Editor Tamara Aden Editor in Chief Karen J Goldfluss, MS Ed TCR 3975 Managing Editor Mara Ellen Guckian Illustrator Kelly McMahon Cover Artist Tony Carrillo Art Coordinator Renée Mc Elwee Imaging James Edward Grace Craig Gunnell Publisher Mary D Smith, MS Ed Author Ruth Foster, M Ed The classroom teacher may reproduce copies of the materials in this book for use in a single classroom only The reproduction of any part of the book for other classrooms or for an entire school or school system is strictly prohibited No part of this publication may be transmitted, stored, or recorded in any form without written permission from the publisher ISBN: 978-1-4206-3975-9 2012 Teacher Created Resources Made in USA
Table of Contents Introduction 3 About this Book 4 Good Writing Traits 5 Sample Scoring Rubric 8 Scoring Rubric (Template) 9 Standards for Writing 10 11 Camels Camel Trick Why Three? It Has Seven Camel Driver Two Talking Camels Where Camels Race Home Neighbors Robots on Camels The Race Is On! A Nose That Closes What You Can Do Pen Pal The Eiffel Tower Left or Right Alien in the Kitchen Journal The Nocturnal Cat Fire Lookout A Circus Wants You! Dog on Board! Elephant in Class! What Room Is It? The Room for You Tall Tales Word Choice 37 Big or Enormous? Small or Tiny? Name Poems Man in the Moon Animal Sounds Made of Steel The Horse What Is It? In a Freezer A Race in an Oven Action! Treasure Hunt! Compass Fun Silly Days Have to Have It! Buy This House! The Princess The Crocodile Fruit or Vegetable Trapped! Long Ago Tomorrow The Dog in the Tub Student Saves the Day! Tongue Twister Fluency 63 Fun with One! Jack Rhymes Super Snakes King Snake Milk Snakes Two-headed Snake Short into Long Working Dog Weather Announcer Tornado Warning! What Planet? Circus Train The Best Day Swallowed a Fly The President s Call Walking to Australia The Three Stars Greenland Tale Zoo Order The Martian s Cake From A to B Where School Is RSVP The Frog Ball Crash! Voice 89 Back Pocket The Gorilla The Best Water The Lost Animals Windy Days The Opposite The Best Book Goldilocks A Visitor Grow and Shrink A Lesson on Dates Journal from England Shark Lady Quick Thinking Talking Tails The Unhappy Wolf A Special Person The Fox and the Crow Morning Sounds The Alarm Clock The Tiny Crumb The Big Find Hot-Air Balloon A Lofty View Knock on the Door Organization115 The Planets Find the Treasure Story Start Popcorn Snack Talking on the Phone Riddles Thanksgiving Day Llama at Work Basketball Power Out! Otter Log Otter Pup s Log Crossing Greenland Good Thoughts What Cub? Who Is Knocking? Raindrops Two Friends Eating a Watermelon Seed-Spitting Contest Teddy s Bears Teddy s Letter All Mixed Up Stripes and Spots The Sign Conventions141 New York on Monday Book Names The Baseball Player The Light Bay The Blue Whale A Big Surprise The Mosquito Scooter Wheels Niagara Falls The Rider Could You? The Club Lightning Fast, Fast, Fast! The Hammock Stay in Bed Cinquain Zetta Egg on Feet Lost and Found In Training Alice s Diary Packing List A Trip Into Space Knock Knock! Writing Prompts 167 #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing 2 Teacher Created Resources
Introduction The written word is a valuable and mighty tool It allows us to communicate ideas, thoughts, feelings, and information As with any tool, skill comes with practice Daily s: Nonfiction and Fiction Writing uses high-interest and grade-level appropriate exercises to help develop confident, skillful writers This book is divided into seven sections Each of the first six sections focuses on one of the following key writing traits These traits have been identified by teachers as effective tools for improving student writing The last section in the book offers a set of writing prompts to encourage further writing opportunities throughout the year Nonfiction and Fiction Writing Traits Focus IDEAS and CONTENT VOICE WORD CHOICE FLUENCY ORGANIZATION CONVENTIONS Daily s: Nonfiction and Fiction Writing uses a format that allows for flexibility in both instruction and learning You may wish to begin with 1 and progress sequentially through all or most of the writing practices provided in the book As an alternative, begin by introducing and modeling a specific writing trait that needs to be addressed Students can then use the warm-ups within that section to practice and apply the trait as they complete each of the writing activities Once the section is completed, continue working through the remaining sections based on the needs of the class With 150 independent warm-ups, there are plenty of writing opportunities to last the entire school year As with any subject to be learned and mastered, writing should be continually practiced With an arsenal of good writing techniques and an understanding of the writing process at their disposal, students can achieve a comfort level regardless of the writing task Daily writing and guided practice using essential writing traits can help students reach a measurable level of success 121 Teddy s Bears Organization Over 100 years ago, Theodore Roosevelt was president His nickname was Teddy An old, hurt bear was tied up Teddy was told he could kill the bear Teddy said, No He said no one could hunt that bear for sport The story made the news A cartoon was made of Teddy s bear Then a man put two stuffed bears in his shop window His wife had made the bears The man called the bears Teddy s bears Everyone wanted one of the bears Soon, all stuffed bears became known as teddy bears Write a letter to a friend In your letter, tell what you learned about teddy bears Dear, Your friend, #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing 136 Teacher Created Resources 106 Riddles A riddle is a question followed by an answer Circle the riddle that is told in the right order A What gets wetter the more time it dries? A towel! B A towel! What gets wetter the more time it dries? Draw a line to the correct answer for each riddle What always weighs the same no matter how big it gets? What do you get when you cross an elephant and a fish? Why did the book join the police department? Why did the house go to the doctor? Where can you find an ocean without any water? Which side of the leopard has the most spots? Write your favorite riddle on the lines below Question: Answer: Riddles Answers The outside! Swimming trunks! A hole! It had a window pane! He wanted to work undercover! A map! Teacher Created Resources 121 #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing Organization Teacher Created Resources 3 #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing
