Activity Description

The components in the Writing with Writers online activity can be used with grades 1–12 and are broken up as follows:

Biography Writing (Grades 4–12)
In this Writing With Writers installment, students in grades 4–12 learn to write a biography. Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, winners of the Coretta Scott King award, provide students with a warm-up exercise, genre-specific tips, and an example of a biographical sketch written by them. These authors will also challenge students to post biographical sketches of their own. Upon successful completion of the workshop, students can publish their biographies online.

Descriptive Writing (Grades 4–12)
Students learn to develop powerfully descriptive writing pieces with help from one of America's most honored writers of books for children. Newbery Medal-winning author Virginia Hamilton provides students with sample writings, tips, strategies, and challenges to help them develop their own writing. She also gives students guidelines on revising what they've written. When your students have successfully completed the workshop, they can publish their descriptive pieces online.

Folktales (Grades 1–8)
Through participation in the Folktales workshop, students learn about folktales in their families and communities. With authors Alma Flor Ada and Rafe Martin as guides, students are guided through a step-by-step process of writing their own folktales which they can publish online. This component of Writing with Writers is also part of the Myths, Folktales, and Fairytales online activity which has it's own teacher's guide.

Mystery Writing (Grades 4–8)
Students learn to write mysteries with help from a well-known children's book author. Four-time Edgar Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon provides students with a sample mystery, plus writing tips, strategies, and challenges to help them develop their own mysteries. She also gives students guidelines on revising their writing, and provide general comments, suggestions, and ideas about writing mysteries. When your students have successfully completed the workshop, they can print their own mysteries online.

Myth Writing (Grades 4–12)
Students explore multicultural myths, participate in a four-step myth-writing workshop with acclaimed author Jane Yolen, and publish their own myths online. This component of Writing with Writers is also part of the Myths, Folktales, and Fairytales online activity which has it's own teacher's guide.

News Writing (Grades 4–12)
Let the Scholastic News editorial team guide your students through the process of writing a good news story. With examples and advice, students can learn the guidelines and publish their news article online.

Speech Writing (Grades 4–12)
Learning how to present a good speech does not only mean good writing skills, but you need to learn how to speak as well. Students following the Speech Writing component of Writing with Writers will learn those skills for writing and presenting their speeches. They can record their speech on the Scholastic hotline and come back to listen to it online.

Poetry Writing (Grades 1–12)
The Poetry Writing project features three authors whose works expose students to various characteristics of poetry, such as powerful description, rhythm, and rhyming. Each of the writers offers models of his or her work as well as suggestions for students. Students are introduced to warm-up exercises, and other tips to help them create, revise, and share their work. An ongoing journal component is included in the Teacher's Guide to provide students with a personal portfolio they can use to organize, information, notes, and their own poems in process.

Although you may wish to use elements from all three workshops in your poetry lesson, the following grade configuration is a suggestion:

Poetry Writing with Jack Prelutsky (Grades 1–3)
Students discover how to shape ideas and words into creative, descriptive, and silly poems. Popular children's poet Jack Prelutsky provides students with an example of his own poetry accompanied by an audio clip of him reading the poem. He also shares writing tips that he uses when he writes poetry. Students get to show what they learned when Jack challenges them to continue a poem he has begun. Jack also provides students with guidelines for revising their writing.

Writing I Spy Riddles with Jean Marzollo (Grades 1–8)
Author Jean Marzollo leads students on a poetry writing journey using her riddle-writing style from the award-winning I Spy series. Using models of her published riddles and photographs from her books, Ms. Marzollo turns a complex writing style into a simple format that young students can copy and extend.

Poetry Writing with Karla Kuskin (Grades 1–12)
Students learn to write poems with help from award-winning poet Karla Kuskin. Karla provides students with a sample poem, plus writing tips, strategies, and challenges to help them create their own poetry. She also gives students guidelines on revising their writing, and provides general comments, suggestions, and ideas about writing poetry.

Writing a Book Review (Grades 4–12)
Students learn to analyze and write about books with help from a well-known children's book author. Rodman Philbrick, the acclaimed author of Freak the Mighty, provides students with a sample book review, plus writing tips, strategies, and challenges to help them develop their own reviews. He'll also give students guidelines on revising their writing. When your students have successfully completed the workshop, they can publish their own book review with the "Share What You Are Reading" online activity.

Lesson Goals:

Scholastic's Online Activities are designed to support the teaching of standards-based skills. While participating in the different Writing With Writers projects, students become proficient with several of these skills.

• Identify unique characteristics of different writing genres.
• Follow the writing process for different genres to create original writing.
• Use web technology to post original writing online.
• Demonstrate understanding of different genres by responding to questions.
• Understand how to review and revise their own writing.
• Review and present constructive criticism to peer writing.
• Learn to think critically and objectively about their reading.
• Learn to review and revise their own writing.
• Produce written work to show evidence of knowledge of the different genres.

Some specific skills related to specific genres include:

• Use technology to record original speeches.
• Appreciate diverse cultures and traditions through writing.
• Tell an original folktale to class members using appropriate fluency skills.
• Respond to questions about the folktale genre to demonstrate understanding.
• Practice poetry writing skills such as rhythm, rhyming, and descriptive vocabulary.
• Practice writing skills such as description, summarization, and persuasive communication.
• Practice skills such as descriptive writing and dialogue.
  

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