Please note that we will not be updating this page again until the end of August. Have a great summer!

Every Wednesday, students will be bringing home an open-ended writing activity that is due the following Wednesday. These writing activities will be aligned with our TLCP (Teaching Learning Critical Pathways), and allow students to write using a variety of forms and tools. Students will receive descriptive feedback based on the Success Criteria for these writing activities. Our writing prompts will also be uploaded here for you to access as well as sent home weekly with your children. Please note that Writing Wednesdays will begin in the second week of school.

Sample Activity (To Use As A Guide)

Here’s the sample writing activity that we did together. Students created a t-chart on the brainstorming page and listed ideas and evidence in the correct column. Then they took their ideas and evidence, added an introduction and conclusion, and proofread their work. You will even see the editing that they chose to make to improve their work. Due to space restrictions, they chose to just write about three of their points. This is important, as students are restricted to a single page or about 250 words for this writing activity.

Assessment

Every week, we will be assessing the students on their writing based on this checklist. Your child can use the checklist at home as he/she completes the writing activity to check that he/she included all important information. Your child may even wish to print off a copy of the checklist and use it for self-assessment. See if your child can identify his/her strengths and his/her next steps, and then use these next steps to “bump up” his/her work. We will be working on this a lot in the classroom throughout the year.

Writing Wednesday Expectations

Writing Wednesdays Activity #1 – Writing Wednesdays Week 1

Writing Wednesdays Activity #2 – Writing Wednesdays Week 2

Writing Wednesdays Activity #3 (Media Text Form) – Writing Wednesdays End of the Month September

Here are the expectations for this Media Literacy activity. Students will be assessed based on this Success Criteria:

Writing Wednesday Expectations For Media Form

While students have experimented in class with many media text forms, we wanted to show the students how to create a podcast today. To do this, I (Aviva) wrote a story based on the first Writing Wednesdays Activity. Here is a copy of my story:

After reading this story with the class, I told my students that my story was going to be turned into a feature film. To advertise for the film, I was hiring them to create a radio commercial. Students worked in partners to write their own radio commercial encouraging others to see this film. Here’s a pencast of four radio commercials that students agreed to share:

(Please note that you can just click on the orange play button in the corner to hear all of the podcasts, or you can click on the green writing to hear the specific numbered podcast that you want.)

They are all great examples of radio commercials and/or podcasts, but I would definitely suggest listening to the final example, as these students even wrote their own song to help sell the video. What a great idea!

If your child wants to create a podcast, he/she may wish to check out AudioBoo or Vocaroo. For AudioBoo, students will need to create their own free account, but can then record on the computer with a microphone or on the iPod Touch or iPad app. When done, students can view their AudioBoo, and copy and paste the embed code into an email. If your child sends us an email, we can put the AudioBoo on the website and preview it as well. Vocaroo does not require a sign-in. Your child can just record online, and then send us the link in an email (Aviva or Gina).

If students record a video or audio file on their computer and wish to share it with us, instead of emailing it to us, we ask that he/she use Dropbox. We have a class account, and you can email us for the login information (Aviva or Gina). You can also create your own account. With this class account though, students just need to let us know that they’ve uploaded a file, and we can view it from there.

Please note that these media literacy activities do not need to be completed on a computer or similar device. Students can definitely make a poster or draw a comic strip. They can be completely creative. In fact, we encourage this creativity! We can’t wait to see what the students produce!

Writing Wednesdays Activity #4: Writing Wednesdays Week 4

Writing Wednesdays Activity #5: Writing Wednesdays Week 5

Writing Wednesdays Activity #6: Writing Wednesdays Week 6

Writing Wednesdays Activity #7: Writing Wednesdays Week 7

Writing Wednesdays Activity # 8: Writing Wednesdays End of the Month October – You can see some more information about media texts explained above for Writing Wednesdays Activity #3. 

Writing Wednesdays Activity #9: Writing Wednesdays Week 9

Writing Wednesdays Activity #10: Writing Wednesdays Week 10

Writing Wednesdays Activity #11: Writing Wednesdays End of the Month November – You can see some more information about media texts explained above for Writing Wednesdays Activity #3. 

Writing Wednesdays Activity #12: Writing Wednesdays Week 12

Writing Wednesday activities will now be added to the website again. Thanks for your understanding during our brief hiatus. 

Writing Wednesdays Activity #14: Writing Wednesdays Week 14 and monkey article for writing wednesdays

Writing Wednesdays Activity #15: Writing Wednesdays Week 15

Writing Wednesdays Activity #16: Writing Wednesdays Week 16 If students want to edit the story that they wrote in class and then submit it for Writing Wednesdays this week, they can also do that.

Writing Wednesdays Activity #17: Writing Wednesdays End of the Month January

Writing Wednesdays Activity #18: Writing Wednesdays Week 18

Writing Wednesdays Activity #19: Writing Wednesdays Week 19

Writing Wednesdays Activity #20: Writing Wednesdays Week 20 – With February and March both being short months, we decided not to do the media literacy writing activity at the end of this month, but instead, do it at the end of March. Students can choose to create a media text based on any of the February or March Writing Wednesday topics. Please let us know if you have any questions about this!

Writing Wednesday Activity #21: Writing Wednesdays Week 21 Writing Wednesdays Week 21 Justin Bieber Article Here’s a link to a completed Point of View Organizer if you want to see what one looks like.

Writing Wednesdays Activity #22: Writing Wednesdays End of the Month March – You can see some more information about media texts explained above for Writing Wednesdays Activity #3. 

Writing Wednesdays Activity #23: Writing Wednesdays Week 23 – Please note that it says #22 instead of #23 on the copy of this activity that was sent home. We apologize!

Writing Wednesdays Activity #24: Writing Wednesdays Week 24

Writing Wednesdays Activity #25: Writing Wednesdays Week 25 – You can find examples of different graphic organizers here.

Writing Wednesdays Activity #26: Writing Wednesdays End of the Month April – You can see some more information about media texts explained above for Writing Wednesdays Activity #3. 

Writing Wednesdays Activity #27: Writing Wednesdays Week 27

Writing Wednesdays Activity #28: Writing Wednesdays Week 28

Writing Wednesdays Activity #29: Writing Wednesdays Week 29

Writing Wednesdays Activity #30: Writing Wednesdays Week 30

Writing Wednesdays Activity #31: Writing Wednesdays Week 31

Writing Wednesdays Activity #32: Writing Wednesdays End of the Month June – You can see some more information about media texts explained above for Writing Wednesdays Activity #3.