Lesson+Ideas

=Lessons for the trait of IDEAS=

Great idea for the beginning of school or when you have had it up to here with excuses. Ask students to share their most creative excuse for why their homework was not done or why they were absent on the day of the big test. After creating a list of ideas, share this Shel Silverstein poem and score for "Ideas." Have students write a similar poem for something they try to avoid (chores, babysitting, etc.) Great to introduce the traits to parents as well!

Sample activity to help students add details to simple sentences.

Step Up to Writing activity for younger writers to review the ideas in a sentence or to develop a basic sentence with more ideas. Very similar to Building Blocks lesson.

Worksheet providing an overview of the RAFTS writing prompt and graphic organizer to help teacher develop a prompt for use in their classroom.

At times in teaching ideas, students begin to think that the longest sentence is the best sentence. This worksheet is a strategy to help students become more concise in their writing - yet still convey the main ideas. Also good for sentence fluency and word choice.

Worksheet to lead students through writing a descriptive narrative paragraph using Step Up to Writing. Students begin by selecting a visual (black & white postcard) and then creating a paragraph using sample topic sentence starters.