1. Wydown Writes! “No Excuses” A building-wide focus on conventions of written language

2. In every piece of submitted writing… Students will edit for writing conventions they learned in elementary school and will learn at Wydown.

3. Name and Date Include your name and the date on every paper. Some teachers require additional information in the heading such as your team (7B) or your class (3/4 AM).

4. Capitalization Capital letter at the beginning of the sentence My teacher is the greatest. Capital letters with proper nouns and adjectives North America, St. Louis Cardinals Capital letters in titles To Kill a Mockingbird

5. Punctuation Use appropriate punctuation at the end of a sentence. Period. Question mark ? Exclamation point ! Use commas in a series. We need books, paper, and scissors.

6. Commonly Confused Words Use commonly confused words appropriately. are/our/hour their/there/they’re its/it’s to/too/two of/off whose/who’s than/then your/you’re

7. Apostrophes Use apostrophes correctly in contractions: He isn’t finished. I’m so hungry! And singular possessives: My teacher’s favorite book is on the desk. The student’s paper was well-written.

8. Spelling Use correct spelling of high frequency words such as: again literacy aroundmyself becausescience friendWednesday happywith laugh would

9. Need Help? Writing Support Team –Dr. Kathryn Mitchell Pierce –Mrs. Christine Gidionsen –Ms. Shannon Parker –Ms. Meghan Norris Wydown Homepage –“No Excuses” checklist –Prewriting strategies

10. Wydown Homepage

11. Select the Best Answer A. True B. About 7 pounds C. 7.3 D. The average weight of a 9-week old lion cub is between 7 and 8 pounds. What was the question?

12. Reminders Include UNITS in the response. Rephrase the question as the lead-in to the answer. Explain and/or include details or examples to help the reader understand your thinking.

13. Wydown Writer’s Contract

14. Wydown Writer’s Contract 2010 NO EXCUSES! Checklist #1______My name and date are written/typed at the top of the page. #2______I capitalized the first letter of each sentence. (EX: Literacy is my first class on “A” days.) #3______I capitalized all proper nouns and proper adjectives. (EX: St. Louis Cardinals, Wydown Middle School, etc.) #4______I capitalized titles correctly. (EX: Where the Red Fern Grows, Mr., Ms., etc.) #5______I punctuated the end of each sentence. (USE: a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point)

15. Contract Continued #6______ I placed commas between the items listed in a series. (EX: I like pizza, popcorn, and hotdogs.) #7______ I correctly spelled the following commonly confused words: are/our/hour than/then whose/who’s its/it’stheir/there/they’re your/you’re of/offto/two/too #8_____ I correctly used apostrophes in contractions. (EX: can’t, won’t, I’m) #9_____ I correctly used apostrophes in singular possessives. (EX: Sara’s house, my teacher’s name) #10_____ I spelled high frequency words correctly / ran Spellcheck on a typed assignment