About This Book The activities in this book were designed to help students gain experience writing in response to both nonfiction and fiction prompts Each topic or theme includes pages that address both fiction and nonfiction writing The warm-up activities allow students to use both nonfiction and fiction writing on the same topic! 1 Camels What do you know about camels? Do camels have one hump or two humps? What do camels store in their humps? You can read about camels in books Bactrian camels have two humps Dromedary camels have one hump Camels store fat in their humps Ideas & Content What if there is little food? The camel uses the fat in its hump The hump droops and falls over! There is a camel with one hump The hump is drooping and falling over Write about this camel What kind is it? Why is its hump drooping? Does this mean that it is sick? #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing 12 Teacher Created Resources Teacher Created Resources 13 #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing The writing exercises in this book give students the opportunity to use a variety of writing formats This allows a student to practice a specific writing skill while developing an understanding that good writing traits can be incorporated into a number of genres The variation also keeps the daily writing activities exciting Each of the first six sections contains 25 warm-up writing pages that focus on the specific trait featured in the section 2 Camel Trick Bill and Dave are camels Bill has two humps Dave is a Dromedary camel and has one hump Bill knows he is a Bactrian camel Poor Dave can never remember what kind of camel he is Bill has a trick to help Dave remember Finish writing down what Bill tells Dave Bill said, Dave, just remember the letters B and D These pages are about camels The first warm-up presents nonfiction information and asks the writer to prepare an article using the facts and ideas provided The second warm-up introduces the same topic in the form of a scenario and requires the student to write an article in the form of a fictional account The activities are written so that all students in a class can participate While highly competent students may write more complex responses, all students will be able to practice writing at their respective levels of competence on a daily basis 125 Read this sign: The Sign Sale of the Year! Don t Miss It! Save Lots! Organization Each section ends with a page that offers an option to write a nonfiction or fiction piece This page can be used as a culminating activity for the section, or as an informal assessment representative of the student s writing using the specific writing trait No Yes Does the sign above tell you what is for sale? Does the sign above tell you where the sale is? Does the sign above tell you when the sale is? Make a sign for a sale You pick what is for sale it can be something real, or it can be made-up Tell where the sale is and when You can include a price list and what the money from the sale will be spent on You can also include drawings or words that make people want to buy what is for sale FOR SALE Space has been provided for students to write their responses on the activity page For instances in which students need additional space to complete an activity, use the back of the page, or continue on a separate sheet of paper Encourage students to use a notebook where they can extend their writing or create new writing pieces if they choose to do so #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing 140 Teacher Created Resources The last section of the book includes a set of writing prompts that can be used throughout the year These provide ideas, story starters, and a variety of scenarios for students to use as prompts Students (or the teacher) can select one prompt a week to use as a topic for their writing As an alternative, select a prompt and ask students to focus on one or two specific traits as they write There are many ways to use these prompts Choose a method that works best for you and your students #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing 4 Teacher Created Resources
1 Camels What do you know about camels? Do camels have one hump or two humps? What do camels store in their humps? You can read about camels in books Bactrian camels have two humps Dromedary camels have one hump Camels store fat in their humps What if there is little food? The camel uses the fat in its hump The hump droops and falls over! There is a camel with one hump The hump is drooping and falling over Write about this camel What kind is it? Why is its hump drooping? Does this mean that it is sick? #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing 12 Teacher Created Resources
2 Camel Trick Bill and Dave are camels Bill has two humps Dave is a Dromedary camel and has one hump Bill knows he is a Bactrian camel Poor Dave can never remember what kind of camel he is Bill has a trick to help Dave remember Finish writing down what Bill tells Dave Bill said, Dave, just remember the letters B and D Teacher Created Resources 13 #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing
3 Why Three? Your eyelids help keep your eyes safe How many eyelids do you have on each eye? How many eyelids do you think a camel has on each eye? A camel has three eyelids on each eye! Two eyelids are like your eyelids The third eyelid is not the same It slides across the eye to keep sand out The camel can still see when it is shut Think of some things you have It could be legs, noses, or anything you like Tell how many you have and what they are for #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing 14 Teacher Created Resources
4 It Has Seven Sometimes you can make up animals You can write about something that is not real You are the writer Use your imagination to make up an animal that has seven of something 7 7 7 Write down what kind of animal you made up Tell its name Tell what it has seven of and what the seven things are for Tell about the number of some other things it has and what they are for Put your ideas together to write your story 7 Teacher Created Resources 15 #3975 Daily s: Nonfiction & Fiction Writing