Scope and Sequence

About the Writing Strands Series

Writing Strands provides high quality writing materials for elementary through high school students. The books use a step-by-step, structured format to help students master composition techniques, a process which prepares them for college-level writing.

Throughout its nine levels, the series organizes writing into four strands: creative, argumentative, report and research, and expository writing. Success with the four strands of writing is contingent on how well students understand the following foundational skills, which are taught in the lower levels of Writing Strands: creative, basic, organizational, and descriptive writing. Once the students have mastered these fundamental skills, they are ready to apply them to the abstract subject matter of the upper-level books. The books also allow students to learn the mechanics of writing: syntax, spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

This scope and sequence provides details on each of the Writing Strands workbooks and companion books. For each of the workbooks, we have included a table that lists the book's exercises and the skills on which each exercise focuses.

Writing Strands 1
Writing Strands 2
Writing Strands 3
Writing Strands 4
Writing Strands 5
Writing Strands 6
Writing Strands 7
Writing Exposition
Creating Fiction
Communication and Interpersonal Relationships
Evaluating Writing
Reading Strands

Writing Strands 1

This book is for parents of pre-writers aged 3-8. It teaches parents how to encourage a love of language and an understanding of storytelling through play. Writing Strands 1 comes with a CD which adds more information and demonstrates techniques. Writing Strands 1 includes the following activities:

1. Making Up Words

2. Recognizing Sounds

3. Being Sounds and Letters

4. Creating Creatures

5. Rhyming

6. Finishing Sentences and Stories

7. Expanding Sentences

8. Drawing to Describe

9. Describing

10. Finishing Stories

11. Beginnings

12. Recording Conversations

13. Discussing Stories

14. What Animals are Like

15. New Endings

16. Creative Games

Writing Strands 2

This book is for students who can write simple sentences on their own, generally around 7 years old. Assignments are directed to the parent, who works through the book with the child. The book takes one full school year to complete and focuses on foundational skills such as organization, description, and paragraphing. Writing Strands 2 includes the following exercises:

1. What Is It?	Using adjectives to construct sentences that give a reader more than one piece of information
2. What We Did	Organizing personal actions and describing them in a logical sequence
3. Like a Reporter	Presenting actions of others in a logical sequence
4. Good Deed Report	Paragraphing in a report about a witnessed event
5. My Day	Ordering actions and recording emotional reactions
6. Groups	Grouping ideas or items and creating variety in sentence structure
7. Smart Bird	Using character, problem and solution to write a story
8. Sell It	Convincing others by creating an advertisement
9. Interview	Writing conversations using dialogue structure and punctuation
10. Dear Family Member	Organizing and formatting a friendly letter
11. I Helped	Organizing and telling about a personal experience, including reactions to it
12. What's It Like?	Describing objects by observing and defining differences
13. "Hi There"	Combining words and pictures in greeting cards to convey ideas
14. Animals	Writing descriptions based on role playing, an introduction to empathy
15. Summer	Writing about an imaginary vacation

Writing Strands 3

This book is for students who have finished Writing Strands 2 or new students who are 8-12 years old. Also, any older students who struggle with fundamental skills, such as structuring paragraphs, should review Writing Strands 3. Assignments are directed to the student. The book takes one full school year to complete and focuses on foundational skills such as organization, description, and paragraphing. Writing Strands 3 includes the following exercises:

1. Following Directions	Learning to follow carefully written directions while expanding sentences
2. Controlling Sentences and Paragraphs	Controlling sentences and structuring paragraphs
3. Writing and Rewriting a Sentence	Constructing and connecting complicated sentences to produce a story
4. My Friend	Organizing a description and accepting help
5. What the Story Teller Tells the Reader	Creating characters' thoughts
6. "What Did You Do Today?"	Organizing and describing experiences
7. Furniture	Organizing information in a description
8. Out the Window	Organizing a description to establish a character’s location
9. Very Short Story	Constructing a story
10. My Room	Organizing the description of places
11. How People Move When They Talk	Punctuating dialogue and adding actions to a conversation
12. Story Events	Recognizing a story’s structure as a series of events
13. Tell a Story	Maintaining point of view while organizing the telling of an event
14. Liking the Character	Creating characters that readers will like

