphic organizers to collect facts and ideas, and then turn those facts into opinion/argumentative, informative/explanatory, narrative, and research writing to meet standards for kindergarten through fifth grade. A common core alignment chart and writing rubric are provided to keep track of standards met by this series. A student writing checklist allows students to keep track of their writing progress through each assignment. A writing practice packet is a group of pages that provides space for students to complete each step of the writing process - prewrite, draft, revise, edit/proofread, and publish. There are then 50 different topics (one page each) with a graphic organizer and a couple of questions for the student to think about and maybe revise their information. Graphic organizers include Venn Diagram, sequence chart, column chart, word web, and others. These 64-page books are reproducible for family or classroom use, so you will want to make copies of the checklists and practice packet for use with all the writing assignments. An answer key is found in the back of each book.

Most of the writing is what you might expect for elementary level writing, but the kindergarten level seemed a bit advanced; there is quite a bit of writing. Children are asked to draw pictures in some assignments, then write complete sentences about them; for example, 'draw pictures of what happens to a seed in the plant life cycle; write two sentences about what happens to a seed and how does it become a plant - check your spelling.' Graphic organizers provide a great tool, especially for your visual learners. Pair these books with your language arts curriculum, or use them to introduce children to the writing process or for children who struggle with the process. ~ Donna