Parent Notes

Dear Parent/Tutor,

Thank you for taking the time to read a child’s writing.  May I encourage you to help each child write by only commenting and asking questions about his/her writing unless he/she is in the editing phase.  You will find as I have that the easiest thing to “edit”, grade, or correct a paper for is spelling and punctuation and although these conventions serve their place they are only a very small part of the writing process.  I truly believe that the best remediation is to write, write , read, read, and then  write some more.  Don’t worry that you may not have the skills to tutor your child.  The fact that he/she is writing AND actually writing to someone (YOU) will give them a lot of needed practice. 

HOW TO TUTOR WRITING:

Each time you look at your student’s writing, try to have him/her sit with you while you go through the paper.   Read it once through looking for positives in their writing.  If you get stumped and you probably will, ask your child what he/she thinks they did well and why.    This is a great place to build from, and as you get more familiar with his/her writing you will naturally find lots of places to compliment.  Next, ask your student which part of the 6 traits you should read it for this time.  Go over the checklist together and pick one or two items under that particular trait.  Read the paper again with your “ORGANIZATION” glasses on.   If your student needs remediation, then your reading focus should follow in this order.  “IDEA” glasses first, followed by “ORGANIZATION”  and then read for “CONVENTIONS”.   If your student needs  acceleration, then ideas, organization, and conventions should be well rooted by now.  Your reading focus is on VOICE, SENTENCE FLUENCY, AND WORD CHOICE.   In both cases, let your student know what you will really be looking for in his/her next revision.     You will be surprised at how fast your student will progress with a little direct, positive and constructive, feedback from you. 

I have uploaded several Microsoft Word documents to help you and your student with writing this summer.    One of the documents is a 6 traits scoring guide that will help you assess writing on a scale from 1-5.  I found this document to be most helpful to me when I first started grading writing and hope that it will be of use to you as well.  There are also many other documents that you should familiarize yourself with so as to be a resource to you and your student.  You can also search the web and find loads of helpful documents, lessons, and even how to videos.   If you find something that is particularly helpful to you, please email me and let me know how you used it.  I am always looking for great ideas. 

Good luck and happy writing,

Mrs. Lovell
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Remediation Writing Helps

The more you write the better your writing will become, so step 1 for everyone is to write daily. 

PLAN ONE

Step 1-Write in a journal/notebook every day.  Write about what you watched on T.V., a song you like, a conversation you had with friends, the best part of your day, the worst part of your day, where you went on vacation,  etc.  Tell the who, what, when, where, why, and how in every entry. 

Step 2-Once a week turn one of your journal entries into a well written paragraph.  Include a Topic Sentence, 3 or more detail sentences, and a concluding sentence.

Step 3-Summarize your perfected paragraph above,  into one Super Sentence. 

Step 4-Every two weeks meet with  a parent, older sibling, or neighbor to talk about your paragraphs and Super Sentences.

 PLAN TWO

Step 1-Write in a journal/notebook every day.  Write about what you watched on T.V., a song you like, a conversation you had with friends, the best part of your day, the worst part of your day, where you went on vacation,  etc.

Step 2-Summarize an entire journal entry into one Super Sentence.

Step 3-Once a week respond to a persuasive essay prompt or make up a prompt of your own. 

Brainstorm –write all your ideas, thoughts, on paper-in any order and in any style.

Outline- organize your writing by using an outline or graphic organizer.

Use the Persuasive Essay Helps for your brainstorm and a Persuasive Outline of choice to get you started.

Step 4-Every other week revise a piece of writing, use the 6 Traits Revision Checklist

Step 5-Meet with a parent, older sibling, friend, or neighbor to talk about your writing and Super Sentences.

Step 6-Share your writing with a friend, family member, relative, neighbor, etc. 

 Definitions:

Topic Sentence:  A sentence that tells what the entire paragraph or entire paper is going to be about.

Super Sentence: A sentence that tells who, what, when, where, why, and how.  These sentences are compound and/or complex.

Compound Sentence:  Two simple sentences that could stand alone but are joined by FANBOYS. (For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so and preceded with a comma.

Complex Sentence:  Contains a sentence that could stand alone but is joined by a dependent clause , adjective clause or prepositional phrase.   

 

Resources available at http://my.uen.org/myuen/208904  Writing-Documents

Basic 5 Paragraph Essay Outline

Persuasive Essay Topics

Make a Point Persuasive Helps

Transitions

Persuasive Outlines 1, 2, and 3

The Writing Process

6 Traits Revision Sheet

Transitions

I Don’t Know What to Write

Tips for Parent Tutors

6 Traits Scoring Guide