Category: Writing Resources

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Why the Writer’s Checklist

“What’s your big idea?”

The purpose of writing is to communicate an idea. In order to accomplish this goal, students need to develop the skills and confidence that will prepare them to communicate that idea well.

Teach your students early on to read what they write.

How?

Hand them a Writer’s Checklist!

All writing comes into being through a process:
1. First comes the IDEA. Without an idea, the writer will simply stare at the blank page.
2. Once there is an idea in the mind of the writer, the pencil steps in to translate the idea to words on the page.
3. When the pencil’s work is complete, the job of the writer is to become a reader. Encourage your students to READ everything they write—absolutely everything! It is often best to leave space between the “draft” and the “read” stage.
4. Next, make sure students use the RED pen as they read through the first draft of their idea. Teach them to look for spelling errors, for capitalization errors, and for grammatical errors. Beyond this teach them to use strong words, to fearlessly re-arrange, and to not be afraid to strike through unnecessary words.
5. Lastly, teach them to polish the draft, preferably in cursive.
Our checklists will support students at various levels to re-read and edit as they progress through CORE Level 1 (3rd grade), Level  2 (4th and 5th grade), and 3 6th – 8th grade) to re-read with purpose.

And the best part, they are FREE! Click through to Print Shop to download.

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Spring into Writing: Introducing The Writing Mentor

Style is one of the most important elements of writing—but how can you teach something that’s so personal, so impossible to quantify? It can feel like trying to explain Yosemite to someone who’s never seen a mountain or forest. Or describing how to perfect banana bread to someone without a sense of taste. 

That’s where Blackbird & Company’s Tools of Style comes in. These guides provide training wheels to practice using rhetorical devices—the tricks writers use to tell their stories well. And newly supplementing our Tools of Style guides are the new downloadable Printshop resources, namely The Writing Mentor. 

By using The Writing Mentor in conjunction with Tools of Style, young writers learn to ride the proverbial bike in scaffolded increments. They start by watching someone else ride a bike, then get on it themselves with a parent’s steadying hands holding them upright, and pedal until suddenly they’re riding under their own power. 

Perhaps the best guidance we can give our student writers, is to challenge them to write like a painter.

Imagery is vivid and descriptive—figurative—language that helps readers see pictures in their mind while reading. Take a look at Print Shop on the website, where you can download this Writing Mentor lesson, for a limited time, for FREE. Your students will learn through a masterful example of imagery. They will practice by sprinkling imagery into scaffolded sentences. And, ultimately, get creative by crafting five imagery-filled examples that. they will then shape one into a singular poem. 

If you can make your reader feel like they’re there, if you give them the means to smell freshly-cut grass and taste the tang of frozen yogurt on their tongue, you have accomplished something great indeed. Get into imagery—use The Writing Mentor!

 

~Claire S.

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Just Sit Down and WRITE!

“The BEST thing is just to write; to sit down and write, to begin doing it and not to be scared by the blank page.”                                                      ~David Almond

As we SPRING into writing, it’s always good to take advice from the authors we are reading. Let’s fact it. The blank page is intimidating. David Almond has experienced this and is generously encouraging us to stare down that blank page and to fill it with our ideas. This is, first and foremost, what writing is all about. Grammar and mechanics, and syntax and style follow.

Writing is a courageous process.

David Almond goes on to remind us that our ideas are a gift, “We have each other, and our stories twist and mingle like the twisting currents of a river. We hold each other tight as we spin and lurch across our lives. There are moments of great joy and magic. The most astounding things can lie waiting as each day dawns, as each page turns.”

He reminds us to explore, “Writing will be like a journey, every word a footstep that takes me further into undiscovered land.”

He reminds us to be brave, “We have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have to imagine.”

He reminds us to play, “And what is wrong with playing with words? Words love to be played with, just like children or kittens do!”

Then, he gets to the crux of it: “Then what shall I write?

I can’t just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum. I’ll let my journal grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or beast does, just like life does. Why should a book tell a tale in a dull straight line? Words should wander and meander. They should fly like owls and flicker like bats and slip like cats. They should murmur and scream and dance and sing.”

I love that: “Words should wander and meander.”

When we read books, we are inspired. We grow our precious fund of knowledge. But we also, if we dare listen, learn valuable lesson about the art of writing!
~Kimberly
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Let’s Spring into Writing

During the month of March we will be offering strategies to support and inspire your writing students.

Our spring stories bundle for 2nd grade is a wonderful place to begin. As is the case with all the Earlybird units, your students will explore five wonderful books, journalling their way through each story. They will explore wonderful words, learn to describe how characters think, act, and feel. They will be supported in constructing sentences that re-tell the plot. And, they will bring shape to a small weekly idea.