Writing Strands 4

This book is for students who have finished Writing Strands 3 or new students who are 13-14 years old. Assignments are directed to the student. The book takes one full school year to complete and focuses on foundational skills such as organization, description, and paragraphing. Writing Strands 4 includes the following exercises:

1. How a Sentence Does It	Organizing ideas and information into sentences
2. Connections	Connecting sentences through context
3. The Main Points	Recognizing and listing the main parts of story structure
4. I Feel	Recognizing and describing emotional reactions
5. My Mistake	Analyzing actions and anticipating results
6. What Narrative Voice Tells the Reader	Learning about the types of narrative voice and choosing one to use
7. Changing Tenses	Controlling tense in narration
8. Paragraphs	Organizing information in paragraphs and writing topic sentences
9. My Home #1	Translating visual impressions into a graphic representation that shows size relationships
10. My Home #2	Turning a graphic representation into a verbal description
11. My Home #3	Evaluating one’s own work and rewriting
12. Describing a Thought Problem	Using imagination to understand and predict typical reactions to situations
13. Person	Learning the different points of view: first, second, and third person
14. Past, Present, and Future	Learning the appropriate use of tense
15. Things Change	Organizing observations in description
16. From Where I Was	Learning how character position determines what characters can know
17. Attitude in Description	Learning how the attitudes of narrative voices affect a reader’s reactions
18. The Long and Short of It	Controlling sentence length to help readers understand material

Writing Strands 5

This book is for students who have finished Writing Strands 4 or new students who are 15-16 years old. Assignments are directed to the student. The book takes one full school year to complete and focuses on skills such as organization, narration, and argumentation. Writing Strands 5 includes the following exercises:

1. Narrative Voice Attitude	Identifying and creating attitudes in narrative voice
2. Interesting Sentences	Adding detail to sentences and varying sentence structure
3. Arguments that Win	Recognizing the points of an argument and writing a successful argument
4. Omniscient and Limited Knowledge	Learning the degrees of knowledge of a narrative voice
5. Write for Action	Writing in the active voice
6. Narrative Voice Position	Controlling and placing a narrative voice in a recognized position
7. Where to Start	Organizing a description
8. Dialogue	Punctuating dialogue and creating speech patterns for characters
9. An Author Makes the Reader Feel	Controlling a reader’s feelings
10. Out of Time	Controlling tense in dialogue while following story line
11. My Thumb	Organizing a description by seeing objects as groups of parts
12. Flashback	Learning about and using flashbacks
13. New House	Using description to control what a reader understands
14. The Balloon	Creating characters with emotions
15. Writing Letters	Writing business letters

Writing Strands Level 6

This book is for students who have finished Writing Strands 6 or new students who are 17 years old. Assignments are directed to the student. The book takes one full school year to complete and focuses on advanced skills such as recognizing and using persuasive language, writing reports, and developing character and conflict in creative pieces. Writing Strands 6 includes the following exercises:

1. Body Control	Creating character traits that readers can recognize
2. If I Were a...	Considering different experiences and organizing a report to help readers understand information
3. Conflict	Learning about and creating conflict in fiction
4. Point of View	Learning the point of view options and explaining them in exposition
5. Survey	Writing and taking surveys
6. Report	Learning the importance of forces in conflict by describing how they are created
7. Disorder	Writing reports based on personal observations
8. Interview with a Character	Writing and conducting an interview
9. Who Me?	Recognizing and creating both stock and fully developed characters
10. Choices of Action	Showing readers how a character makes a decision
11. Problems	Creating believable character actions in an argument
12. Writing Letters	Phrasing and formatting business letters

Writing Strands Level 7

This book is for students who have finished Writing Strands 6 or new students who are 18 years old. Assignments are directed to the student. The book takes one full school year to complete and focuses on advanced skills such as researching and writing reports, arguing effectively, and developing character and conflict in creative pieces. Writing Strands 7 includes the following exercises:

