It's a Process - Part Two {the Writing Process}

Writing must go through the writing process to be its best!

The stages of the writing process are...

Pre-Write, Rough Draft, Revise, Edit, and Publish

Now that you have brainstormed about your topic and gotten your ideas together into a rough draft, it's time to make your writing the best it can be!

Revising:

As your child revises, they should do three things...

1. ADD - Re-read their writing and add words, phrases, and sentences where details are lacking in their story.

2. MOVE - Move ideas and sentences around within their writing to help with the flow and fluency of their writing.

3. DELETE - Take words, phrases, sentences, and ideas out of their writing that just doesn't work. It may be something that is off topic, a repetitive thought, or an idea that isn't needed.

Revision is making the rough draft better!

When your children revise, have them use a green pen to help them see the revision changes when they publish the final copy.

I also teach my children to add COLORFUL words to their writing instead of all using the same "boring" words. A "Boring Words" list and a "Colorful Words Dictionary" can be found here. Instead of always using the word said, why not use words like declared, shouted, replied, or exclaimed? Doesn't that sound so much more exciting than said?

Print a Colorful Words dictionary and place it is your child's writing binder. Encourage them to use it while revising.

Editing

Editing is the stage in the writing process where the finishing touches are put on our writing. We are cleaning up our writing and getting rid of all errors and mistakes. They are checking for capitalization and punctuation errors as well as spelling errors. In addition to the children's dictionary that is in our writing center, my children have a personal dictionary that is in their writing binders. You can purchase a personal dictionary here. This personal dictionary has all 220 Dolch sight words included plus additional space to write words for future reference. I suggest placing this in their resources folder in their writing binder.

I like to have my children use a red pen for these corrections, again, to help them notice the changes when publishing.

Use an editor's checklist, like this free one. I laminated my children's so tat they are able to use it again and again as they write. They use a dry erase marker to check off each skill while editing their writing.

Once all changes have been made and errors have been corrected, it is time to publish!

Publishing: Final Copy

There are numerous ways for children to publish their writing. They can re-write it in their neatest handwriting, type if on the computer, make a book, add illustration or pictures from the internet, and the list goes on and on. You can use notebook paper, white paper, construction paper, specialty papers, etc.

I always encourage my children, that no matter how they choose to publish their writing, to always add illustrations or pictures and to always add their name and the date!

Now...

Let's Write!