05 Selecting and Collecting

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Selecting and Collecting

Start-Up Activity

Direct your students to reserve part of their notebooks for writing ideas. They might create sections for different types of ideas such as new discoveries, important beliefs, ideas from books, and so on. This one simple strategy will help your students become more mindful of the writing topics and details that stream through their lives. It will also lessen the number of times you hear, "I don't know what to write about!"

Think About It

“It’s like a bird-watcher watching for birds. The stories are there: You just have to train yourself to look for them.”

—Barbara Michaels

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Building a File of Writing Ideas

Use this page and the one that follows to help students gather writing ideas. When using these strategies, students become more aware of topics they would like to write about.

In addition to the strategies presented here, check out dozens of 4th grade and 5th grade writing topics in the different modes: personal, narrative, explanatory, persuasive, response to literature, research, creative, and business.

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Building a File of Writing Ideas (Continued)

Teach your students about the three great habits at the top of the page: making new discoveries by getting involved, reading a lot, and writing a lot. The latter two habits aren't just good practices: They are advocated for in the standards. Students should . . .

  • "Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range." (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.10, 5.10)
  • "Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range." (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.10, 5.10)
  • "Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences." (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.10, 5.10)

Have your students try the strategy at the bottom of the page, which helps them gather writing ideas from the big events in their lives. See the related minilesson.

 

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Selecting a Topic

Use this page to introduce the PAST strategy for helping students understand assignments. This strategy focuses student attention on the Purpose, Audience, Subject, and Type of writing assignments. The strategy also helps student respond to writing prompts on tests.

The lower half of the page starts a list of strategies for selecting topics.

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Selecting a Topic (Continued)

Use this page to give your students an overview of three powerful strategies for finding topics: clustering, sentence completion, and the Basics of Life Checklist.

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Considering Writing Topics

On this page and the next, you will find a bounty of writing topics for 4th and 5th grade writers grouped by persuasive, explanatory, narrative, and descriptive modes. When your students ask, "What can I write about?" direct them to these pages or to the free 4th grade and 5th grade topics on our Web site.

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Considering Writing Topics (Continued)

Turn to this page to help students get topics for personal narratives and descriptions. You can also direct them to the free 4th grade and 5th grade topics on our Web site.

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A Closer Look at Freewriting

This page provides an indepth explanation of how freewriting helps with topic selection. You can also try the related minilessons.

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Collecting Details

Discuss the six strategies with your students so they can use them to gather details about their writing ideas:

  • Additional Freewriting
  • Listing
  • 5 W's and H of Writing
  • Additional Clustering
  • Critical Thinking
  • Creative Thinking
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Research Your Subject

Give your students a quick overview of research options (For more information, check out the Writers Express pages in parentheses.)

  • Reading (See pages 309-340.)
  • Viewing and Listening (See pages 373-381.)
  • Online Researching (See pages 299-307.)
  • Interviewing
  • Discussing
  • Using a Gathering Grid  (See page 257.)
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