1. Colleen Regan June 16, 2009 MEDUC 611

2.  The students will write two articles about events that happened during the school year using both school and world events. Digital pictures and internet research will be used to complement the articles which will be published using Microsoft Publisher.

3.  Computers with internet access  Printer  Digital camera (or flip cameras)  Microsoft Publisher  Graphic Organizer  Writing journals

4. Students are aware of this project in the beginning of the year and will be given opportunities to take pictures of school events. There will be time set aside each week to discuss current events which students can note in their writing journal.

5.  Ask students to orally describe aspects of descriptive paragraphs.  Read aloud of 1-2 descriptive paragraphs to model these aspects  Review and have students independently practice a descriptive paragraph in their writing journal.  “Write a descriptive paragraph about what you do every morning to get to school.”

6.  Explain project—teacher shows models of projects that used Publisher  Class discussion on ideas for topics (start with current event)  Independent brainstorming; students must sign up for a topic with teacher

7.  In class, teacher shows students appropriate news websites for current events  www.cnn.com www.cnn.com  www.msn.com www.msn.com  www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com  Computer lab – students will research and take notes and print out information on their current event or school event

8.  Review of five step writing process  Teacher models graphic organizer for topic (plane in Hudson)  Students begin pre-writing using a graphic organizer that best suits their topic

9.  Students hand write first descriptive paragraph on current event.  Edit  Peer revision and editing  Handwritten “final copy”

10.  Repeat all steps with the focus on a school event that they can describe in a paragraph.

11. 1.Choose newsletter format 2.Save as before beginning project

12. Highlight and start typing!

13.  Images for school events taken on digital cameras will be downloaded throughout the year and save in a specific folder  Images may be used from clip art to complement paragraphs  Images from the internet may be used if not forbidden by copyright laws

15. AwesomeCleverSatisfactoryAcceptableTotal Points Completed article on time1098 7 Wrote newsworthy article on a topic of interest 20191817 Added digital photograph that complemented article well 20191817 Formatted article using desktop publishing software 20191817 Organized presentation of article and photograph in a unified whole 1098 7 Wrote well-developed descriptive paragraph for written assessment 20191817