Let the Production Begin

Okay, I know it has been awhile, but there has been little of interest to report as we have been going through the nitty gritty of organizing expository writing. Now that the students understand how to write a topic sentence, support it with a supporting detail or fact and then tie it together with an example, they can repeat this pattern for the entire paragraph until they are ready to conclude it. We learned that our paragraphs will be well structured and organized as long as we sandwich the supporting details and examples with a topic sentence and conclusion. Learning this structure has been challenging, so watch for struggling as your child writes this week. It is one thing to write a structured paragraph about your day or something you know a lot about, but it is another to write about a civilization you have never heard of until this assignment.

Just to make sure you have the answers if your student happens to forget what this assignment is, let me explain. Students selected a group of ancient peoples. They then have been asked to research this group, looking for information on the seven characteristics of civilization, and prove whether or not the group they chose is a civilization. This is somewhat similiar to the paper they did in Social Studies earlier this year. The exceptions are: this one is longer (9 paragraphs), this one is researched and very organized, and this one will also be graded based on the student's use of revision techniques.  One last bit of information you may need is the seven characteristics of a civilization. They are as follows: government, food supply, art, religion, technology, social structure and writing. Students should write a paragraph describing how their people displayed evidence of each one.

To prepare students for this essay, we have done many things. Students have learned paragraph structure and research plans. On Friday, Mrs. Ruebusch, our librarian, presented information on how to use databases and the district's online library resources. She also told us how to determine if we are looking at a reliable source online. Now that students have all of the background, they are researching and writing.

The essay is due (final copy) on the 17th of December.  I have asked students to write at least one paragraph each night this week, leaving them halfway done and the other half to be done over the weekend. However, I did suggest that they would be in better shape if they did two each night. Everyday this week, we will be reading and giving feedback in partners. Students will then use this feedback to revise and write the final draft next week.  To see the scoring guide, click on the title of this post--it is a hot link.