The program provides students with many opportunities to write. In addition to the 5-Step Literacy Routine, the program includes a Writing Center with a wealth of resources to help students perfect their writing skills: 

 

• Writing Process Topics- Topics are available for specific organizational strategies (e.g., cause and effect, sequence of events, compare & contrast). Students will see a writing prompt and then read a related Article. They also have access to appropriate graphic organizers. They then craft a response through the Writing Process that includes the following steps: Read, Prewrite, Draft, Revise/Edit.
• Timed Writing assignments- These are designed to give students practice with timed writing, which is often required for state exams. The prompts are designed to imitate a testing environment and the activities include a timer so students can learn to pace themselves when writing.
• Revising and Editing assignments- These multiple-choice activities give students an opportunity to practice error identification and error correction.
• Mechanics- These online mini-lessons cover basic grammar, writing mechanics, and process writing skills in a fun, engaging manner.
• Printable graphic organizers- These help students organize their writing across the curriculum.

Students can access the Writing Center at any time and select from the list of prompts. Teachers can also assign these to students, which will appear in a student's Inbox on the scheduled day. 

 

Sections Covered:

Access the Writing Center
Assign Writing Prompt

 

Access the Writing Center from the Teacher Edition:

1. Click on the  Main Menu icon at the top left of the  Teacher Dashboard. 



2. Under the Student Centers section on the menu, select  Writing.



3. Click the desired category under  The Writing Process column on the right-hand side of the page.



4. Click the  title of a lesson to access the writing prompt.



 

Assign Writing Prompt:

1. Click the  title of a lesson to access the writing prompt you want to assign.



2. Click the Assign this Article button under the writing prompt Directions.



3. On the Write Email tab of the Mailbox page, type in the name of the students in the To field you want to create the assignment for. You can also select the student(s) name from the list provided below the To field.

Note: If you want to select more than one person, hold down the CTRL key, and click on each name.



4. Select the Send On date that the students will receive the assignment.

5. Enter a Subject for the email to the students.

6. Add a Message to the students about the assignment.

Note: The message that is sent to the students for the writing prompt will not take them directly to the article in the Writing Center. We suggest providing students with the steps on how to find the article in the Writing Center. 

7. Click the Choose File button to add any files you want the students to access. This is optional.

8. Click Send to send the email about the assignment to the students.



You will then receive a pop-up that the email was successfully sent.



Students will be able to access the assignment from their Student Dashboard. They will want to select the My Messages tab under the Dashboard section. They will then want to click on the message, or click the View All button to view the list of all messages.