Writing

In order to support your child as s/he learns to write at home, I have provided you with an outline of our writing program this year. Encouraging your child to write at home – focusing on just one quality sentence once or twice a week will help him/her improve as a writer.

Note: The students inquiries determine the direction our learning takes so remember this is an outline only.

SEPTEMBER
Purpose and Genre: Narrative Non-Fiction
Personal Narratives
Sentence Writing
Jokes
Comics

Purpose and Genre: Expository Writing
Procedure for Fire Drill

Write Traits:
Ideas, Organization (introduced)

Conventions:
Text Layout – spacing, margins, appropriate font size (capital letters), graphic organizers
Grammar – proper nouns, questions words (5W’s, H)
Capitalization – dates, titles, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Punctuation – final punctuation (. ! ?)
Printing/Word Processing – use legible printing (throughout the year)

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Sketching/ Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

OCTOBER
Purpose and Genre: Narrative Non-Fiction
Writer’s Notebook (Personal Narratives)
Sentence Writing
Memoirs

Write Traits:
Organization, Ideas

Conventions:
Text Layout – spacing, margins, appropriate font size, graphic organizers
Grammar – joining words (because), simple verbs (present/ past tense)
Capitalization–dates, titles, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Punctuation – (. ! ?)
Printing/Word Processing

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Revising, Sketching/ Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

NOVEMBER
Purpose and Genre: Narrative Fiction
Writer’s Notebook
Paragraph Writing
Extension of a Story (Fairytale, Fable, Myth)
Personal Narrative

Purpose and Genre: Expository
Letters

Write Traits:
Organization, Ideas, Word Choice

Conventions:
Text Layout – narrative (beginning – setting, characters, problem, middle -events, end – resolution and moral of the story), dialogue box/bubble
Grammar – personal object pronouns (me, you, him, her, us, them), joining words (and, but, because)
Capitalization–dates, titles, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Punctuation – (. ! ?)
Printing/Word Processing

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Revising, Sketching/Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

DECEMBER
Purpose and Genre: Narrative Fiction, Non-Fiction
Writer’s Notebook
Paragraph Writing

Purpose and Genre: Expository
Writer’s Notebook
Letter Writing

Write Trait:
Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Voice

Conventions:
Text Layout -paragraph (topic sentence, details, concluding sentence), letter (date, greeting, beginning, middle, end, closing)
Grammar – personal object pronouns, introduce adjectives
Capitalization – dates, titles, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Punctuation – (. ! ? ” “)
Printing/Word Processing

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Proofreading, Publishing, Sketching/Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

JANUARY
Purpose and Genre: Expository
Writer’s Notebook
Recipe (Procedure)
Directions (Procedure)
Letter Writing

Write Traits:
Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Fluency

Conventions:
Text Layout – friendly letter (date. greeting, beginning, middle, end, closing), recipe (numbered list) directions (sequencing words), Grammar – continue to apply conventions
Capitalization – dates, titles, headings, subheadings, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Punctuation – (. ! ? “ ” ,)
Printing/Word Processing

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Proofreading, Publishing, Sketching/ Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

FEBRUARY
Purpose and Genre: Expository
Procedures
Writer’s Notebook
Interview
Introduce Report*
Travel Brochure (Report)

Write Trait:
Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Fluency

Conventions:
Text Layout – brochure (information sorted by headings, topics, print, font, graphics, layout),
interview format
Grammar – continue to apply conventions
Capitalization – dates, titles, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Puncutation – (. ! ? “ ” ,)
Printing/Word Processing

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Proofreading, Publishing, Sketching/ Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

MARCH
Purpose and Genre: Persuasive
Writer’s Notebook
Persuasive Paragraph
Persuasive Letter Writing

Write Trait:
Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Voice

Conventions:
Text Layout –persuasive paragraph (beginning – topic sentence, opinion, middle- 3-4 details, end – opinion), letter (date, greeting, beginning, middle, end, closing)
Grammar – persuasive verbs (should, need, must), adjectives
Capitalization – dates,titles, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Punctuation – (. ! ? “ ”)
Printing/Word Processing

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Proofreading, Publishing, Sketching/Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

APRIL
Purpose and Genre: Persuasive
Writer’s Notebook
Book Review (Paragraph)
Poster for a Book
Advertisment
Written Retelling

Write Traits:
Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Fluency

Conventions:
Text Layout – book review (beginning – topic sentence, opinion, middle- 3-4 details, end – opinion), poster (information sorted by headings, topics, print, font, graphics, layout)
Capitalization – dates, titles, headings, subheadings, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Grammar – simple prepositions of place and time (over, under, with, before, after), adjectives
Vocabulary – use of a dictionary
Punctuation – (. ! ? “ ”)
Printing/Word Processing

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Proofreading, Publishing, Sketching/Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

MAY
Purpose and Genre: Persuasive
Writer’s Notebook
Research Report
(Science Connection – Animals)

Write Trait:
Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Fluency

Conventions:
Text Layout – persuasive paragraph (state opinion, give 3-4 support details, restate opinion), advertisement (information sorted by headings, topics, print, font, graphics, layout)
Grammar – review joining words
Capitalization – dates, titles, headings, subheadings, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’
Punctuation – (. ! ? “ ”), commas
Printing/Word Processing

Writing Process:
Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Proofreading, Publishing, Sketching/Drawing, Viewing Self as a Writer

JUNE
Purpose and Genre: Expository
Writer’s Notebook
Research Report
(Science Connection – Animals)

Write Trait:
Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Fluency

Conventions:
Text Layout – report (information sorted by headings, topics, print, font, graphics, layout
Grammar – continue to apply conventions)
Capitalization –, dates, titles, headings, subheadings, proper nouns, to begin a sentence, pronoun ‘I’,
Punctuation – (. ! ? “ ” ,)
Printing/Word Processing

Ontario Ministry of Education Language Arts Curriculum