I'm starting to teach the 6 traits of writing in my 4th grade class and I wanted to get any good ideas you all may have for teaching the ideas portion of the 6 traits. Any help would be great. Thanks, Paula
I just finished Ideas and am moving into Oranization. When i teach ideas i do an activity called "trash or treasure". I got it from a 6 traits book i read a while ago. What it is: Some students think that if they write a lot that means their paper is good. i have my students pick a topic and then write 10 details about their topic. Then i have them go through their details and circle the details that are "treasure" --the interesting details and cross out the "trash"--the boring details. This helps them see that they don't need to write all of their ideas. It would be boring if you wrote everything that came to your mind. Hope this helped.
Six Trait Kids I love the magnetic six trait kids. You can find them online, just look for "Familiar Visuals Teaching Aids." It gives the kids something more concrete to think about when you talk about Ida Ideas and how she is always thinking up ideas, etc. They are awesome!
