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WritingFix: Our Homepage for the 6 Writing Traits
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WritingFix also recommends these websites for writing teachers:


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Dena's Website



NNWP's website



NWP's Website

The 6 Writing Traits: WritingFix's Trait Homepage
ideas, resources, and lessons for classrooms, created by teachers for teachers

Hello, my name is Dena Harrison, and I have been Coordinator for 6-Trait In-Service Classes sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing Project since 2004. 

In addition to working with the NNWP, I teach 7th and 8th graders in Northern Nevada.  The traits have always been the language of my classroom, and my students talk to each other like writers during our writer's workshop time.  I am diligent in teaching them to use the language of the traits meaningfully, and that diligence makes all the difference as I prepare my students for high school and for life. We become writers in my classroom, and traits language is what makes that possible.

In 2006, many of my lessons and resources, as well as lessons and resources from dozens of my fellow Northern Nevada teachers, were published together in a marvelous print resource:  The Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide.  This guide was the third collaborative project between the Northern Nevada Writing Project and Nevada's Northwest Professional Development Program.   The 196-page resource is now used in all the trainings I coordinate for NNWP, plus it is given to many of the teachers who attend the Strategic Instruction Series during Washoe County's New Teacher Academy

We are so very proud of the innovative resources created by teachers from Northern Nevada...and we are thrilled to know that Internet-using teachers from all areas of the globe are using the resources we share on this page as well. Below, you will find links to several free resources from our 6 traits guide, plus you will find links to each trait's own homepage, where we freely share resources, prompts, and lesson ideas that will help you give trait language to your writers too.

On this page:

Such a wonderful resource!
Click here for information on ordering your own copy.

Appreciated praise for the NNWP's
Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook:

"I have used 6-Traits for several years. However, my use of 6-Traits increased 100 fold after discovering Writingfix.com. I purchased Going Deep from your web site and we have  been going gang busters ever since. I was running out of ideas and motivation.   I am re-energized and I  have found a way to reach students that I have been unsuccessful with in the past. Keep up the great work. You are renewing the spirit of teachers!"

--Jody Barnard (Naples, FL)

"The NNWP has once again done an outstanding job in creating an invaluable resource for teachers. I have used both the Writing Across the Curriculum Guide and the Going Deep with the Six Trait Language Guide in my classroom. My students love the activities and the results have been amazing. Thank you for the wonderful publications!"

--Patty Knudson (Cedarburg, WI)


The lessons found on this page come from the Northern Nevada Writing Project's 196-page publication, the Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers. Click here, if you're interested in purchasing a copy.

a free lesson focused on
Idea Development
(appropriate for 4th grade and up)

Check out WritingFix for Kids for writing activities and prompts for even younger writers.

Using Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust as a model of great setting descriptions (as well as Patricia MacLachlan's All the Places to Love) this lesson focuses on creating powerful setting descriptions, which is a sub-skill of the Idea Development Trait.  Click here (or on the book cover) to access and print this free PDF lesson.

For meaningful response and revision, use WritingFix's Idea Development Revision Post-Its between students' rough and second drafts.


a free lesson focused on
Organization
(appropriate for 5th grade and up)


Check out WritingFix for Kids for writing activities and prompts for even younger writers.

Using Ruby Bridge's Through My Eyes as a model of well-organized writing, this lesson focuses on pre-thinking purposeful paragraphs, which is a sub-skill of the Organization Trait.  Click here (or on the book cover) to access and print this free PDF lesson.

For meaningful response and revision, use WritingFix's Organization Revision Post-Its between students' rough and second drafts.


a free lesson focused on
Voice
(appropriate for 6th grade and up)

Check out WritingFix for Kids for writing activities and prompts for even younger writers.

Using Katie DiCamillo's Because of Winn Dixie as a model of voice-filled writing, this lesson focuses on writing from the voice of a character who has an interesting perspective, which is a sub-skill of the Voice Trait.  Click here (or on the book cover) to access and print this free PDF lesson.

For meaningful response and revision, use WritingFix's Voice Revision Post-Its between students' rough and second drafts.


a free lesson focused on
Word Choice
(appropriate for 2nd grade and up)

Check out WritingFix for Kids for writing activities and prompts for even younger writers.

Using Chris Van Allsburg's The Z Was Zapped as a model of word choice-filled writing, this lesson focuses on experimenting with alliteration and word play, which are a sub-skills of the Word Choice Trait.  Click here (or on the book cover) to access and print this free PDF lesson.

For meaningful response and revision, use WritingFix's Word Choice Revision Post-Its between students' rough and second drafts.


a free lesson focused on
Conventions
(appropriate for 3rd grade and up)

Check out WritingFix for Kids for writing activities and prompts for even younger writers.

Using Robin Pulver's Punctuation Takes A Vacation as its "muse," this lesson has students creatively play with punctuation by personifying it, which helps students discover Conventional wisdom in a more interesting way than with punctuation drills and worksheets.  Click here (or on the book cover above) to access and print this free PDF lesson.

For meaningful editing, use WritingFix's Conventions Editing Post-Its after students have written a second draft.


a free lesson focused on
Sentence Fluency
(appropriate for 4th grade and up)

Check out WritingFix for Kids for writing activities and prompts for even younger writers.

Using both Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as models of writing with excellent sentence fluency, this lesson focuses on writing with prepositional phrases that flow, which is a sub-skill of the Sentence Fluency Trait.  Click here (or on the book cover above) to access and print this free PDF lesson.

For meaningful response and revision, use WritingFix's Sentence Fluency Revision Post-Its between students' rough and second drafts.

Additional Complimentary Resources from the
Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook:

Idea Development: Eight Questions that Encourage Unique Approaches to Writing Stories...a one-page resource that encourages originality after a student has a story idea.

Organization: Little Red Riding Hooks... a one-page resource that helps students explore options for beginning stories in different ways

Voice: Faces of Emotion... a one-page resource for students' notebooks; students can choose emotions or moods to try to convey in their writing

Word Choice: 200 Breath-taking Adjectives... a one-page resource with superb adjectives for students to consider using in their writing

Conventions: Grocery Spelling List... engaging activities for students independently working with weekly spelling words

Sentence Fluency: List of Transitional Words... a great one-page resource that categorizes students' choices of transition words.

Our Newest 6-Trait Classroom Resources

Original 6 Trait Posters from WritingFix:

Click here to open and print our 7-page poster/handout set of this new Northern Nevada metaphor for the 6 traits of writing.

6 Trait Songs for your Classroom:

In Nevada, students are scored on four of the six traits for their 5th and 8th grade state writing tests: idea development, organization, voice, and conventions. Students receive a score between 1 (low) and 5 (high) on all four traits, for a possible combined score of 20.

Northern Nevada teacher, Terry Stelle, has shared with us her original trait songs that she teaches her students to sing as they prepare to be tested. These songs mention both scores and strategies involved with each of Nevada's tested traits.

WritingFix's Homepages for each of the Six Traits:

Click here to acess WritingFix's
Idea Development Homepage

 

 

 

Click here to acess WritingFix's Organization Homepage




 

 

Click here to acess WritingFix's
Voice Homepage


Click here to acess WritingFix's
Conventions Homepage

 



Click here to acess WritingFix's
Sentence Fluency
Homepage


Click here to acess WritingFix's
Word Choice
Homepage



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