Create Six Trait Manipulatives for the students.

Create Six Trait Handbooks for students.

Create a unit notebook for Organization.

Choose a few picture books that illustrate Organization. Make notes for yourself telling why each book is a good example of Organization.

Compile cartoons that illustrate Organization. Develop a way to share them with the students.

Create a trait descriptor poster for Organization. Display it in the classroom.

Create quotes posters or handouts for Organization. Display the poster in the classroom or keep copies of the handouts ready for students.

Create cartoon sequencing manipulatives.

Create Parts of the Whole manipulatives.

Copy sample papers for Organization. Read and score the papers yourself. Be prepared to discuss them with your students.

Prepare a writing assignment to assess the trait of Organization. Be sure to create a writing process timeline to accompany it.

Make two copies of the Organization peer response sheets for every student.

Share and discuss the definition of Organization.

Share and discuss the descriptors of Organization.

Present the rubric for Organization. In their handbooks, have the students highlight key words and phrases that exemplify each level of the rubric.

Review the descriptors for Organization.

Share and discuss the cartoons that illustrate Organization.

Share and discuss the quotes that illustrate Organization.

Share a picture book or two that illustrates Organization. Use the rubric and descriptors to discuss why the book is a good example of Organization.

Review the definition for Organization.

Pass out the cartoon sequencing manipulatives and have the students work in pairs or groups. Discuss the activity when finished.

Discuss guidelines for paragraphing. Depending on the skill level of your students, this may be a unit all in itself. Please keep that in mind. You can find more ideas at Ideas for Teaching Paragraphing.

Do Parts of the Whole activity 1. Do not forget to discuss the activity!

Using the handbook, discuss the different types of leads.

Using the handbook, discuss the different types of conclusions.

Using the handbook, discuss the different types of transitions.

Do Parts of the Whole activity 2. Do not forget to discuss the activity.

Review the rubric for Organization.

Share a sample paper with the students. The students are to to use the highlighted version of the Organization Rubric in their handbooks to score the paper. Have them use Six Trait Rubric Manipulatives to share their scores. Although scores of 2 and 4 are possible, I recommend starting with basic scores of 1, 3, and 5. This will make it easier for the students and you. The students need to be prepared to defend their opinions. Another method of sharing scores is to divide the room into three areas one for a score of 5, one for a score of 3, and one for a score of 1. When ALL students have had time to score the paper, have them move to the appropriate area. Have the students move at the same time or they will wait to watch where others are going. Be sure to discuss their reasoning for giving the paper a particular score. Score as many papers as time allows.

Review the descriptors for Organization. Try a different approach than on day 2.

Do Parts of the Whole activity 3. When the groups are finished, have a volunteer group share its version of the activity. Pass out the Six Trait Rubric Manipulatives and have the students score the finished product for Organization only. Discuss the results. Have another volunteer group share its version, score it, and discuss it. Continue until all the different versions have been shared. Be sure to point out that there is often more than one way to successfully organize information.

Do Parts of the Whole activity 4. When the groups are finished, have a volunteer group share its version of the activity. Pass out the Six Trait Rubric Manipulatives and have the students score the finished product for Organization only. Discuss the results. Have another volunteer group share its version, score it, and discuss it. Continue until all the different versions have been shared. Again, be sure to point out that there is often more than one way to successfully organize information.

Do some of your own activities for Organization. I have more that are not posted at Kim's Korner for Teacher Talk yet.

Discuss the traditional five paragraph essay, or whatever method you prefer.

Pass out the directions and timeline for the writing assignment you developed.

Brainstorming 1: Do your favorite brainstorming activity to help the students develop topics. Then have them choose a topic.

Brainstorming 2: Have the students brainstorm ideas about their chosen topics.

Go around the room and record who has completed the brainstorming activities. Answer any questions and encourage those who are having trouble finding a topic.

Provide a graphic organizer for the students' use in organizing the ideas for their papers. Choose or create a graphic organizer that works well with the writing assignment. The graphic organizer is due at the beginning of class on Day 10.

Have the students begin their rough drafts. Based on their graphic organizers. The rough draft is due before the end of class on Day 11. (Make adjustments if necessary.)

Go around the room and record who has completed the graphic organizer. Start in a different part of the room than you did yesterday. Answer questions and encourage those who are getting behind. Ask (or require) them to come in before school, during recess, or after school for extra help.

When you have recorded grades for the graphic organizer, review the descriptors for Organization again. Then give everyone a peer response sheet for Organization. Explain to them how you want it completed. Have them write specific suggestions for improvement on the back of the form. The writer's name should be at the top of the form and the peer reviser's signature should be at the bottom.

Give the students the remaining time to work on their rough drafts.

Have the students find someone to trade papers with for peer revising. Any student who is not finished with his rough draft may not peer revise anyone else's paper. Students may peer revise more than one paper. Your stronger writers will finish their rough drafts first and usually make the best peer revisers. The peer revising sheet is due at the end of the class period.

Go around the room and and record who has completed the rough draft. Start in a different part of the room than you did yesterday. Answer questions and encourage those who are getting behind. Ask (or require) them to come in before school, during recess, or after school for extra help. Grade all first drafts before you grade peer editing sheets. Otherwise you may get behind.

When a student finishes with the peer revision step and has you record the grade, she may go on to the second draft. Ask those who finish early to make themselves available to peer revise more papers. (You can offer extra credit for peer revising more than one first draft.)

When you are finished recording grades for the rough draft, record grades for peer editing sheets. If you do not have time to record all of the grades, do that as one of the first activities on Day 12.

Have the students begin working on the second draft, which is due before the end of class on Day 13. (Make adjustments if necessary.

Finish recording grades for the peer revision sheets. Students may not begin the second draft until the peer revision grade is recorded. (Some students may try to bypass this step.)

Take this time to conference with students who are behind. Again, ask or require them to get extra help.

Have the students trade papers for another peer editing session, this time with a different person. When a student finishes with the second peer revision step and has you record the grade, he may go on to the final draft. Ask those who finish early to make themselves available to peer revise more papers. (You can offer extra credit for peer revising more than one second draft.) Any student who is not finished with his second draft may not peer revise anyone else's paper. Students may peer revise more than one paper. The final draft is due at the beginning of class on Day 15. (Make adjustments if necessary.)

Go around the room and and record who has completed the second draft. Start in a different part of the room than you did yesterday. Answer questions and encourage those who are behind. Ask (or require) them to come in before school, during recess, or after school for extra help.

When you are finished recording grades for the second draft, record grades for the second peer editing sheets. If you do not have time to record all of the grades, do that as one of the first activities on Day 14.

Have the students work on the second draft, which is due at the beginning of class on Day 15. (Make adjustments if necessary.)

Finish recording grades for the second peer revision sheets. Students may not begin the second draft until the peer revision grade is recorded. (Some students may try to bypass this step, even more so than the first peer revision step.)

Take this time to conference with students who are behind. Again, ask or require them to get extra help.

Collect and record the final drafts. Save the in depth grading for later. All you are doing at this point is recording a few daily points for actually doing the work.

If you have students who are behind, you can allow them to work on their papers while the students who are finished do something as a reward.