Basic Essay Writing Lessons, Activities: Before the 5-Paragraph Essay BUNDLE

From Struggling to Confident: Empower Your Middle School and High School Students with the Basics of Essay Writing! Freshly UPDATED, this Essay Apprentice Writing Program introduces basic writing skills in a fun and effective way, helping students gain confidence in their writing as they learn (or review) the essential basics of writing. Now, completely updated and Google Classroom compatible!

Includes both PRINTABLE and DIGITAL VERSIONS for Distance Learning and In-Person Classrooms. SAVE nearly 40% by purchasing the entire Bundle!

I wrote this program to help a group of 12th graders who had failed the California state exit exam more than three times. EVERY SINGLE STUDENT (who actually showed up for class) passed the essay portion of the exam that year using this program. It is full of step-by-step process work with a ton of repetition.

Extremely effective in helping students who are really struggling to put together one or two paragraphs. This program does not have any juvenile clip art or fonts, so it is PERFECT for helping students in grades 9-12 who are particularly struggling, without making them feel like they are doing "baby" work. It is particularly effective with special education and English Language Learners.

It can also be used in grades 5-8 to introduce and/or review the basics of good writing. A scaffolded approach helps students learn step by step, working their way to a five-paragraph essay.

For students who can write at least two paragraphs, but are struggling to get to 5 paragraphs, you may want to check out my newly revised Essay Architect Writing System, the second part of this essay series.

This unique, research-based, yet practical Essay Apprentice Writing Program includes:

Teacher Guide with Sample Teaching Agenda for 18-week program (may vary)

Part One: Building Confidence

Many students believe that they are not good writers. Some may even detest writing and do everything possible to avoid putting pen to paper. Unfortunately, their past experiences may have deflated their confidence. Part One is designed to help students regain confidence by practicing their writing skills and using their imagination with fun, loosely-structured creative writing activities encouraging students to use their unique voice, style, and creativity.

Part Two: Sentence Construction/Grammar Activities

After their creative writing practice, Part Two introduces the basic structure of sentences. Before letting students loose with more advanced techniques, it is imperative to help them remember (or fill in the gaps on) the basics of sentence structure and how to write different types of sentences.

Part Three: Paragraph Construction Activities

Once students have learned and practice sentence structure and style, it makes sense to start putting sentences together in paragraph format. At this point, students should begin to feel as if they really can do the assignments given to them —that good writing is not out of reach. Putting paragraphs together is just as simple as writing sentences! In Part Three, they will learn how to put those well-written sentences together to make an idea stick.

Part Four: Learning the Basics

In this crucial first step, students are introduced to the basic terminology and essay structure they will be working with during this entire program and beyond, if you intend to introduce Essay Architect.

It is important that students become familiar with these terms and that they feel confident with the basic “skeleton” of the essay in order to move beyond into the actual construction of the five-paragraph essay.

Part Five: Group Essay Unit

Now that students have had the opportunity to gain confidence in the basics of writing, and have been introduced to the parts of an essay, it is now time to take what they've learned and start to create in the safety of a group environment. In Part Five, the purpose of these lessons is to get students to the next level of writing —the simple, formal, five-paragraph essay, by working and learning the process collaboratively.

Part Six: Polish

The process of polishing is like putting the icing on the cake. You have been provided with numerous resources that will help students repair and improve their essays through the use of bridges (transitions), improved word choice, more active verbs, more powerful details and examples, and more.

Once students have completed the process of polishing their essays, they will have a well-written, well-structured final product.

Resources, Tips, and Hints, including:

• Using a Dictionary and Thesaurus
• Reading an Essay Prompt
• Essay Templates
• Show, Don't Tell
• Using Idioms
• Precise Word Choice
• Vivid Verbs
• Misspelled and Confusing Words

Additional resources have been provided in this unit, including Essay Templates for Reflective, Narrative, Cause and Effect, Expository, and Persuasive Essays, as well as additional support and practice on Central Idea and Summarizing.

Corbin little (TpT Seller) said: LOVED THIS RESOURCE! It breaks down each step of writing for students and provides helpful practice for things such as topic sentences. This really helped me ensure that my students understand how to recognize a quality topic sentence and thesis statement before I could ask them to write their own. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

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