Writing from Scratch: Lesson Plans to Boost Your Classroom Writing Instruction (Paperback)

Author’s Note ix?

Cooking Success Tips xi?

How to Use This Book xiii?

01 Preheating the Oven 1?

Author Chair 1?

Writers’ Notebooks 2?

Writing Folders 2?

Procedures 2?

Spelling 3?

Making the Most of Your Time 4?

02 Purposeful Planning 5?

Recipe: Apples to Apples 5?

03 Main Ingredients for Writing 9?

04 Recipes for Reviewing 11?

Recipe: Writing 11?

Recipe: Songs 16?

05 Generating Ideas 19?

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words 19?

Recipe: ME Page 20?

Recipe: Expert List 22?

06 Generating Focused Topics 25?

Recipe: Zooming In on Ideas 25?

Recipe: Narrowing Your Focus 26?

07 Adding Ideas: Elaboration Techniques 29?

Recipe: Adding Details and Dialogue 29?

Recipe: Adding Oomph to Persuade 31?

08 Organization 35?

Recipe: A Paragraph Has Legs 35?

Recipe: A Paragraph as Part of a Patio 37?

09 Organizing Fiction Writing 39?

Recipe: Two Rectangles + Four Squares Planner 39?

Recipe: Narrative Beginnings 42?

Recipe: Which Is the Real Intro? 43?

Recipe: Crafting Endings 44?

Recipe: The Mighty Middle of a Story 46?

Recipe: Story Spine Technique 48?

10 Developing Characters 51?

Recipe: Playing with POV 51?

Recipe: Switching POV 52?

Recipe: Inside and Outside Descriptions 54?

Recipe: Setting the Setting 56?

11 Organizing Informational Writing 59?

Recipe: Informational Beginnings 59?

Recipe: Research Writing 60?

Recipe: Text Feature Scavenger Hunt 62?

Recipe: Adding Text Features 64?

12 Playing with Structures 67?

Recipe: How- to Writing 68?

Recipe: Alphabet Structure 69?

Recipe: Compare and Contrast 70?

Recipe: Cumulative Structure 72?

Recipe: Diary Structure 73?

Recipe: Parallel Structure 74?

Recipe: Letters from Around the World 76?

Recipe: End- of- Year Letters 78?

Recipe: Question and Answer Format 79?

13 Word Choice 81?

Recipe: Strong Verbs 81?

Recipe: Precise Nouns 82?

Recipe: Vivid Descriptions 84?

Recipe: Sensory Details 85?

14 Using Figurative Language Devices 87?

Recipe: Let’s Alliterate! 87?

Recipe: Noisy Words (Onomatopoeia!) 89?

Recipe: Best Hyperboles in the Entire World! 90?

Recipe: Personification Stations 93?

Recipe: What Is Assonance? 95?

Recipe: Similes Are as Easy as Pie! 96?

Recipe: Making Metaphors 98?

Recipe: Idiomatic Expressions 99?

15 Adding Humor 103?

Recipe: Pun- tastic Word Play 103?

Recipe: Comic Clash 104?

16 Making It Flow 107?

Recipe: Go with the Flow! 107?

Recipe: Transition Types 109?

Recipe: Trying Transitions 111?

17 Emotion 113?

Recipe: Voice Role- Play 113?

Recipe: Ewww and Awww Contest 115?

Recipe: Show, Don’t Tell 116?

18 Grammar and Editing 119?

Recipe: Check, Please! 121?

Recipe: Dialogue Done Right 124?

19 Revising 127?

Recipe: Advise and Revise 128?

20 Assessment 131?

Recipe: Writing Review Rubric 132?

Recipe: Rubric- Ready 134?

Recipe: Collaborative Conferences 136?

Recipe: Teacher and Student Conferences 137?

21 Creative Writing Exercises 139?

Recipe: Quote- tastic! 139?

Recipe: Write It Down, Pass It Around 141?

Recipe: You’ve Got 30 Seconds! 142?

Recipe: Ode to Food 144?

Recipe: Cookbook 145?

Recipe: Vote for Me! 147?

Recipe: Stick with the Script! 149?

Recipe: I Didn’t Know That! 151?

Recipe: Weighty Words 152?

Recipe: Picture Prompts 153?

Recipe: Squiggle Story 155?

Recipe: Fractured Fairy Tale 156?

Recipe: Tiny Teacher 157?

Recipe: Branching Narrative Story 159?

Recipe: Newscast 161?

22 Poetry 163?

Recipe: Rhyme Time! 163?

Recipe: Haiku 165?

Recipe: Cinquain 166?

Recipe: Shape Poems 168?

Recipe: Fingerprint Poem 171?

23 Other Writing Forms 175?

Recipe: Daily Journaling 175?

Recipe: Writing from the Wild 177?

Recipe: Biography Projects 179?

Recipe: Career Exploration Projects 180?

Recipe: Class News 182?

Recipe: Goal Setting 184?

24 End- of- Year Publishing Project 187?

Mentor Text List 191?

A Note to Teachers 193?

Acknowledgments 195?

About the Author 197?

Index 199