Poetry Writing Assignments

I am not big on poetry, it just isn't my thing. Most of it I find either confusing, or incredibly boring. However, it is something the kids have learn about. DJ has done some, and wrote one short poem last year called the Hot Dog Poem. It was pretty cute actually. This year, for fifth grade, I want him to write two full poems. One for the first half of the year, and the second for the second half of the school year. While I had tons of ideas for poem writing they were way too broad for a fifth grader. So between my husband and I we came up with two subjects, bees, and favorite season. I think these will be perfect, and DJ seemed please with what we chose. He wants to do the bees poem first. So the first step of the writing process has been done, picking the topic to write about. Next he has to begin to jot down his thoughts on how he wants to write his poem. Because we gave him two semesters he has plenty of time to do this. Do you like poetry? Do you write any poetry? What tips can you provide to readers about writing poetry?

Step 5 Of The Writing Process: Publishing Your Work

Ok so you have gone through all the other four steps. Now you are on to step five, one final edit, and publishing your paper. Probably the easiest step. Go over one last time, and make any final edits needed for grammar, and spelling. Then just turn your paper in, if it is a school assignment, or have it published. The definition of publishing is the way you present your finished work to others. Your final work can be written out, or typed, which is the preferred method these days. It should be neat, and easy to read.

If you are publishing orally, it is an oral presentation. Be prepared before you start your oral presentation. Make note cards, practice what you will say, and speak clearly, and loud enough for everyone to hear. Use visuals such as charts, graphs, pictures, or other illustrations that help make your point. Be sure to know if your audience is formal, or informal, so you can follow the speaking style.

Speaking presentations, have always been my least favorite. I am very comfortable writing out my thoughts, and arguments, but very uncomfortable in front of groups. At one point I was a BLS Instructor, and I had to give oral presentations. This was a way of forcing myself to be comfortable with public speaking. While this tactic will not work for everyone, it is something to consider.

Revising and Proofreading: The Writing Process

You can find the first two steps in my archives. Steps three, and four kind of go together, so I am putting them in the same post. They are revising, and proofreading. In step two you did your rough draft. It was probably slightly messy, maybe disorganized in thought, with spelling, and punctuation errors. So now comes the time to revise your work, into your final product. To revise correct any disorganized thoughts, or themes, spelling, punctuation, and other errors. Once you have completed revising your work, you can proofread it, or better yet have someone else proofread it for you. Others can very often notice something maybe you missed. For school purposes, I teach my son to proofread sample writings, as well as his own, before turning them in. This helps him to notice mistakes, in areas he has already learned. Below is short video on proofreading for kids, but can be applied to anyone who wants to improve their writing skills.

Here are a few pointers to remember:

Do my sentences make sense, and are they in a logical order?
Is info missing, do I need to elaborate, or explain more?
Have I checked my spelling, punctuation, and grammar?
Have I used the right verb tenses.

Follow these simple rules, and you will have your writing skills down to a science.

Step 2 Of The Wrting Process: Drafting

We already did prewriting, which basically was gathering your thoughts, and getting ideas for a good writing topic. Now we go to step 2, which is drafting. Drafting will give you an idea, of what your finished product will look like. You will need your notes, and any information you gathered during prewriting. Begin writing, and keep your mind, and your pen free to write whatever, keeping your intended audience in mind. Write down everything about your topic, even if it seems to be too much. You will revise it later, and you will be happier with more info, than less. Don't worry about spelling, and punctution, right yet, that can all be fixed later. This is your rough draft, and it is rough for a reason LOL. Since all great writings must have a beginning, middle, and end, keep in mind how you want your piece to end. A beginning is easy, but you may want to ask friends, or family which is more interesting. Explore your mind, and try to think of different ways to say the same thing.

Through the Eyes of DJ

The next week, or so, I will be giving info, and tips for getting your 4th grader to enjoy writing. As some of you know, I have let my son DJ start his own blog, Through the Eyes of DJ. He asked me if he could have one, and at first I said no. He insisted it would be a good way for him to learn about writing. After I thought about it for a while, I could see some benefits to it. I told him he could have one, if he agreed to make it centered around his schooling. He has to do two writing assignments, designated by me, a week. The other days he can write about things he wants to. His goals for the fourth grade are to stay on topic, expand the topic idea, use end punctuation, and his best spelling. He learned very quickly that the system will tell him when something is spelled wrong, and look up the correct spelling. Towards the end of fourth grade, I will be introducing paragraphing, and basic outlining to his writing. Commas, and quotation marks, will come sometime during the year. Some of you have already visited his blog, followed, and even left him some comments. You will see me critique his writing, once the school year begins. I am not an expert writer, so if any of you can add constructive criticism to his writings, please feel free to do so. He does not not know typing rules yet, so you will notice the spacing errors, just bare with that, it will come in due time. He doesn't get a letter grade, for writing, he gets either needs improvement, satisfactory, or excellent.

If I see he is doing well, I will start to let him post his own Science projects, that he has done. I will see how it goes. You can watch his progress, and see him grow. I actually am so proud of him for thinking of it, and think others should try it with their homeschooled, and public school children. If you use blogspot it is free, and the possibilities are endless for them to write about.

Now lets talk about the steps in the writing process. The five steps are prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing. To me a lot of these are very similar in their process, and goal, but I will go over them starting tomorrow with step one prewriting.