Perfecting Paragraphs: Day 4

This is Day 4 of my Perfecting Paragraphs series.

Frame by Lovin' Lit, Kimberly Geswin Fonts, Clipart by Melonheadz Illustrating

This was our last day of working on writing a descriptive paragraph from a picture.

We started the day by finishing our critiques of our previous paragraphs.

Again, we talked about how we could improve by adjusting little things here and there. For everything that we talked about improving, we talked about an equal number of good things.

(We started with what they could improve and ended with the good-I try to make sure we leave on a good note!)

Then, I put up the last picture and had them write a descriptive paragraph from it-using all the steps we had talked about.

While they were writing, I passed back their previous work so they had all four paragraphs.

Then, we split into critiquing pairs.

We talked about how to give a good critique (1 improvement=1 good thing), and I passed out a smiley rubric for them to use to help guide their critiques.

I had them work with all four paragraphs-so they could hopefully see the great progression from when they started to now.

I also had their critiquing partners (which I chose by picking sticks) make some recommendations on how they could improve their writing.

Then I had the students pick their favorite paragraph and really work on that one-because we are be going to the computer lab to type it!

They've done a very nice job with this-I'm pleased with their progress! Next, we'll be working on creating a short story from a picture-using it to inspire us!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn