Writing Companion offers instruction in all aspects of effective writing as well as practice activities that will help prepare students for assessments. Writing activities are tied to authentic texts that students read closely and mine for textual evidence as they will be required to do on the state standards assessments.
Chapters include:
- argumentative writing
- informative writing
- narrative writing
- writing about literature
- reporting on research
Targeted writing instruction—concise instruction of close reading, analysis of texts, and mining texts for evidence. Key concepts associated with each type of writing identified in the state standards are presented and defined, and their importance in writing is clearly demonstrated.
Focused practice activities—instruction is always immediately followed by an opportunity for students to put into practice what they have just learned. Checklists at the end of the chapters serve as evaluation guides for students' writing.
Grammar, usage, and mechanics—integrated instruction targets the most common errors found in student writing.
Teacher Support
A Teacher Guide includes rubrics, model essays, and graphic organizers for writing. A Teacher CD includes interactive whiteboard lessons, reproducibles on annotating texts and writing paragraphs with textual evidence, step-by-step writing reproducibles for struggling writers, and further practice on common grammar and style problems.