Creative Way to Teach the Writing Process

Goals:

• To motivate students to want to write – building self-esteem and pride
• To integrate the Studentreasures® Classbook Publishing Project with the five step writing process
• To align the publishing process with your curriculum by incorporating your Language Arts Writing Standards, various teaching units, subjects, theme topics and genres

Objective: The students will create a full-color hardbound classbook!

Resources:

Supplied by Studentreasures® Publishing: Additional Supplies Needed:
• Sample Book to use as a guide
• Publishing Kit to create a hardbound book
• Project Coordinator Sheet to conduct project
• Teacher’s Guides with detailed instructions for all participating teachers

Lesson Procedure:

• Select Topic – collaborate with the students to select a topic You can also refer to the Teacher’s Guide or go to www.studentreasures.com/teacherslounge for topic ideas or themes, writing prompts, teacher’s tips, and FAQ’s
• Prewrite ideas for the stories including setting, plot, characters, and the problem/ solution
• Complete the First Text Draft – it is best to save manuscript pages for final submission
• Edit and Review the first Text Draft – check for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Encourage collaboration – Involve all classmates, parents, volunteers
• Complete First Illustration Draft – again, it is best to save the manuscript pages for final submission
• Proofread – Final check of all manuscript pages. All work should now be to the satisfaction of the authors
• Complete Final Text on Kit Paper: Writing ideas into paragraph form and completing illustrations – Important – for successful tips, please follow the Teacher’s Guide
• Complete Final Illustration – the corresponding illustration to a page of text should be drawn on the back of the previous text page
• Publish – Publish for an audience. Prepare to ship materials to publisher by following the Project Coordinator Sheet

Reflection/Celebration:

• Highlight student achievement with a Publishing Party – Open House, Author’s Tea, Author’s Book Signing, or Ice Cream Social
• Each student can proudly read their book page aloud to classmates and family. This can be a powerful inspiration and motivating exercise when teaching literacy.
• Step back, smile! You have just helped create a lifelong memory for your students