Persuasive Writing

When trying to write to persuade someone or to build an argument, it is really hard to write down your reasoning in a way that makes sense. I mean, that can be hard to do as an adult, let alone in middle school!

When I sit down and talk to my students, it is so easy for them to tell me what they are thinking (HAHA) because let's face it, they all have opinions! But this doesn't always come off in their writing.

So, I got to thinking. They have so much good stuff to say, maybe what is getting them is how to organize their thoughts into writing....

Generally at the middle school level we expect the students to have 3 reasons to support their opinion and we want evidence to back up that opinion.

Common Core Standards even state even in third grade, students should be able to write with reasoning to support their opinion/argument/persuasive piece. Not only that, but they should be able to develop those reasons with FACTS, DEFINITIONS, and DETAILS.

After third grade, they should be able to develop their reasoning with facts, definitions, details, QUOTATIONS, or other examples related to the text.

After looking and looking I couldn't find anything that I thought would really help the kids organize what they had to say and ensure they had reasoning to back up their arguments so I created this guy

This is PERFECT for the brainstorm process of writing a persuasive/argumentative piece of writing because......

1. It gives students a place to write down their argument, which helps them stay focused during their planing. 

2. It gives students 3 places to provide reasoning for their argument or persuasion. Each of those sections should become their own paragraph if they are writing at least 5 paragraph essays. 

3. It gives students lines to provide reasoning for their argument. This is where they should use textual evidence. This could be paraphrasing or it could be direct quotes. Such an advanced, yet required, skill in middle school! 

If you would like to download this organizer, click HERE!

Homework Pass

Here are some FREE printable homework passes. I used them as rewards for a variety of reasons. The kids LOVE them.
Enjoy!

How to Write A Thesis Statement in 4 Easy Steps

The thesis statement is super important! Because it is so important,  it can be overwhelming when you are first trying to write one.

The thesis is usually one sentence that explains the main idea of your entire essay. Once you have thesis statement, your entire essay revolves around it. You will spend the next several paragraphs explaining and giving examples that all relate to your thesis.

You can write a thesis statement in 4 easy steps.

1. The Question - The question is posed by the writing prompt. It is up to you to decide what the prompt is asking you to write about. This is the topic of your essay.
2. The Declaration- You must make a formal statement about the topic and then write about it.
3. The Reasoning- Your reasons will be facts, statements, or further explanation about why your declaration is correct.
4. The Thesis- Put all the information together from steps 1-3 into a single sentence and you have a thesis!

Use a graphic organizer like the one below to help you form a thesis.

If you would like some additional hep writing a thesis, click HERE. 

Free Thanksgiving Clip Art

Free Thanksgiving Clip Art made by yours truly. Enjoy! 

Thanksgiving Writing

I was always looking for holiday activities for my 5th graders. The problem with holiday themed activities I found is that they were targeted for much younger students. That was always disappointing because my 5th graders loved holiday stuff too!

So I set out to make some of my own that was more age appropriate. Some of the activities turned out to be so much fun that I couldn't help but share them with you all!

If you would like a FREE Thanksgiving Writing activity, just click HERE!

How to Write a Topic Sentence

When writing a topic sentence, I say that every topic sentence needs a TOPIC and A MAIN POINT. Here's what I mean, students are writing about something but they also need to make a clear and focused point about that something. Here is what I mean....

Your topic is watching TV and the point you are making in this paragraph is that violence negatively influences behavior. 

When students are just beginning to write a topic sentence, it might be ok for them to write "watching too much TV is harmful." But, as they become better writers, if students just wrote "watching too much TV is harmful," it really doesn't provide the reader with enough information about the paragraph. What about watching too much TV is harmful? What else is the writer going to write about harmful TV watching?  

Teaching students the TOPIC + MAIN POINT technique helps students make sure their topic sentence is specific and focused, which allows them to further expand on the topic in an effective way. 

Some activity suggestions: 

Two activities I have liked to do to help them understand topic sentences are using sentence stripes and writing topic sentences for already written paragraphs. You could easily write a paragraph with a good quality topic sentence, mix up the sentences, and have the students put them paragraph back in order identifying the topic sentence and other parts of the paragraph if you want. The other activity I like to do is to pre-write some paragraphs that are missing a topic sentence. The students should then write a topic sentence that goes with that paragraph. Then, have the students share their topic sentences and they will see that while not everyone's is the exact same, they are fairly similar. 

If you would like to download the activities suggested above please CLICK HERE. I also have a whole group PowerPoint lesson available to you. 

Classroom Management Tips and Tricks: Using the Restroom

Classroom Management Tips and Tricks: Using the Restroom

Managing who uses the restroom and when is such a small part of the day, but it can be frustrating. Of course someone ALWAYS needs to go right when you start an important lesson or when you begin seat work, a writing task, or worse, in the middle of you giving directions. This tip works for literally any classroom no matter what age K-8.

How it works:

Have a designated object, one for boys and one for girls, that indicates they are in the restroom. When a student needs to use the bathroom, they just get up grab the object, and set it on their desk and go to the bathroom. When they come back, they return it to its designated spot. Simple!

Having been a substitute teacher, I have seen many different things used as the "restroom indicator" from beanie babies and passes that say BOYS or GIRLS. However, my favorite was simply small cones such as pictured below. Why? They are very easy to spot on a students desk when you are scanning the room and don't break easily.

Why it works:

I love this because the students have to make a decision about if it is or is not a good time to leave the room. It helps them become slightly more independent and take ownership over their learning. If they choose to leave the room in the middle of an important lesson or it results in them not finishing their work, they have to make up for it.
In addition....
1. Only 1 boy and 1 girl can be out of the room at the time. If there is no cone/bathroom indicator available, they just have to wait without even asking you :)
2. They don't have to interrupt your lesson or other students work time to ask you to use the bathroom
3. If they get up to go to the bathroom and it's not a good time, you can just let them know without a discussion about it. A simple "not now" or "in five minutes" does the trick.
4. If you are super busy and you can't remember who left to use the bathroom 5 minutes ago, just glance around the room and find their desk. Let's face it, those students and those days happen.

For the student that takes advantage:

I know what you might be thinking, what about the student who decides this is a free pass to leave your classroom 10 times a day. Not to worry. I have a solution for that. Popsicle sticks! Assign 2-3 popsicle sticks to that particular student or to the whole class. When they want to use the restroom, they have to turn in the stick. If by the end of the day they run out of sticks, oh well (unless it's a huge emergency)!!

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