Hi Mary, Well, for punctuation study, I would recommend doing an "apprenticeship study"...i.e. you use big books or students work in groups to look at examples and ways that students use commas, periods, etc.
For grammar, if your district is interested in a "program," my district has adopted a program called "Daily Grammar Practice." At first I was very opposed....what I now like about it, however, is that it teaches all grammar skills in a circular fashion and only takes a few minutes per day, leaving most of class time for writing workshop. In DGP, students work with the same sentence each day for a week, and the sentences review and become progressively more difficult throughout the year. On Mondays, they identify the part of speech of speech in each word. On Tuesdays, they name the type of subject, predicate, direct object, etc. On Wednesdays, they correct the punctuation, Thursdays identify the clauses, etc., and then on Fridays, they diagram. All of this is supposed to be completed by the time the teacher has taken attendance. Students get points for attempting the task each day and then points for correcting their work as the class goes over it. The teacher teaches a quick grammar lesson when necessary to help students understand certain points. All of this only takes a few minutes each day, as opposed to doing "grammar units". Districts close to us that have adopted this program 3-12 have been getting very high test scores while still being able to spend most of their valuable class time on writing. Something to look at! Good luck with this:) May Dartez 6th/GA On Feb 12, 2007, at 5:09 PM, Mary Dovey wrote: > Please forgive the cross post, but my supervisor seems interested > suddenly > in purchasing a reading series for grades 4 to 8. I'm > flabbergasted--to me, > authentic trade books are the basis for teaching reading. (We use a > variety > of sources for teaching writing.) > > This may be a done deal, but I'm going to try to do my best to guide > the > purchase as best I can--if I can. Any and all comments on materials you > like, things you hate, etc., would be appreciated. One specific I'm > interested in is what materials you've found that best help teach > grammar > and punctuation, particularly in the context of writer's workshop. > > Thanks for all your help, in advance. If our teachers get stuck with > some > lame "series" it'll make my job as instructional coach for literacy a > nightmare... > > Mary D. > > P.S. I have samples of Great Source's Sourcebook and Daybook for each > grade > but I'm not certain how helpful they'd be. Anyone use them? > > > > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
