Describes and suggests treatment for different writing "diseases" common to elementary school students. (SB)

This article presents several punctuation activities that help students practice dialogue-writing skills. Teachers can help their students become intrepid reporters by providing them with story ideas or by inviting them to develop their own "scoops." In addition, comic strips can also be used for dialogue-writing practice.

Identifies and discusses four basic skills needed for good report writing: collecting and recording information; notetaking; using reference sources; and organizing notes for writing. (JMB)

Biographies can inspire students to reach their goals and explore various literary elements (turning points, cause and effect, and figurative language). This reading and writing workshop presents resources and strategies for introducing students to biography. A student reproducible has students examine why people are their role models or mentors.…

Daily journal writing can help students become strong, confident writers. Students can use journals to reflect on what they are studying, brainstorm on a topic before writing an essay, track and react to current events, and explore ideas in their imaginations. Tips for journal writing include: keep it stress free, reassure students they are…

Can magazine or newspaper pictures be used as effectively as cartoons to motivate pupils to write? Author answered that question from a reader in an extension of his January article in this journal. (Editor/RK)

Elementary students can become good editors by using editing skills during the writing process. Teachers must present and repeat editing topics in minilessons, provide reminders of particular skills that were addressed, teach students to use editing resources, and expect students to develop proper usage gradually. (SM)

Eight ideas to motivate children to write. (CM)

Have writing skills taken a backseat in your classroom? They have in many schools, even though the need for good writers is growing. A professional writer and teacher shows how you can help your students take their first steps in developing writing skills. (Editor/RK)

Suggests three strategies to help students hear the sounds in words: developing phonemic awareness; explore sound/symbol relationships; and discover spelling patterns. This method is most effective if teachers continuously encourage students to think about how these strategies will help them as readers and writers. (SM)

Author describes her strategy for getting her fifth graders to write good reports by letting them grow" from one report to the next. (Author/DR)

Describes how an elementary teacher developed a daily writer's workshop. Suggestions for finding time to write include reducing use of workbooks and skillsheets, looking for redundancy in curriculum programs, concentrating on writing for a shortened period of the school year, and creating time-saving instructional strategies. (SM)

Presents suggestions for teaching students about poetry by using pets. The article recommends discussing poems about pets, writing with rhyme to describe pets, writing free-verse sketches about pets, collaboratively describing pets, and studying line breaks by writing one-line descriptions of imaginary pets. A reproducible teacher page offers two…

Writing skills can be reinforced when students work together to create a classroom novel. Examples of how a language arts class developed a character by brainstorming, then wrote and revised their story to be shared with others, are given. (DF)

Presents two children's poems about candy, by Dorothy Aldis. The article describes a teaching unit on the poems, the poet, and her use of end rhymes. Activities include writing rhyming words, writing rhyming poems, rhyming a recipe, and creating collages. (SM)