Grade: 3-5

#1066. The Western Trail

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Apr 29 16:42:52 PDT 1999 by Ezzeddine Abdelhak (smurf4u69@aol.com).
Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, U.S.A.
Materials Required: IBM compatible 486MHz or higher/8 MB of RAM/12MB of hard drive space/a printer for students to print
Activity Time: 4 sessions of 45min. each
Concepts Taught: writing

Subject: Writing.

Objective: This lesson plan will teach students the process of writing, it will include the different steps to be taken in accomplishing the writing process to come up with the final published pieces.

The lesson plan Steps to be taken will be:
· Pre-Writing
· Drafting
· Revising
· Editing
· Presenting.
Pre-Requisite:
Before students start they should have a clear idea of the topic they want to write about. In case of any problems this software will give them few ideas and try to keep their attention by offering few activities that include topics and sometime sounds, pictures, and creating their own pictures as well.
Hardware and software requirements:
IBM PC, and all compatibles. 486DX/33 MHz or better.
Printer, for students to print their work.
Teacher's Guide

· The activities in this software will help you:
· Introduce students to Student Writing Center.
· They will assist you in guiding students to use specific program features to create documents. They will provide ideas to motivate students for thinking and writing.
· Description of ways in which different program features can be used to support each of the five stages of the writing process.
· A list of resources about writing and related topics.

You will find Student Activities that support the following:
· Tutorials: Providing step-by-step guidance for students to learn the main features of the program. Students modify and add to these documents.
· Guided Activities: Like the tutorials, these activities are written for the student, these activities direct students to use specific features of the program as they develop their ideas and then write. However, unlike the tutorials, these activities give students more flexibility to experiment with their own ideas and with the program itself.
· Sensory/Descriptive: based on details. Students bring an event or experience to life by creating a sensory description.
· Imaginative/Narrative: fiction story.
· Practical/Informative-provides: informational, non-fiction.
· Analytical/Expository: to persuade, or influence.

In this software students will always have someone to count on.
Students can turn to Penny for help to keep going, or to get fresh ideas. As the program begins, Penny invites students to learn more about the writing process. Students can choose to learn from Penny about what the writing process is and what goes on in each of its five stages. She also explains the special tools offered by the program to support each stage.
As students move through the program, they will see Penny in the Main Menu, in the Word Processor, and in the Writing Idea Lands.
Whenever they see her, they can click on her to see the choice screen.

Prewriting
Student Writing Center is a useful and flexible tool to use during prewriting. Work groups can gather around a computer to explore, brainstorm, make lists, and plan while taking notes onscreen.
You may want to encourage your students to take advantage of these specific program features:
o Writing Idea Lands.
That's where they can find ideas about: Tropical Rain Forest, Southwestern Desert, and Space. . .
Each land contains three sources of ideas. Students can click on animals, plants, or other objects within the lands for quick Writing Ideas; they can click on:
Writing Projects for report topic ideas; and they can click on:
Did You Know? For interesting facts to spark their imaginations.
Writing Ideas, Writing projects, and Did You Know? All come from across the curriculum so that students will find ideas drawn from math, science, social studies, literature, and music.
· Binders.
Clip art, photographs, animations, sounds, and music that can be a starting point for students writing.
· Picture Place.
Students can create their own pictures and then write about them.

Drafting
After they've got all the information from prewriting activities, students can start writing their first draft. Students can now type their ideas in the Word Processor.
During drafting, students should understand how to use:
Undo: this feature allows students to undo and redo up to three previous changes.

Revising
Before a piece of writing can go out into the world and be read and understood, the writer needs to review and revise it. They should take advantages of these special features:
· Dictionary and Thesaurus. Students can use the dictionary to make sure they are using the correct words. They can go to the thesaurus to change their word choices.
· Read Words. Because the program has text-to-speech capability, students can have the computer read their work to them, and as they listen to their writing, they can make judgments about what they need to change.
· Binders. Students can add clip art, photographs, sound, music, and animations to clarify and illustrate ideas.

Editing
During this stage, students check for mistakes, to eliminate all spelling errors. Most misspelled words can be identified with the Spell Checker.
Students should also be encouraged to proofread their work even when they use the Spell Checker.

Presenting
Once students are satisfied with their writing, they can print their work for presenting it to the rest of the class or the teacher. Before they do, however, they may want to add some final touches like these:
· different fonts
· different sizes for text
· special styles for text-bold, italic, underline
· special colors or background shadings for text
· sound or music clips
· animations


Student's Guide
REVISING CHECKLIST

Revising means changing words, moving sentences, and making sure you say everything the way you want to say it. Here are some tips that may help as you revise.
· Reread your work, OR from the Tools menu click on Read Words and have the computer read your work to you. Do you like the way your writing sounds? Do you see ways to improve it?
· As you reread your work, mark words, phrases, or sentences that you want to think about and possibly change.
· Ask a friend to read what you wrote.
· See if you are using the same words over and over. Use the Thesaurus to find different words to say almost the same thing. Make sure your words say what you really mean.
· Ask yourself these questions:
Are my sentences too long? Are they too short?
Will my audience be able to understand them?
Did I explain my ideas well? Is there any part I left out?
Do any of my sentences sound like they are in the wrong place?
Did I write a beginning, middle, and an end?

EDITING CHECKLIST

Editing means checking your writing to make sure you don't have any mistakes. Here are some tips that may help as you edit.
· Check for spelling mistakes. Use the Spell Checker, but reread your work as well.
· Start each sentence with a capital letter.
· Make sure each sentence is a complete thought.
· Check each sentence for the correct punctuation.
· Check that all proper names start with a capital letter.
· Have someone else check your work.


MY FAVORITE THINGS
Do you think a list could help you get to know your classmates better?
YOUR JOB: Make a list of some of your favorite things.

PREWRITING
1. At the Main Menu, click on open. Open ACTIV02.PEN.
2. Click on File, then Save As. Type a new name for your document. Select the right location for saving your document. Click on OK or Save.
3. Read the document. Think about your favorite food, holiday, and sport. List ideas in the red notepad.
4. Click on Binders, then Art. Look for pictures that tell about your favorite food, holiday, and sport. Then click on Cancel to close the Binders and get back to the Word Processor.
5. Click on Edit. Select the picture of spaghetti, and then click on Cut.

DRAFTING
1. Close the red notepad, but reopen it when you need to.
2. Place the cursor after "My Name" and type your name.
3. Click on Binders. Choose and place pictures of your favorite food, holiday, and sport.
4. For each category, place the cursor beneath the word "My." Type a sentence telling why you like the item in the picture.

REVISING
Reread your list, or click on Tools, then Read Words, and have the computer read it. Do you want to make any changes?

EDITING
Check for mistakes using the
Editing Checklist.

PRESENTING
Print out the list. Make it part of a bulletin board display.

· COMPUTER CHALLENGE
Put some pictures that show some of your interests
Put borders on pictures or your paper.