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Reading Processes: Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies and Self-Monitoring Strategies

Reading Applications: Informational, Technical and and Persuasive Text

Students’ writing develops when they regularly engage in the major phases of the writing process. The writing process includes the phases of prewriting, drafting, revising and editing and publishing. They learn to plan their writing for different purposes and audiences. They learn to apply their writing skills in increasingly sophisticated ways to create and produce compositions that reflect effective word and grammatical choices. Students develop revision strategies to improve the content, organization and language of their writing. Students also develop editing skills to improve writing conventions.

Benchmark A. Generate ideas and determine a topic suitable for writing.
1. Generate writing ideas through discussions with others and from printed material.
2. Develop a clear main idea for writing.
Benchmark B. Determine audience and purpose for self-selected and assigned writing tasks.
3. Develop a purpose and audience for writing.
Benchmark C. Apply knowledge of graphics or other organizers to clarify ideas of writing assessments.
4. Use organizational strategies (e.g., brainstorming, lists, webs and Venn diagrams) to plan writing.
Benchmark D. Spend the necessary amount of time to revisit, rework and refine pieces of writing.
10. Reread and assess writing for clarity, using a variety of methods (e.g., writer’s circle or author’s chair).
Benchmark E. Use revision strategies to improve the coherence of ideas, clarity of sentence structure and effectiveness of word choices.
5. Organize writing by providing a simple introduction, body and a clear sense of closure.
6. Use a wide range of simple, compound and complex sentences.
7. Create paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting sentences that are marked by indentation and are linked by transitional words and phrases.
8. Use language for writing that is different from oral language, mimicking writing style of books when appropriate.
10. Reread and assess writing for clarity, using a variety of methods (e.g., writer’s circle or author’s chair).
11. Add descriptive words and details and delete extraneous information.
12. Rearrange words, sentences and paragraphs to clarify meaning.
Benchmark F. Use a variety of resources and reference materials to select more effective vocabulary when editing.
13. Use resources and reference materials, including dictionaries, to select more effective vocabulary.
Benchmark G. Edit to improve sentence fluency, grammar and usage.
14. writing and edit to improve conventions (e.g., grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization) and identify and correct fragments and run-ons.
Benchmark H. Apply tools to judge the quality of writing.
15. Apply tools (e.g., rubric, checklist and feedback) to judge the quality of writing.
Benchmark I. Prepare writing for publication that is legible, follows an appropriate format and uses techniques such as electronic resources and graphics.
9. Use available technology to compose text.
16. Rewrite and illustrate writing samples for display and for sharing with others.

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Students learn to master writing conventions through exposure to good models and opportunities for practice. Writing conventions include spelling, punctuation, grammar and other conventions associated with forms of written text. They learn the purposes of punctuation: to clarify sentence meaning and help readers know how writing might sound aloud. They develop and extend their understanding of the spelling system, using a range of strategies for spelling words correctly and using newly learned vocabulary in their writing. They grow more skillful at using the grammatical structures of English to effectively communicate ideas in writing and to express themselves.

Benchmark A. Write legibly in finished drafts.
1. Write legibly in cursive, spacing letters, words and sentences appropriately.
Benchmark B. Spell grade-appropriate words correctly.
2. Spell multi-syllabic words correctly.
3. Spell all familiar high-frequency words, words with short vowels and common endings correctly.
4. Spell contractions, compounds and homonyms (e.g., hair and hare) correctly.
5. Use correct spelling of words with common suffixes such as –ion, -ment and -ly.
6. Follow common spelling generalizations (e.g., consonant doubling, dropping e and changing y to i).
7. Use resources to check spelling (e.g., a dictionary, spell check).
Benchmark C. Use conventions of punctuation and capitalization in written work.
8. Use end punctuation marks correctly.
9. Use quotation marks around dialogue, commas in a series and apostrophes in contractions and possessives.
10. Use correct capitalization.
Benchmark D. Use grammatical structures to effectively communicate ideas in writing.
11. Use nouns, verbs and adjectives correctly.
12. Use subjects and verbs that are in agreement.
13. Use irregular plural nouns.
14. Use nouns and pronouns that are in agreement.
15. Use past, present and future verb tenses.
16. Use possessive nouns and pronouns.
17. Use conjunctions.

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