Writing

This year your child will be doing a great deal of writing. In following the John Collins Writing Program, we will be doing five different kinds of writing:

• Type One writing is used just to get ideas down on paper. It is not a composition, but rather a "quick-write" to generate ideas, express an opinion, make a prediction, or reflect on an event. Type One writing is not graded for spelling or writing conventions. It is evaluated to ensure that the student followed directions and completed the assignment. We will be doing Type One writing frequently because we feel it contributes significantly to your child's learning and language development.

• We'll also be doing a great deal of Type Two writing, which is also a quick-write. With this type, your child will be answering specific questions about something we are learning about in class. Type Two writing is evaluated based on the content of the writing, and not on the conventions. Type Two also contributes significantly to your child's writing fluency.

• Type Three and Type Four writing are compositions done to produce ideas and develop specific writing skills. For these types of writing, we will be using a strategy called focus correcting, which is based on the belief that writing improves more quickly when students work to improve a few skills at a time. You'll know what the focus correction areas are on any writing project your child does because they will be listed at the top of the paper. Type Three and Four writing is evaluated based on the focus correction areas. This strategy keeps your child focused on key aspects of writing and avoids giving too much negative feedback.

• We'll also do some Type Five writing. This is the most difficult type for all writers, especially young, developing writers. This is writing that is revised and edited to be as free as possible of all types of errors. This kind of "publishable" writing requires multiple drafts. Most of the Type Five writing we do will start as Type Three or Four. Then, over time, your child will polish it so that it becomes a publishable Type Five piece of writing.

You can help at home in several ways. First, encourage your child to write as frequently as possible about a wide range of topics. Second, be aware of the Five Types of Writing your child does at school. Remember that all writing does not have to be perfect and free of errors to be of value to your child's language development. Third, be a helper and encourager of your child's writing efforts. Talk about your child's writing and ask that it be read out loud (a strategy that we use in class) as a way of checking it.

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