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STAAR Revising & Editing Lessons, continued! *Freebie!

So last week, I shared an idea I’m trying out in my writing classroom. My students and I used a paragraph through the whole week to work on some revising and editing skills. I aligned the questioning with STAAR, but instead of boring test practice, it was interesting and engaging! (I thought it was, anyway).

This is the paragraph I had on the board the first day (you could also do a pocket chart): One benefit of being a reader is that you can grow your vocabulary. When you read, you learn new ___ and you can use them in your own writing! I have to use context ___ to figure out their meaning and understand what the message was.
 
On Monday, we practiced editing skills: apostrophe or plural? You can read about that here.
Then we practiced the STAAR released question that addressed this skill.
 
Tuesday – Thursday, we practiced revising skills. Below are the skills and the questioning that we practiced. 
 
Tuesday: Look at sentence __. The phrase “—“ does not express what I was trying to say.
– Which word could BEST replace “grow“ and help me improve the meaning of the sentence?
– Which word could BEST replace “figure out“ and help me improve the meaning of the sentence?
Choices: expand, demonstrate, determine, decrease
These hands-on approach for revising and editing is better than an anchor chart or a worksheet! Teach students about grammar, word choice, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and so much more in one paragraph a week through manipulating sentence strips to making changes in expository or narrative paragraphs. Great for a station for students to practice these skills, too! #teachingwriting #revisingediting
 
Then we practiced the STAAR released question that addressed this skill.
 
Wednesday: I would like to add the following sentence to the paragraph. Where is the BEST place to insert this sentence?
Sometimes I come across words that I’ve never seen before and I don’t know what they mean.
These hands-on approach for revising and editing is better than an anchor chart or a worksheet! Teach students about grammar, word choice, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and so much more in one paragraph a week through manipulating sentence strips to making changes in expository or narrative paragraphs. Great for a station for students to practice these skills, too! #teachingwriting #revisingediting
 
 
Then we practiced the STAAR released question that addressed this skill.
Thursday: I want to add a conclusion to my paper. Which of the following could BEST follow sentence __ and close the paragraph?
–       I don’t like taking vocabulary quizzes.
–       When I use my vocabulary strategies, I get the most out of reading!
–       Yesterday, I learned the word, “elated”.
–       Some context clues are difficult to find.
 
These hands-on approach for revising and editing is better than an anchor chart or a worksheet! Teach students about grammar, word choice, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and so much more in one paragraph a week through manipulating sentence strips to making changes in expository or narrative paragraphs. Great for a station for students to practice these skills, too! #teachingwriting #revisingediting

 

Then we practiced the STAAR released question that addressed this skill.

At the end of the week, this is what the paragraph looked like:

One benefit of being a reader is that you can expand your vocabulary. When you read, you learn new words and you can use them in your own writing! Sometimes I come across words that I’ve never seen before and I don’t know what they mean. I have to use context clues to determine their meaning and understand what the author’s was. When I use my vocabulary strategies, I get the most out of reading!
 

It took about fifteen minutes each day, and fifteen minutes more to practice the STAAR-released question that utilized the same exact skill, as well as some Mentoring Minds questions.

Not only did we create a pretty decent paragraph, we addressed several difficult revising/editing skills in an engaging, collaborative way, and we applied it to test-taking situations to prepare for the STAAR test. I think it was a week well-spent.


In case this sounds like something you’d like to try out in your own classroom, I put together a new freebie pack! Grab it below!

Revising and Editing Practice: One Narrative Paragraph a Week (Grades 3-5)

These hands-on approach for revising and editing is better than an anchor chart or a worksheet! Teach students about grammar, word choice, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and so much more in one paragraph a week through manipulating sentence strips to making changes in expository or narrative paragraphs. Great for a station for students to practice these skills, too! #teachingwriting #revisingediting
These hands-on approach for revising and editing is better than an anchor chart or a worksheet! Teach students about grammar, word choice, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and so much more in one paragraph a week through manipulating sentence strips to making changes in expository or narrative paragraphs. Great for a station for students to practice these skills, too! #teachingwriting #revisingediting
It includes the lessons, how to prepare, and pictures of the first lesson’s delivery!

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Want this ready to go? Grab the Revising and Editing in one Narrative Paragraph a Week in my shop.

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