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

Suggests that Judith Nicholls'"Polar Cub" is a good wintery poem to share with students. In it, the poet invites the cub to come out of its cave and explore in the snow, just as teachers invite children to explore words and ideas in poetry. The article explains how to read the poem to students. A poster is included. (SM)

A ten-day plan for letting students create their own choose-a-plot books is given. Students develop skills in creating plot structures, coming up with logical story lines, and inventing striking characters. Instructions for adapting the plan to word processing programs are given. (MT)

Describes how to conduct timed writing exercises which extend into proofreading, correcting, and paragraphing exercises. (RH)

This workshop offers activities to teach students about poetry. After describing haiku as a brief snapshot rather than a story, it explains how to teach poetry using an attached reproducible and poster. The tear-out reproducible sheet teaches students how to write their own haiku, offering a sample one as a model. The poster presents three sample…

Presents ways to help young elementary school students successfully write poetry, including: introduce the lesson; share models of student poets' work; demonstrate poetry writing (write for and with children); brainstorm to help students get started; provide sustained time for writing; and regroup and celebrate the students' poems. (SM)

Six ideas for writing autobiographies with elementary school students include: model the writing process to get students started; read examples of autobiographies; brainstorm writing ideas; free-write the first draft; edit and revise; and publish the stories. Suggestions for mini-lessons are included. A student reproducible offers an editing…

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.

Ways of teaching students to communicate effectively using descriptive words and comparative statements are described. Two task cards involving descriptions of experiments investigating air pressure are included. (MT)

Discusses replacing the product term composition'' with the process term composing.'' (Author)

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)

Describes how to start a student writing festival to motivate children to write, presenting the experiences of one elementary school where students published what they wrote, then attended a banquet where they read their works to the crowd and received a copy of the final publication. Suggestions for starting the festival, publishing student…

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.…

Describes how to inspire elementary students to write stories by first creating a picture, then developing a story from the picture. Using the "scribbles-to-stories" approach, the teacher models the process for the students with a think-aloud about story elements, then has students create quick sketches and generate stories out of those…