Notre continuum d'écriture

Since January, our class has been building and learning about using a writing continuum.  A writing continuum is a tool that our students use to assess and work towards a goal in order to improve their writing.  First, our class came up with a list of what good writing looks like and then, over time, we looked at various writing samples using this list.  The students then decided, based on our conversations of what good writers do, where to place each writing sample on our continuum.

Our checklist of good writing.

Looking at our Progress
Last month, I had the students redo a writing activity that I had them do back in September.  They were to write about the perfect pet.  In both cases, I did not help the students at all in order to see what they could do on their own.  It was a great activity to do because all the students (not surprisingly!) improved immensely.   We used the writing continuum to evaluate our writing from September as well as April and to make a goal for the rest of the year.  Now, students are working on taking their writing to the next level using the checklist we created as a class. 

Professional Learning
The primary French Immersion team at École Victoria had made it our goal this year to use a writing continuum in each of our classrooms in order to improve our students' writing and we all found it was a useful tool for our students.    You will probably hear talk of writing continua throughout your child's schooling, as they are used in most of our classrooms.

Two examples of our students' work
from september, april, and their
evaluations of both pieces.

At-home connections
The majority of our students are working on always remembering a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and a period at the end.  We are also working on getting a feel for when we pause in our thinking to start a new thought (ie. when to put a period and start a new sentence).  Students are also encouraged to add details, details, details!  So when your child is writing at home (in English or French), these are some things you can encourage your child to practice.

Something To Look Forward To
Your child will be sharing his or her work and self-assessment with you soon!

If you have any questions regarding our writing continuum, please let me (Mme H) know.