Convention Skills to Secure

Convention Skills to Secure

Accurate written communication is essential in any field of endeavor. Therefore, is critical that teachers in all contents directly teach written communication skills as a vital part of their curriculum. At each grade level students secure specific skills. They should be held accountable for accurately and consistently applying these skills in first draft writing in any content writing. That means that when these skills are not accurately used, the teacher expects the student to correct the error. Proofreading strategies must be taught directly, practiced in the context of authentic writing, and reinforced throughout the year in all contents (math, science, social studies, and language arts). Word walls, anchor charts, and writing notebooks should be used by students as resources for cross-checking the accurate application of these skills. In addition, students should develop accurate academic vocabulary to discuss decisions made in written communications, including terminology for the eight parts of speech (noun, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections).

Students are held accountable in first draft writing for the accurate use of anchor convention skills from previous grade levels and the current grade level, including:
Kindergarten / First Grade / Second Grade / Third Grade / Fourth Grade / Fifth Grade
Conventions / ·  correct letter formation
·  spacing between words
·  capitalization of I / ·  capitalization and punctuation of simple sentences (may use “and” and “then” in place of end punctuation
·  capitalization of familiar names / ·  capitalization and punctuation of simple sentences
·  capitalization of familiar proper names / ·  capitalization and punctuation:
§  simple sentences
§  compound sentence
·  contractions
·  recognition of fragments and run-on sentences
·  commas in a series / ·  capitalization of proper nouns (e.g., dates, places, titles)
·  punctuation of
§  possessives
§  adverb clauses / ·  punctuation in dialogue
Spelling / ·  accurate spelling of kindergarten HFW / ·  accurate spelling of
§  one-syllable words with CVC pattern
§  one-syllable words with CVCe pattern
§  consonant blends
§  K-1 HFW / ·  accurate spelling of one-syllable words with suffixes
§  doubling rule (sitting, standing)
§  CVCe + suffix rule (baking, baker)
§  VV + suffix (rained)
§  consonant digraphs (sh, th, ch, wh)
§  K-2 HFW / ·  accurate spelling of
§  VCCV pattern
§  K-3 HFW / ·  accurate spelling of
§  V’CV pattern (e.g. music, vacate)
§  final stable syllable (e.g., table, giggle)
§  (w)ar and (w)or (e.g., warm, worm)
§  K-4 HFW / ·  accurate spelling of
§  i before e
§  consonant changes (e.g., music, musician)
§  vowel changes (e.g., sign, signal)
§  K-5 HFW
Frequently Misused Words / ·  accurate usage and spelling:
§  one, won
§  two, to
§  four, for
§  eight, ate
§  a, an
§  sit, set / ·  accurate usage and spelling:
§  meat, meet ▪ to, too, two
§  pear, pair ▪ know, no
§  steak, stake ▪ knew, new
§  bread, bred ▪ right, write
§  sea, see ▪ your, you’re
§  weak, week ▪ then, than / ·  accurate usage and spelling:
§  hear, here
§  heard, herd
§  bear, bare
§  there, their
§  where, were / ·  accurate usage and spelling:
§  they’re, there, their
§  it’s its
§  warn, worn
§  are, our, hour
§  sail, sale, sell
§  tail, tale, tell
§  we’re, were, where
§  ant, aunt / ·  accurate usage and spelling:
§  blew, blue
§  board, bored
§  close, clothes
§  hole, whole
§  piece, peace
§  read, red
§  seen, scene
§  stationary, stationery
§  threw, through
§  weigh, way
§  weight, wait
Academic Language / ·  vowel
·  consonant
·  rhyme / ·  noun (concrete—person, place, thing)
§  singular noun
§  plural noun
·  verb (show action) / ·  noun (concrete)
§  proper noun
§  common noun
·  pronoun
·  preposition
·  complete sentence
·  run-on sentence / ·  verb (show action, link a subject to another word, e.g., It is mine.)
·  possessive nouns, pronouns
·  adjective (describe nouns or pronouns)
·  conjunctions (connect words or groups of words)
·  sentence fragment / ·  noun (abstract—idea, e.g., faith)
·  adverb (describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs)
·  adverb clause
·  prepositional phrase / ·  noun (collective noun, e.g., class, public)
·  verb
§  irregular verb
§  active verb
·  interjections (words set off by commas or exclamation points that show strong emotions)