DK SFL  Writing School

The students went on a photo walk on Google Jamboard and shared their feelings and opinions to issues such as bullying. Then, the students picked a social issue justice topic as a group that they were all interested in writing.  

Students were introduced to elements of opinion writing such as audience and purpose. Students watched videos, looked at posters, and read letters to identify the purpose, audience and reasons. Then, students read the book I Wanna Iguana and filled out a graphic organizer about the organization of the argument in the story.  

The students examined different types of evidence such as anecdotes, expert opinions, and statistics. Then, students came up with reasons. We looked at evidence together. Lastly, the class wrote a letter to the principal together about why students should use Pop=Its in school  

The students filled out a graphic organizer on their in a group with the help of the teacher and co-teachers. The students then wrote arguments together as a class. Each class picked topics that the students were interested in. The topics ranged from toys, games, to food. The classes in these examples wrote about mermaids and Legos!  

Each student then filled out their own graphic organizer with scaffolding from the teachers. Students used the graphic organizer to separate their paragraphs clearly and get their thoughts together. Then, the class went through each student's work, with other students providing feedback. The class also looked at common errors like forgetting periods, adding linking words, punctuation, and making the subject clear.  

In the last few days of revision, the teachers reviewed many language and grammar conventions. One common error was using dependent clauses, so the classes talked about how to add independent clauses to make dependent clauses complete sentences. The students also used a checklist to make sure they fixed the common mistakes. Finally, the argument essays are ready to be presented!