Writing Skills Activities for Special Children

Here2s everything you need to help elementary students with special needs develop basic writing skills, relate writing to real-life tasks, and explore writing as a creative, enjoyable event! Included are 135 step-by-step lessons and 269 illustrated activity sheets, beginning with copying words and completing sentences and processing the writing reports and stories, from filling out necessary forms to taking class notes, writing a letter, and addressing an envelope. For quick access and easy use, the lessons and activities are organized into four sections and printed in a big 8-1/4" x 11" spiral-bound format that folds flat for photocopying of any activity sheet as many times a required for individual or group use. Each lesson follows a familiar format, including a brief introduction to the purpose and content of the lesson, one or more activity sheets related to the skill, and at least one follow-up activity for reinforcement or review. Following is just a small sampling of the lessons/activities you2ll find in each section: 1. WRITING WORDS. Sentence Starters...Writing by Copying...Dictated Sentences with High Frequency Words...Confusing Words...Personal Words...Writing Common Nouns...Abbreviations and Titles...Changing the Adjective...Finding Omitted Words. 2. WRITING SENTENCES. Identifying a Complete Sentence...Repairing a Run-On Sentence...Writing an Exclamation...Sentences with Quotation Marks...Writing to React...Answering a Question with Appropriate Information...Varying the Beginning Sentence...Combining Short Sentences...Paraphrasing...Editing for Spelling...Editing for Meaning...Rough Draft and Final Copy...The Editing Team. 3. WRITING PARAGRAPHS. Writing a Topic Sentence...Adding Details...Writing a Concluding Sentence...Writing a "How-to" Paragraph...Writing a Narrative Paragraph...Ways to Organize Multiple Paragraphs...Writing a Sequential Report...Writing a Document Using Compare and Contrast. 4. OTHER TYPES OF WRITING ACTIVITIES. Elements of a Story...Character Development...Writing a Book Report...Keeping a Journal...Writing a Current Events Summary...Taking Class Notes...Completing an Assessment Sheet...Making a List...Writing a Thank-you Note...Writing a Song...Writing a Cartoon Strip...Writing a Greeting Card...Writing a Joke or Riddle Book...Writing a Skit or Play. In the author2s words, "The best way to become a good writer is to write. The more you can encourage your students to write, write, write, the easier it will become for them and the more they will truly enjoy being authors. Whether they are scribbling words with a stubby pencil or typing out a thesis on a word processor, students are sharing their thoughts, their ideas, and themselves with their writing."Darlene Mannix is the author of 'Writing Skills Activities for Special Children', published 2001 under ISBN 9780130409447 and ISBN 0130409448.