Synopses & Reviews
This unique resource provides over 250 ready-to-use activity sheets to correct 101 of the most common writing errors made by student sin grades 4 and up, from often-confused words and double negatives to indefinite pronouns, run-on sentences and irrelevant details.
For each error, you?ll find two or more reproducible activity sheets based on steps in the writing process to give students the information and practice they need to understand and correct that problem. The activities feature simple, clear directions and can be completed independently with a minimum of teacher supervision.
To assure easy access and use, materials are organized into eight sections and printed in a big lay-flat binding that folds flat for photocopying of any activity sheet as many times as required. And most activities include solution keys for self-correction and evaluation.
Here?s just a sampling of the ready-to-use help you?ll find in each section:
- Word Usage Help provides 35 activities for words often confused (Are You Ready Already?), idiomatic usage (Agree to What?), illiteracies and colloquialisms (Nowhere! Nohow!), and triteness and double negatives (When No Means Yes).
- Punctuation Help features 28 activities for use of the comma (Lists and Separators), period, question mark, exclamation point (Stop!) and more (Semicolon Suggestions and Hyphen Help).
- Spelling Help gives you 40 activities for homonyms (I Hear With My Ear), words with ?ie? or ?ei? (Chiefs and Thieves), capitalization (Always Begin Big), prefixes and suffixes (Happy Endings), commonly misspelled words and more.
- Grammar Help includes 35 activities for agreement of pronoun with antecedent (Do You Agree with Me?), indefinite pronouns (Anyone Can Be Somebody), misused prepositions (Don?t Fly Over), linking verbs, verb tenses, misplaced modifiers and much more.
- Sentence Writing Help supplies 32 activities for recognizing a complete sentence, sentence fragments, (Broken Apart), run-on sentences (Running Past the Base), redundancies (You Said That Already), agreement of subject and very and cutting unnecessary phrases.
- Paragraph Help provides 37 activities for organizing a paragraph, sentence order (Scrambled Paragraphs), topic sentence and concluding sentence (Sum It Up!), sentence variety and length (Chop! Chop!), transitions (Making a Connection), clauses and irrelevant details.
- Essay Writing Help presents 31 activities for organizing a three-paragraph essay (As Easy As 1, 2, 3), pre-writing or clustering (First, Get Ready!), outlining (Making a Skeleton), introductory and concluding paragraphs and more.
- Letter Writing Help includes 14 activities for personal letters (Thanks a Lot), business letters (Set It Up!), and job applications (I Can Do It!).
In short, the
WRITING SKILLS PROBLEM SOLVER gives you a quick, practical way to address individual writing problems without using precious class time and helps you provide the instruction and reinforcement each student needs to overcome specific problems and become a better writer.
Synopsis
Provides over 250 reproducible activity sheets to correct 101 of the most common writing errors made by students in grades 4 and up, from often-confused words and double negatives to indefinite pronouns, run-on sentences and irrelevant details.
For each error, two or more activity sheets are included, based on steps in the writing process, to give students the information and practice they need to understand and correct that problem. The activities feature simple, clear directions and can be completed independently with a minimum of teacher supervision.
Synopsis
This unique and timely resource gives writing teachers over 250 ready-to-use activity sheets to correct 101 of the most frequent errors made by students in grades 4-12. For each error, it provides two or more reproducible activities based on the writing process to help students understand and correct that problem. These can be completed independently with minimal teacher supervision and include solution keys for self-correction and evaluation. To assure easy use, materials are printed in a big 8-1/4" x 11" lay-flat binding that opens flat for photocopying. The book is organized into eight sections, including Word Usage Help, Punctuation Help, Spelling Help, Grammar Help, Sentence Writing Help, Paragraph Help, Essay Writing Help, and Letter Writing Help.
Synopsis
Letter Writing Help includes 14 activities for personal letters ("Thanks a Lot"), business letters ("Set It Up!"), and job applications ("I Can Do It!").In short, the WRITING SKILLS PROBLEM SOLVER gives you a quick, practical way to address individual writing problems without using precious class time and helps you provide the instruction and reinforcement each student needs to overcome specific problems and become a better writer.
About the Author
Carol H. Behrman has taught writing to students in grades 5-8 for more than 20 years. Author of numerous nonfiction books for children and young adults, she has conducted workshops on the writing process for students and teachers. In addition, Ms. Behrman is the author of three other resources on the writing process published by The Center, Hooked On Writing! (1990), Write! Write! Write! (1995), and Writing Activities for Every Month of the School Year (1997).
Table of Contents
Section One: WORD USAGE HELP.
Topics Addressed:
Words Often Confused.
Idiomatic Expressions.
Illiteracies and Colloquialisms.
Triteness.
Double Negatives.
Section Two: PUNCTUATION HELP.
Topics Addressed:
Using Commas.
Using the Dash.
Using the Apostrophe to Show Possession.
Using the Apostrophe to Show Omission.
Using Apostrophes.
Using Colons.
Using Semicolons.
Using Hyphens.
Using Quotation Marks.
Ellipsis, Slash, Parentheses.
Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Point.
Punctuation Review.
Section Three: SPELLING HELP.
Topics Addressed:
Homonyms.
Words with ie or ei.
Plurals.
Plurals: Final F.
Capitalization.
Words Commonly Misspelled.
Writing Two Words as One.
Adding Suffixes.
Suffixes: ful/fully.
Prefixes.
Compound Words.
Abbreviations.
Section Four: GRAMMAR HELP.
Topics Addressed:
Agreement of Pronoun with Antecedent.
Indefinite Pronouns.
Possessive Pronouns.
Pronouns in Combination.
Who vs. Whom.
Them vs. Those.
Verbs: Tenses.
Linking Verbs: To Be.
Verbs: Person.
Adjectives.
Adverbs.
Adverbs vs. Adjectives.
Misplaced Modifiers.
Prepositions Misused.
Section Five: SENTENCE WRITING HELP.
Topics Addressed:
Recognizing a Complete Sentence.
Sentence Fragments.
Run-on Sentences.
Agreement of Subject and Verb.
Agreement of Subject and Verb: Collective Nouns.
Leaving out Necessary Verbs.
Split Verb Phrases.
Confusing Comparisons.
Redundancies.
Cutting Superfluous Phrases.
Misuse of Dependent Clauses.
Inconsistencies in Tense and Number.
Confusing Blends.
Section Six: PARAGRAPH HELP.
Topics Addressed:
Sentence Order.
Topic Sentence.
Concluding Sentence.
Organizing a Paragraph.
Consistency of Tense.
Consistency of Pronoun.
Sentence Variety: Too Shor.t
Sentence Variety: Too Long.
Sentence Variety: Clauses.
Sentence Variety: Questions, Etc.
Transitions.
Changing the Subject.
Irrelevant Details.
Section Seven: ESSAY WRITING HELP.
Topics Addressed:
Organizing a Three-Paragraph Essay.
Prewriting Activities: Brainstorming.
Prewriting Activities: Clustering.
Prewriting Activities: Outlining.
Prewriting Activities: Overcoming Writer's Block.
Introductory Paragraph.
Introductory Paragraph: Topic Statement.
Introductory Paragraph: Cautions.
Developing a Topic: Using Examples.
Concluding Paragraph.
Confusion: Irrelevancies.
Confusion: Getting Lost.
Excessive Verbiage.
Section Eight: LETTER WRITING HELP.
Topics Addressed:
Personal/Friendly Letter.
Business Letter Parts: Return Address.
Business Letter Parts: Inside Address.
Business Letter Parts: Inside Address and Greeting.
Business Letter Parts: Closing.
Business Letter: Complete Form.
Job Application Letter.