Journalling about great stories, overtime, builds strong skills in young writers as they spring into writing!

~Kimberly

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Great Sentences Begin Here

Beginning Sentences 
One of the challenges of writing sentences is creating variety. Sometimes a short, simple sentence will do just fine, but there is something wonderful about a long luscious sentence! Let’s practice writing concise sentences with a punch of rhythm. In this beginning activity, let’s practice writing ideas into exceptional short and long sentences. Click through to this activity which will pair perfectly with students in CORE, Level 1 (3rd grade, or older struggling writers).

By now, you’ve likely heard about Print Shop for Primary students, kindergarten through 2nd grade. We are very excited that our first few Print Shop offerings for elementary and middle school are now live!

Introducing, The Writing Mentor

The Print Shop Writing Mentor will grow into a collection of exercises to help young writers write well. Great writing begins with words. Words combined well form phrases. And great sentences are made of wonderful words and fantastic phrases that communicate ideas articulately with precision.

Through the end of February, all our Writing Mentor lessons on Print Shop are FREE.

Intermediate Sentences
It’s easy to write the way we speak to our friends. However, when we write the way we speak, our writing can be confusing to readers. Writing like we speak often ends up in run-on sentences and sentence fragments. These distract the reader from focusing on our important ideas. Since, as writers, we want to make the reader’s job as easy as possible, it’s important to avoid run-ons and fragments! In this intermediate activity, let’s practice tightening up ideas into exceptional, concise sentences. Click through to this activity which will pair perfectly with students in CORE, Level 2 (4th or 5th grade, or older struggling writers).

Advanced Sentences
Stilted, awkward paragraphs are jarring to read. Reading one is like hearing a choir that is off key. They grate on the ears. They are repetitive and lack flow. In this advanced activity, we will practice tightening up ideas into exceptional, rhythmic sentences. Click through to this activity which will pair perfectly with students in CORE, Level 3 (6th – 8th grade, or older struggling writers).
~Kimberly
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Valentines and Letter Writing

Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to craft a letter by hand!

A card and letter—the kind that is written by hand—is a true kindness, a keepsake.

This offering can take many forms. Original poems are little gems that pair perfectly with a sweet Valentine card! Terrific poems start with smart sentences. Read how by clicking through, then encourage your students to practice poetry.

For longer Valentine’s Day messages, our FREE Letter Writing will scaffold the activity each step of the way.

And, when it comes time to putting  an original poem or letter into the polished draft ready for the card itself, check out our Letter Forms activity.

Remember, handwritten sentiment is a beautiful gift!

 

~Kimberly

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Our Wonderful Alphabet: Ox, House, Stick!

When you consider that the alphabet plays such a HUGE role in our daily lives, consider the fact that most of us don’t know much about the history of those 26 letters!

Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet tells the story of how the English alphabet came to be, starting way back in 2000 B.C. .

This book is full of intriguing tidbits. Did you know that the letter “A” was originally written in the Semitic languages to look like an ox head—turn it upside down and you will see a triangular head with horns! And did you know that the word “alphabet” comes from combining the first two Greek letters alpha and beta? Speaking of the alphabet, we all know the specific order of our alphabet. Every child learns the ABCs, no one learns the CBAs. This order goes back to Phoenician times, around 1000 B.C., and hasn’t changed much since. Why this order? No one knows!

The more I learn about the alphabet, the more enthralled I am by its history. These letters we write so casually have rich origins! This lovely little book makes a terrific supplement to our Print Shop ABCeDarian activities! So check out Ox, House, Stick and share it with students and friends to cultivate wonder in our alphabet. 

 

~Claire S.

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Leonardo’s Flying Machine

Campfire Tip #12: Be like Leonardo

Leonardo Da Vinci was a polymath (someone whose knowledge spans many different subjects and has an enormous body of knowledge.)

Look • Imagine • Create

Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci was not only an artist but also an inventor? His sketchbooks included hundreds of ideas—catapults, flying machines, musical instruments, tools, water systems, and so much more! Leonardo dreamed BIG.

So how do we inspire our students to be like Leonardo?

It all begins with a book, a pencil, and our Leonardo da Vinci Observation Journal kit. Set your students on a Leonardo adventure. Observation begins with a question: What am I seeing? In a world filled to the brim with stimulation, it is easy to take our senses for granted. Though we are usually quick to have thoughts on things that we taste and smell, sight (of all things) can often be overlooked. We see so many things on a daily basis that it’s easy to forget to stop and really look.

