PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Blue Cover Transforming American Education
Children are our future. As educators we are privileged to help them communicate with each other & the world.

The content in eWriting For Kids! is aligned with the Common Core State Standards, and NAEP Content Components.

The program will help prepare young writers for national assessment performance tasks, including higher-level thinking skills, sentence fluency, and internet research.

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LESSON CONTENT

  • The eWriting For Kids! lessons supplement key components of the basic writing curriculum, Grades 2-5.
  • Topics cover four writing genres (Persuasive, Descriptive, Informative,  and Narrative) and the skills needed to support them.
  • Composition lessons follow the Writing Process: Pre-Writing, First Draft, Revising, Editing, Final Draft, and Publishing.
  • Basic concepts and skills acquired in Grades 2-3 are reinforced and advanced to a higher level in Grades 4-5. For example in Grades 2-3 children write brief story narratives with a beginning, middle and end. In Grades 4-5, student narratives include dialogue, character development, descriptive settings, and a plot with conflict leading to an ending.

LESSON DESIGN

Each Lesson Sequence flows together in two separate sections:

1. Game-Based Learning Software
2. Independent Writing.

“Interactive technologies, especially games… are highly engaging to students and have the potential to motivate students to learn. They also enable educators to assess important competencies.”

National Education Technology Plan, Learning, Powered by Technology, 2010

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Support This Non-Profit Organization By Funding Addtional Interactive Lessons

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GAME-BASED LEARNING SOFTWARE

Game-based Learning Software supports learning by modeling desired writing methods, followed by interactive challenges in which students practice.   Games keep students in a focused state of flow. That means capturing the students interest with an attractive goal (such as escaping from the Amazon Jungle, or winning a contest) teaching the concepts in a seamless and interesting way, giving feedback during problem-solving, and rewarding the student appropriately.

INDEPENDENT WRITING

Each learning game concludes with suggested topics for independent writing.  Student 5-step composing may extend over two to five class periods.   Peer collaboration is encouraged, especially in revising and editing.

Teacher materials support each step:  mini-lessons to reteach needed skills; graphic organizers to facilitate pre-writing; video tutorials to help in revising and editing.  Sharing compositions is facilitated by links to sites where students may post their compositions to friends and family.

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STUDENT REWARDS

RECOGNITION REWARDS

These rewards heighten student engagement, provide recognition for accomplishment, and illustrate progress for students, parents, teachers and administrators.

ACHIEVEMENT BADGES

These are awarded by the teacher after each lesson is successfully completed. Students may poast their badges to their digital portfolios.

SILVER CERTIFICATES
Signed by the teacher and principal, may be printed and taken home when student successfully complete the lessons for Grades 2-3.

GOLD CERTIFICATES
These are awarded with completion of all lessons for Grades 4-5.