Upcoming Writing Homework Information

Dear Third Grade Parents,                                                            

At the end of the school year, Lower School Graland students will take a final writing assessment: The Unit 5 Journeys Benchmark. This is part of our Journeys comprehensive literacy curriculum. Starting the week of December 5, third grade students will be practicing the required skills to complete the full writing process. We will practice in class, as well as at home for homework. We are calling the homework writing assignments “GO Write!” and they are scheduled for the week of December 5, and the weeks of Jan. 9, Feb. 6, and Mar. 6. Other homework expectations (spelling, cursive, math, literacy) will be adjusted during these homework weeks.

        

You will notice that the writing homework involves five steps. To help your child with pacing, a recommended timing schedule is noted.   

·      Prompt

·      Brainstorming (15 minutes) 

·      Rough draft (45 minutes)

·      Revising and editing (20 minutes - Please let your child edit on his/her own work.  Providing your child with a child dictionary will be helpful.)

·      Final draft (40 minutes - This skill will be included in the final two “Go Write!” homework assignments). 

The Journeys program provides a prompt that the students must write about.  This process happens at the end of each unit. The students will take the Unit 5 Benchmark writing test in two sessions, over two consecutive days, each sessions taking approximately 60 minutes (Day 1: brainstorm and rough draft, Day 2: editing and final draft).  In the first session, the children write a rough draft, and in the second session they revise that draft and produce their final essay. All writing assessments are scored using our four-point writing rubric, which will also be attached to each “Go Write! homework assignment.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask your child's teacher.  Thank you for all of your support at home!

The Third Grade Team