Learn to think and create. This 20-lesson interdisciplinary unit guides students into biographical research of Leonardo. Students will read to discover and write what they glean. Each week they will be guided through observational exercises, and learn to draw from the Renaissance Man’s sketchbooks, encouraged each step of the way by our instructional videos that can be accessed at your convenience.

We are offering a discount on the unit through the end of January. Simply use the code DaVinci15 at checkout.

Enjoy the journey with Leonardo.

 

~Kimberly

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Struggling Writers: Filling the Gaps

Campfire Tip #11: Remediate to Read & Write

Does your student struggle to spell well? Stumble to decode simple words and phrases? Does your student struggle with lingering ELA COVID delays? Or do you have a student who just needs a bit more direct instruction, a bit more time and practice.

What if you had everything needed to engage your students in the process of remediating reading and writing skills at your fingertips? We’ve got you!

 

Click through to:  The Wonderful World of Phonics

Reading builds a rich vocabulary, grows our knowledge of the world, and sparks BIG ideas.

Writing begins with an idea and is crafted to words on a page by a courageous thinker.

Our open-ended unit provides you, the teacher, with all the tools necessary to guide your students into the wonderful world of phonics. Our curriculum, rooted in Orton-Gilligham wisdom, is user friendly and affirming for the older student who needs additional direct instruction and independent practice to shore up skills. Includes all you need to know about phonics, a placement guide, plus lesson guidance each step of the way.

Help your students dive into 2026 with the ELA tools that will enable them to read and write and think well!

 

~Kimberly

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One Bite at a Time: Long Research Writing

Campfire Tip #10: One Bite at a Time

“The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time,” or so the saying goes.

That’s also the mindset one must adopt when tackling the year-long research essay, known as Essay Volume 6: Advanced Research. This unit is designed for 11th and 12th grade students, representing the culmination of their research and literary writing skills. 

This school year marks my first foray into teaching Essay Volume 6. Over the last two sessions, I’ve learned a lot—and I’ve also fallen in love with this essay unit! It teaches life skills and writing habits that will stick with students for years to come. 

Is Essay Volume 6 a good fit for your student, either this coming year or years down the road? Here are some of my takeaways from teaching the long research project:

1. How It Works

Before we get into WHY I love Essay Volume 6, let’s go over what this unit entails. The Long Research Essay can be organized into two parts: the research process and the writing process. And conveniently enough, the guides are broken down into A and B volumes along the same lines. 

In the first half of the project, students choose a person, place, and thing they want to learn more about, unifying the three topics with a single theme (like creativity, truth, perseverance, or tragedy). Then they take a self-directed tour through the library and internet to find their sources and build a fund of knowledge. As I’ve taught this Pages class, I’ve given lessons on how to find and use credible sources—which is one of the most important skills in college writing—and expect students to present their research findings each week. This stretches their abilities in new ways!

In the second half of this course, students synthesize their research by writing and revising. Because they combine their person, place, and thing with their theme, they create a brand new narrative about their topics—chances are, no one has combined their topic and theme in the same way before! This is an exciting opportunity to apply a literary essay style to one’s own research.

2. Motivated Learning

A major principle of the psychology of memory is that we remember information that’s personally meaningful to us and struggle to remember information we don’t care about. You probably know this just from living life. 

Because Essay Volume 6 gives students so much creative freedom, they can choose to research topics they’re passionate about, transforming a potentially mundane research project into a motivated pursuit of knowledge. Writing doesn’t have to be boring. If you’re writing about the right things, it can be the most engrossing activity imaginable. 

For example, my student, Kingsley, has long been inspired by ballerina Margot Fontayne. She has a book about Fontayne’s life on her bookshelf that she’s never had the time to read. But Essay Volume 6 says, “Pursue your interests!” So that’s what Kingsley’s done. Choosing Margot Fontayne as her person to research, she’s taken a dive into this legendary dancer’s life, satisfying her curiosity and honing her research and writing skills. She finally had the chance to read her book!

When done right, research writing gives thinkers the chance to pursue questions they have about the world. 

3. Rising to the Challenge

Time and time again, I’ve seen this truth play out: Set high expectations and students will rise to meet them. 

The Long Research Essay is a daunting task. It demands self-discipline. Motivation. Consistency.

But, I believe our Blackbird students are more than up to the challenge. When students set big goals for themselves and then achieve them, they build their confidence one brick at a time. The impossible becomes possible. Students learn that they are capable!

The week-by-week scaffolding of Essay Volume 6 provides the framework necessary for students to soar to great heights. You don’t craft a masterpiece in one sitting; rather, you chip away at your work of art day by day, sometimes fueled by perseverance rather than inspiration. 

Let’s set some lofty goals. And then get to work. 

 

~Claire S.