The Six Traits of Writing, Elections, and Venus!

Ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, and conventions - these are the six traits of writing that we began exploring in class this week.  Each of these traits was introduced, and we briefly discussed what each one would look like.  We are currently looking at sample writing pieces and evaluating each trait using rubrics.  These are the same rubrics that we will use to evaluate our own writing pieces in the future.  By practicing using these rubrics, we are learning what we are striving for in each trait. 

Our election learning also continues.  This week we looked at each candidate and are starting to learn more about them, both personally and on where they stand on important issues.  Here are some facts that we have learned about the candidates:  Barack Obama has two children, likes to cook chili for his family, and wants to begin to withdraw troops from Iraq.  John McCain has seven children, likes to barbeque, and wants to lower health care costs by increasing competition between drug companies and insurance companies.

We would also like to introduce the newest member of our class - Venus!  Venus is our Venus Fly Trap, donated to the class by the Savage family.   Venus has caused quite a sensation in our class since we realize that it does not have the same needs that other plants, and everyone is curious to see it eat!  We are currently learning about how to take good care of our Venus Fly Trap.  Today we learned that we need to give it water free from minerals!  We hope that Venus grows and stays with us for a long time!

Posted on September 26, 2008 2:42 PM | Permalink