FRIDAY WRITING PROGRAM INFORMATION

Dear Parents,

As part of language arts this year, each student will have a writing homework assignment given approximately every other Friday. It will be due on the following Friday. Each assignment will be described in detail on a paper that your child will bring home. The students may be given some time to work on this in class, but will need to spend time on it at home as well. It is important that they get as much done on the weekend as possible.

On grade cards each quarter the cumulative grades of the homework papers will count as part of the student’s language arts evaluation. Your child must hand in the directions sheet, an edited scratch copy, and a well-written or typed final copy. A rubric will be used to determine the grade of the assignment.

Papers should be checked over for any spelling or grammatical errors before the finished product is handed in on Friday. You, another adult, or an older brother or sister may edit them. I will also edit papers, but they must be handed in to me by Tuesday of the week they are due to be checked and returned for revision. The copy submitted on Friday must be in its final form. No changes will be made after Friday, and the paper will be graded as it is handed in.

These are the criteria that will be used to grade each paper:

1. Focus-Stays on topic and maintains a single point of view

2. Content-Ideas and details included in paragraph(s) are relevant

3. Organization-Logical order; topic, supporting, and concluding sentences are evident; logical transitions between sentences or paragraphs

4. Style-Variety of sentences; effective word choice and clear language

5. Conventions-Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, capitalization); neatness; complete sentences; indented paragraph(s)

Students will receive instruction on these aspects of paragraph writing in class. As I give instruction on each area, I will expect to see improvement on the writing assignments. I will, of course, keep in mind what instruction students have received as I grade the assignments.

As mentioned before, the paragraphs can be either neatly hand-written or typed. If a computer spell check is used, the paper must still be checked for correct usage before it is turned in as a final paper for grading.

Please let your child’s teacher know if you have any questions.

Mrs. Oswald and Mr. Park

GUIDELINES FOR

EDITING FRIDAY WRITING AT HOME

1. Please don’t “over edit.” Remember that these paragraphs should sound like 4^th grade writing, not middle school or high school writing.

2. The main things to look for are complete sentences with capitals at the beginning, ending punctuation, correct commas, etc.

3. Edit for spelling, too.

4. Help your child by asking questions to draw out details, not by giving details to them.

5. We’d like a 5 to 6 sentence paragraph at the beginning of the year. As the year goes on, some of the assignments will have more than one paragraph.

I can edit the rough drafts, but need them by Tuesday.

Some Guidelines:

• Please have students do rough drafts over the weekend, skipping lines.

• Rough Drafts should be hand-written.

• Edited rough drafts should be initialed by the editor.

• Final drafts may be hand-written neatly or typed.

• Help students turn them in stapled in this order:

1. Final on top

2. Rough behind final

3. Assignment sheet in back