How is Write on Track organized?
The Write on Track Handbook has five main sections, as you can see on the back cover.
- The Process of Writing section teaches strategies for prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
- The Forms of Writing section teaches how to write the many forms: personal, narrative, explanatory, persuasive, literary, research, and creative. Chapters provide guidelines, models, and checklists.
- The Tools of Learning section teaches skills for reading, listening, speaking, studying, and test taking.
- The Proofreader's Guide provides rules and examples for punctuation, mechanics, spelling, usage, sentences, and grammar.
- The Student Almanac includes exciting pages on language, science, math, history, geography, and government—perfect for writing across the curriculum.
Take a Tour!
Page through the handbook in one of these ways:
What's in the grammar SkillsBook?
Write on Track includes grammar SkillsBooks for grades 4 and 5. Each SkillsBook teaches the rules of punctuation, mechanics, spelling, usage, sentences, and grammar, with examples and activities.
Take a Tour!
Page through the SkillsBook Teacher's Guides in one of these ways:
What's in the free online Teacher's Guide?
The Write on Track Teacher's Guide includes a scope and sequence, yearlong timetable, getting-started activities, chapter-by-chapter guide to the handbook, help for writing assessment, research basis, and activities and handouts.
You can get to the Teacher's Guide by going to k12.thoughtfullearning.com and clicking on "Teacher's Guides" in the top banner.
Take a Tour!
Page through the free online Teacher's Guide on any device with Internet access—no sign-in needed.
How do these components work together?
The Write on Track Handbook is designed to let you choose what you want to teach and when. Instead of marching page by page through a basal, you select the chapters you teach throughout the school year.
Here's one sample way that you might organize the first three weeks of instruction in your classroom, drawn from the "Yearlong Timetable" in the Teacher's Guide:
Most numbers represent pages in the Write on Track Handbook, but those marked SB represent pages in the SkillsBook. Here's one suggested teaching plan:
- Week 1: Download "Getting Started Activities" and distribute them to your students. They can complete the activities in Word or Google Docs, or they can work on paper printouts. These fun scavenger hunts and other activities help them become familiar with their handbooks. You can also teach "Your First Week with the Handbook." Then get students started with "Writing in Journals and Logs." You also can start teaching conventions with "Writing Basic Sentences" from the handbook and the corresponding SkillsBook activities on pages 69–76.
- Week 2: You can teach the chapters "Understanding Writing" and "One Writer's Process" to help students learn the basics of good writing. You can also continue your work with sentences in the handbook and the SkillsBook.
- Week 3: Warm up student writers with "Writing Notes and Emails." Also, teach "Using Graphic Organizers," which helps students gather and organize details for writing. Continue your instruction in sentences with the handbook and SkillsBook.
- Week 4: Introduce students to essay-length writing with "Writing Personal Narratives." Help students start their prewriting by teaching "Selecting a Topic." Continue your work with sentences.
How can I get started with these materials?
Download the Write on Track Program Sheet. The first page provides an overview of what you have just learned about the three components. The second page gives you a simple four-step process for launching the program in your classroom—getting you and your students comfortable with Write on Track.
