Maupin House

Learning through writing; authentic writing activities for the content areas; grade 4.

Kopp, an elementary school curriculum specialist, provides 18 writing activities that teachers can use to help students in grade four learn language arts, math, science, social studies, and health and nutrition content, as well as a way for teachers to check students' understanding of these areas along with their language and writing skills. Activities include lesson plans, extensions, evaluation rubrics, worksheets, examples, lists of materials, and student prewriting, drafting, editing, and publishing suggestions. All activities are connected to national content-area and writing standards and reflect the grade-level appropriate language and writing skills in the CraftPlus Writing Program. There are also third-grade and fifth-grade books in the series. (Annotation ©2009 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Teaching the story; fiction writing in grades 4-8, 2d ed. (CD-ROM included)

This guide to teaching writing to students in grades four through eight provides mini-lessons on all aspects of the writing process, from the basic elements of a story to editing and revising. Sixteen new lessons are added to this edition, which connect technology with the writing process — using wikis, podcasts, and digital media, for example — and allow for more differentiation and personalization, in addition to expanding instruction. New activities have been added for the upper-elementary grades to reflect the increase in testing on the narrative in many states. The guide comes with a CD that contains about 70 transparency masters and reproducibles, along with 18 new student stories and a new how-to section on using technologies. No index is provided. Baldwin is a freelance writer who has developed the book from materials she has used in different classrooms. (Annotation ©2009 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)