Objective(s): Students will...
Engage in reading, writing, listening and speaking.
Participate in class discussions related to various
topics presented.
Use the writing process (brainstorming, prewriting,
rough drafts, editing [self and peer], final draft.
Write a story as though they were on one of
Columbus' ships.
Anticipatory Set: Students will be asked to think about the year
1492. How did people react to Columbus' theory
that the world was round? How was life different then
than their life today?
Students may be given 2 minutes to think about the
answers.
Engage students in a class discussion.
Class Activity: Students will listen as the story, Columbus: Discoverer
of the New World by Matthew Grant, is read aloud.
Identify the story's theme.
Have the students individually brainstorm life concepts,
theories, etc from the year 1492. Compare these to today.
Students may then get with one partner and share their
lists. They may make changes.
For Prewriting, students can make an outline of the
events that will take place in their heir story.
Have students write a rough draft of their story.
Requirements for story:
1. include brainstorming, prewriting, rough draft, editing,
and a final draft.
2. Final drafts amy be written in black ink (skip lines), or
on the computer.
3. 1000 -2000 words.
Self Editing Steps:
1. Read your paper aloud to yourself.
2. What did you do particularly well in your
writing? List at least 2 things.
3. What do you need to do to improve what
what you have done? Give a brief explanation.
4. Review your paper and make necessary
improvements.
Technical Review:
Is the spelling correct?
Are the punctuation and capitalization used appropriately?
Are the paragraphs indented?
Do you have a title? Is it centered and in capital letters?
Is your name and date in the upper right-hand corner?
Peer Editing:
Have students repeat the Self Editing Steps with a peer.
Instruct them to sign their peer's papers after they have
completed their editing.
Additional Activities:
Have students read their papers aloud to the class.
Have the students illustrate their stories.
Display stories on a classroom bulletin board.
Students can judge each others papers and pick a classroom
winner.
Key Terms/Concepts:
Theme: moral, underlying message.
Writing Process:
Brainstorming--Generating ideas
Prewriting -- Organizing ideas
Rough Draft -- Formatting ideas
Edit --
Making improvements
Final Draft -- End product
Closure: Read Stories aloud.
May choose volunteers or have each student read.
Students may read their entire story or selected portions.
Thank students for cooperation and participation.
Give students credit for participating and editing.
(back to Columbus4k8)