Extending Storymaker
Storymaker teaches student writers to craft an amazing HOOK! The HOOK is a topic sentence that inspires writers to write their ideas and encourages readers to read on. The subtle distinction we are making between the topic sentence and the…
Introducing Composition: Easy as 1, 2, 3
Great essays have the power to encourage, empower, and enlighten. For this reason, essay writing should not be treated as simply a mechanical endeavor, but rather, as a pathway for the writer to communicate the depths of the heart and…
Yes, YOU can teach writing!
We’ve all seen scaffolding set up around a building during construction or renovation, right? Scaffolding is simply a temporary support. When it comes to learning to write, our students need scaffolding. And that scaffolding is a partnership: Blackbird & Company…
Research Writing Informs and Inspires!
Who was? What is? Where? When? Why? These are the questions that writers ask as they read for information. Research writing is a unique writing genre where students simultaneously gain knowledge and share ideas to inspire readers to do the…
Inspire Your Students to Write Meaningful Essays!
Take the heavy-handed prep-work out of teaching students to write an essay! Our unique scaffolding, designed to mentor the art of essay writing, will guide your students each step of the way—from brainstorming through revision to the polished final work—allowing…
Learn to Write Sentences from Great Writers
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” ~Ernest Hemingway Writing meaningful, true sentences should always be the place to start, take it from Hemingway. Beginning in the 5th grade, students…
One True Sentence Begins Here
When you learn to write “one true sentence” (in the words of Hemingway) the rest will follow. A sentence is simply a collection of words that convey an idea. When well-crafted sentences are connected wisely, one after another, ideas…
Topic Sentence vs. the Storymaker HOOK
“I have an IDEA!” Putting that idea to paper with pencil is not always a simple process. Great writing begins with an IDEA!. And ideas on paper are always introduced by a first sentence. But sometimes the stress of crafting…
Knock! Knock!
Happy Birthday Shakespeare! Thank you for leavening the world with wonderful words and phrases: Leapfrog and Bedazzled and Swagger All that glitters is not gold. Jealousy is the green eyed…
The BEST Sentences are Poetic!
This poem is a call to ACTION: to see light through the color slide, to listen for the sound of the hive, to watch the mouse wander its way through the maze of the poem, to…