Dear 4-324 Families,
I hope this letter finds you well. Our study of
the American Revolution is well underway—the Declaration of Independence was
signed, and the first fighting of the war has just begun. As part of our study,
each student chose a big topic, event or person that they were interested in
studying in more depth. Topics vary from important women of the American
Revolution to Benjamin Franklin to the British surrender at Yorktown. For the
past few weeks, students have been reading about their topics and taking notes
on the important information they are learning.
We’ll be using the information we’ve learned to
create our own Multigenre Magazines! Students
can choose if they want to create their own magazine or if they want to work
with other members of their group. However, each student will be responsible
for producing six pieces in a variety of genres. These genres include: a
nonfiction piece, a poem, a fictional piece, an essay or feature article, an
artistic piece, and a piece in a new genre.
Within these genres, students will be given
significant freedom to design their pieces. For example, a student studying
George Washington might choose to write a narrative poem about Washington’s
feelings about being elected president, or they might choose to convey the same
information through a series of journal entries. They might even convey the
information through a political cartoon! Pieces can be told through different
perspectives and written for different audiences.
What is important is that each piece included in the magazine
teaches readers something different about the topic.
Your child will be given significant time to work
on this project in class, but they will also have regular homework assignments
where they are asked to spend at least 15 minutes working on their project at
home. Students will be expected to plan, draft, revise and edit their pieces. Since
students work at different paces, their work at home will be based on where
they are in the writing process.
Revision and editing checklists will be available
in school for students to use. Samples of the genres students are writing in
will also be available. If you need more resources to help your child be
successful with this project, please let me know. I am happy to send them home.
I will be meeting with your child regularly
throughout this project to make sure that their work meets the project’s
requirements.
As part of their finished Multigenre Magazine,
your child will need to:
¨ Write
at least six pieces (additional quality pieces will be given extra credit),
including:
o
A nonfiction piece
o
A poem
o
A fictional piece
o
An essay or feature article
o
An artistic piece
o
A piece in a genre they’ve never tried
before
¨ Revise
and edit their pieces to make sure they are the best possible quality
¨ Publish
their pieces neatly (either by handwriting the pieces or typing them—an adult
may help with the typing)
¨ Assemble
their pieces into a magazine with a catchy cover (If multiple students are
working together on a magazine, they only need one cover.)
The finished projects will be due on Wednesday, June 20. Our
Multigenre Writing Celebration will be on Friday, June 22, at 8:40 a.m. in the
classroom.
If you have any questions, please send a note in
to school or email me.
Your children are already generating sophisticated ideas for their magazines,
and I cannot wait to see how the finished products turn out.
Best,
Katie
