When assisting your child while writing, remember the
'Positive Sandwich':
-Compliment the writer: "I see how hard you are trying and it's great."
-Point out something specific that the writer can strengthen:
"Please remember to..."
-Compliment the writer: "I can see you are getting faster at... Nice work!"
Four Basic Areas to Remember When Writing...
1. Content / Organization
1. Content / Organization
- Have an opening to introduce your thought / topic and a closing to wrap up your thought / topic. Hint: Your closing is just your opening said with different vocabulary.
- Maintain a single focus / stay on topic
- Develop your main idea / ideas
- Write in chronological order (First, then, finally....)
- Use your senses to give specific details
- Have consistent word tense (They played all night. vs. They will played all night.)
- Correct subject - verb agreement (Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. My brother is a nutritionist. My sisters are mathematicians.)
- Prepositions (words that answer where, how or when = of, in, to, for, with, on, at, from, by, about, as, into, like, through, after, over, between, out, against, during, without, before, under, around, among...
- Conjunctions (words that join thoughts = F.A.N.B.O.Y.S. = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
- A rich vocabulary (always have a thesaurus by your side!) www.thesaurus.com or www.visualthesaurus.com
- Correct spelling
- Correct capitalization
- Correct punctuation