Are you a parent who struggles with teaching writing to your elementary-aged children? Do your children need specific writing skills you don’t know how to teach? Or are you simply someone who’d like to add interest and excitement to writing exercises?
If so, the folks at WriteShop may have the perfect tools for you! They actually produce writing curricula for students in kindergarten all the way up to twelfth grade. Recently, TOS Crew members received curricula from WriteShop’s Primary and Junior collections. Jackson and I received hard and digital copies of one of their newest products, WriteShop Junior Book E set.
WriteShop Junior Book E is a thorough, creative and exciting writing curriculum for students in grades 4 and 5; it is also quite appropriate for students in grades 6-7 who need more formal writing instruction, or to brush up on the mechanics of good writing. Even though Jackson completed 6th grade this year, I was still enthused to have the chance to use this curriculum to spend time and focus on strengthening his writing skills. He truly loves writing, but with WriteShop Junior Book E he’s been exposed not only to writing genres he’s never attempted before before (like fables or a shape poem), but to important writing skills like editing and revising that any educated person needs. I have been so happy with this curriculum….and I look forward to seeing what else WriteShop has to offer in the future!
With this fabulous curriculum, we received everything you see above; three print books/booklets, plus digital copies of all four, to use and review. I’m going to share our experiences with each one, below!
WriteShop Junior Book E Teacher’s Guide
WriteShop Junior Book E Teacher’s Guide
This Teacher’s Guide thoroughly prepares you to teach writing using WriteShop Junior Book E. The goal of WriteShop Junior (for grades 3-6) is to enable parents to teach excellent writing skills to their children so that they can creatively, and successfully, write on their own. WriteShop Junior Book E accomplishes this goal by taking students step-by-step through the writing process in 10 different writing genres. The Teacher’s Guide includes:
- A recommended teaching schedule
- Helpful hints for collecting and organizing writing supplies, worksheets and games
- Ideas for creating writing centers for your students
- Handy lists of supplies needed for each chapter
- Teaching tips
- And of course, and most importantly, full scripts for every lesson in every chapter!
Planning the year’s schedule
That last item is quite important. There is an 8-step process that is repeated in each of the 10 chapters of WriteShop Junior Book E, and while it might seem a bit overwhelming at first, the Teacher’s Guide clearly leads the parent through each step and each activity, until it becomes second nature to both the parent and the child. Here are the 8 steps you’ll find in each chapter, which will be tweaked to fit each genre the chapter is covering:
- Fold-N-Go Grammar; Reading Log
- Pre-Writing; Model and Teach
- Skill Builders; Journal Writing Practice
- Brainstorming; Junior Writer’s Notebook
- The Writing Project; Smaller Steps (for younger or less experienced writers) or Flying Higher (for more experienced ones)
- Editing and Revising
- Publishing the Project
- Evaluating Your Child’s Work; Want to Do More?
As you work your way through the curriculum, you’ll follow these steps in each chapter with different assignments, and in teaching your child to write in each genre. The Teacher’s Guide is encouraging, instructive and easy to follow. With it, you’ll be fully equipped to prepare for the year and teach every lesson!
WriteShop Junior Book E Activity Pack
The WriteShop Junior Book E Activity Pack includes two items: the Fold-N-Go Grammar Pack Level 2 and the Student Worksheet Pack. It is mostly consumable (although you’ll laminate some pages for some activities) and will provide you with everything you’ll need to teach this writing course to your child.
What is the Fold-N-Go Grammar Pack Level 2? This is a wonderful series of grammar lessons which are partly consumable, but upon completion will serve as a fantastic grammar resource for the student. There is one Fold-N-Go Grammar Guide for each lesson. You will separate them and assemble them into 10 folders corresponding to each of the 10 chapters of WriteShop Junior Book E. Here’s our collection of Fold-N-Go folders:
Fold-N-Go Grammar Guides
….and here’s the Fold-N-Go Grammar Guide for the first chapter:
Fold-N-Go Grammar Pack: Lesson 1-Sentences
Each of the Fold-N-Go pages contains information about parts of speech, writing techniques, dialogue, paragraphs, etc. The Fold-N-Gos are the first lesson of each chapter and introduce key skills the student will focus on. They include both information and instruction, and opportunities for the students to apply what they’re learning on the same pages.
The Student Worksheet Pack has a page for each lesson in each chapter; or, for each activity assigned in the 8-step process. These range from games,
to writing exercises, to fill-in-the-blanks, 
to brainstorming activities
and more! Each one of these activities is designed, even for the unwilling writer, to teach key skills and competencies in various forms of writing. Because they’re so creative, the activities painlessly enable the student to progress and proceed in his abilities. We enjoyed all of these activities, but I think I am most impressed with the lessons on self-editing. They are taught in such an encouraging and uplifting manner. The student first finds many things that he’s done right in his writing. Then, and only then, he reviews his writing for necessary corrections or improvements, and is gently encouraged to make the necessary changes. Painless!
I mentioned earlier that WriteShop Junior Book E trains the student to write in 10 different genres. Aren’t you curious as to what they are?
- Fables
- Humorous writing
- Adventure stories
- Science Fiction
- Mysteries
- Concrete Poetry
- Personal Narratives
- Descriptive Narratives
- Book Reports
- Nonfiction Reports
I’d say that is pretty complete and impressive for a year’s work!
Some of the props from the Junior Time-Saver Pack (after lamination)
The Junior Time-Saver Pack is the pale purple booklet in the WriteShop Junior Book E collection pictured above. It contains activities, bookmarks and props for many of the games that are used to teach principles and skills in WriteShop Junior Book E. I followed the book’s directions and laminated these for ease and durability. They add fun and excitement to each chapter’s lessons!
The fourth product in the photo collection above is the Junior Writer’s Notebook. It’s only available in digital format, which you can save to your computer and then print for your child. The Junior Writer’s Notebook includes details to help your child create and decorate his own writer’s notebook; 12 worksheets to help students learn to plan and write; and ideas for many different writing activities. The worksheets are truly wonderful. They lead the student in:
- Interviewing characters
- Creating a setting
- Planning the plot
- Developing a title
- Selecting words
- Designing narratives
- Expressing an opinion
- and more!
The WriteShop Junior Book E is available from WriteShop in both print and digital forms. The Value Pack Print Set sells for $106.95 (retail $110.35), and the Value Pack Digital Set is priced at $78.50 (retail $81.00). Both of these contain all four products discussed in this review.
I truly appreciated all the time, thought and creativity that the writers of WriteShop Junior Book E have put into this curriculum. They have taken the time to make each lesson fun while teaching important skills. I love all the genres that the curriculum includes. Our children probably have a lot of experiences with certain types of writing, but WriteShop Junior Book E exposes them to new types that may challenge and surprise them. We personally have great favorites from the list and others that we didn’t enjoy as much, but I am so glad that Jackson’s writing horizons have been expanded by both.
I am happy to recommend WriteShop Junior Book E to you. It clearly and happily teaches fantastic writing skills that every student needs. It’s fun for both the student and the teacher, and everything you need is included in the curriculum. And you’ll be amazed at how much your student will learn, and how dramatically his writing skills can progress!
Enjoy! –Wren
finchnwren 