1. What our Feet Do	Writing about how people move
2. If I Were a...	Considering different experiences and organizing a report to help readers understand information
3. Describing Characters	Selecting descriptive information for a purpose
4. Conflict	Resolving character conflicts
5. Point of View	Explaining point of view
6. What It Is	Controlling a reader’s reactions to setting
7. Survey	Writing, conducting, and reporting on surveys
8. Argument	Writing an effective argument
9. Book Report	Writing book reports on character development
10. Behavior	Writing formal scientific reports
11. Interview with a Character	Conducting and transcribing interviews
12. Problems	Creating characters who solve problems
13. Interactions	Creating characters who react emotionally
14. He Did It First	Learning about taking responsibility by creating realistic characters in conflict

Writing Exposition

This book is for students who have finished Writing Strands 7. Ideal for college-bound students, Writing Exposition teaches advanced methods of composition through challenging, non-fiction assignments. Assignments are directed to the student. The book takes one full school year to complete. Writing Exposition includes the following exercises:

1. Library Manual	Writing operation manuals
2. Fair	Explaining how decisions are guided by abstractions
3. Book Covers	Convincing readers that contradictions are valid
4. Cultural Stability	Explaining how cultural influences operate
5. Role Models	Convincing readers that positions are programmed
6. Compare and Contrast	Writing comparison essays
7. The Use of I	Using personal research in an explanatory essay
8. Reaction Paper	Writing reactions to articles
9. Biasing	Recognizing biased surveys and articles by writing them
10. Propaganda	Recognizing propaganda by reading, creating, and writing about it
11. Term Paper	Using primary research in term papers
12. Magazine Evaluation	Writing an explanatory essay based on personal research

Creating Fiction

This book is for students who have finished Writing Strands 7. Ideal for students interested in advanced work in creative writing, Creating Fiction teaches advanced methods of developing short stories and other creative works. Assignments are directed to the student. The book takes one full school year to complete. Creating Fiction includes the following exercises:

1. Establishing Location for Narrative Voice

2. Further Work in Establishing Narrative Voice Position

3. Reader Identification with Character

4. Point of View

5. Truth in the Narrative Voice

6. Using Senses

7. Creating Dramatic Dialogue

8. Predicting Reader Reactions

9. Using Symbols

10. Identification and Symbolism in Flashback

11. Creating Mood

12. Satire

13. Learning Control of Tense Use

14. Speaking Patterns

15. Information Given in Description

16. Controlling Structure

17. Creating Characters

Communication and Interpersonal Relationships

Communication and Interpersonal Relationships is a companion book to the Writing Strands curriculum. It equips students with verbal communication and life skills that will prepare them for the adult world.

Using the same structured, incremental instructions as Writing Strands, these assignments focus on often-neglected skills, including lessons such as

how to disagree without being disagreeable
how to talk to someone you've just met
how to not be boring in a conversation

These skills will truly improve students’ personal and professional lives immediately and in years to come. Communication and Interpersonal Relationships is meant to be used on an as-needed basis and includes the following exercises:

1. Eye Contact

2. Verbal Reinforcement

3. Physical Reinforcement

4. Meeting People

5. Classroom Techniques

6. Interviewing

7. How Not to Be a Bore

8. I Can Top That

9. Understanding Other People's Points of View

10. You Become What You Pretend to Be

11. How to Disagree

12. How to Reduce Aggression

13. Speaking with Body Language

14. The Only Speech You're Likely to Have to Give

Evaluating Writing

Evaluating Writing is a companion book to the Writing Strands curriculum. The book teaches parents how to provide supportive and effective feedback on writing assignments. It includes information on common conditions that make teaching composition difficult and on common writing problems, examples of feedback on real assignments, explanations of drafting, and spelling rules. This information is essential to parents working with the Writing Strands series, but anyone responsible for providing feedback on written works would benefit from this book as well.

Reading Strands

Reading Strands is a companion book to the Writing Strands curriculum. Designed as a reference book for parents on teaching literature, Reading Strands teaches how to analyze the four main elements of fiction:

setting
characters
conflict
resolution

By studying these parts of a story, students can learn how to think critically about any book they will ever read.

Reading Strands shows parents how to use the Socratic method to teach these elements of fiction; parents ask questions that allow the students to come to conclusions on their own about how an author creates each of the elements. Instead of memorizing information, students learn to analyze and understand literature through conversation. The book provides several examples of these conversations to help parents learn what types of questions to ask.

In the back of Reading Strands is a list of recommended books, organized by grade level. These books are available at most libraries.