Strategies for teaching the 6 Traits of Writing
Ideas | Organization | Voice | Word Choice | Sentence Fluency | Conventions
Passing the Tower Test | Mini-Lesson Resources
Trait of Conventions
Make editing more concrete with Xray Editing.
Punctuation has a purpose—and can be fun.
Point out the purpose behind grammar and mechanic rules.
Create conventions characters.
Once students know of the end marks (and/or other inner-sentence punctuation), you could review each mark’s function and purpose in a sentence. More than simply the “rule,” students need to understand the different applications of the mark and how it impacts the sentence’s meaning and reading fluency. After assigning a punctuation mark to each first grader in her class, Melody Wolff (Homan Elementary in Schererville, IN) had students turn the marks into super heroes. Here is Period Girl.
