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NNWP
College of Education
Mailstop 288
Univ. of Nevada-Reno
Reno, Nevada 89557

Phone: 775-784-1161
Fax: 775-784-4758

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Our Writing Lesson of the Month Network: We are now a NING!

"Please sign me up for the Writing Lesson of the Month Network. I recently came across your site and am quite impressed. I used your lesson plans for Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street with our third grades in preparation for our state tests. It was just what the teachers were looking for. I've bookmarked your site, and I'm sure I'll use it a lot. Thanks." (Rita Wentzel, Missouri teacher)

"Your lessons have given me a new spark to helping kids develop as writers in this world.  It is thrilling to be thrilled again!" (Cathy Spieth, Oregon teacher)


Joining this Network/NING

July's featured lesson and prompt:

New Members: If you wish to join our free-to-use network and receive a writing lesson e-mailed to you every month, just visit our Writing Lesson of the Month Network & Ning and create a profile. It's free and it's easy to join. Once you create an account at the NING, you will receive the monthly e-mails.

Important: Some school districts (not ours, thank goodness!) block access to NINGs because they're defined as "social networks," which some IT folks generalize to mean that they're just like Facebook or MySpace. Our NING is for teachers only, and teachers can exchange pictures and lessons and thoughts. If your district blocks access to the link above, that's okay. Just sign up from home, and you can still receive the monthly e-mail.

Win a Book! Members who add a picture of themselves to their NING profiles will be entered in a monthly drawing for free picture books from the WritingFix website. One winner every month!

Lesson of the Month:
Moving through the Machine


Focus Trait: Sentence Fluency
Support Trait: Idea Development
Mentor Text: Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

Prompt of the month:
The Feeling Game

Students will enjoy the opportunity to create an original piece of writing that is inspired by applying a random feeling to a random topic. If your kids like this prompt, be sure to check out all of our Writing Prompts for Kids at WritingFix.

Writing Lessons of the Month for 2009:
(all past featured lessons can be accessed at the bottom of this page)

January 2009:
The Onomatopoetic Field Trip

Focus Trait: Word Choice
Support Trait: Idea Development
Mentor Text: Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root

February 2009:
Overcoming a Personified Fear
Focus Trait: Organization
Support Trait: Idea Development
Mentor Text: There's a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer

March 2009:
Giving Voice to Opposites

Focus Trait: Voice
Support Trait: Idea Development
Mentor Text: I Am the Dog. I am the Cat by Donald Hall

April 2009:
What Got Stolen?

Focus Trait: Idea Development
Support Trait: Organization
Mentor Text: Grandpa's Teeth by Rod Clement

May 2009
Summertime
-inspired Memories
Focus Trait: Voice
Support Trait: Word Choice
Mentor Text: Various renditions of he song Summertime from the opera Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin

June 2009
What If... Poetry

Focus Trait: Word Choice
Support Trait: Idea Development
Mentor Text: What If... by Regina Williams

July 2009
Moving through the Machine

Focus Trait: Sentence Fluency
Support Trait: Idea Development
Mentor Text: Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

August 2009

This lesson will be e-mailed to members of the Writing Lesson of the Month Ning on August 1st. Join our Ning by clicking here and signing up!


2008 Archive: Writing Lessons of the Month
(Click on a book cover to access the on-line lesson and all its resources)

January's
Lesson:
You're on a Gigantic Roll

inspired by James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

February's
Lesson:
Start with What ISN'T There


inspired by Caves
by Stephen Kramer

March's
Lesson:
So Much Depends Upon...


inspired by Love That Dog
by Sharon Creech
April's
Lesson:
Pros, Cons, and Hooks

inspired by How I Became a Pirate
by David Shannon
May's
Lesson:
Writing Like an Artist Paints

inspired by Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

June's
Lesson:
Rolling with the Animals

inspired by Duck on a Bike by David Shannon

July's
Lesson:
A Time Traveler's Log

inspired by The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
August's
Lesson:
Fairy Tale Tabloids

inspired by Fairytale News by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins
September's
Lesson:
Using 90th Street's Advice

inspired by Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter
October's
Lesson:
A Moment Like This Memoir

inspired by Milkweed
by Jerry Spinelli
November's
Lesson:
Poems of Apology

inspired by This is Just to Say by Joyce Sidman
December's
Lesson:
Between Repeated Catch Phrases

inspired by Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

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2007 Archive: Writing Lessons of the Month
(Click on a book cover to access the on-line lesson and all its resources)

January's
Lesson:
Interjected Emotions!

inspired by No, David! by David Shannon

February's
Lesson:
Haiku Riddles

inspired by If Not for the Cat by Jack Prelutsky

March's
Lesson:
Powerful First Paragraphs

inspired by
Brave Margaret by Robert De San Souci
April's
Lesson:
Top Secret Rule Reasons!

inspired by The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups by David Wisniewski
May's
Lesson:
A Scientific Mishap

inspired by Dogzilla
by Dav Pilkey

June's
Lesson:
Three-Meal Weather

inspired by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi and Ron Barrett

July's
Lesson:
Fairy Tales in New Settings

inspired by Bubba the Cowboy Prince
by Helen Ketteman
August's
Lesson:
I Wanna [Something]...

inspired by I Wanna Iguana
by Karen Kaufmann Orloff
September's
Lesson:
"Knot" the Whole Truth

inspired by Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli
October's
Lesson:
Floating Down a River

inspired by Daisy Comes Home
by Jan Brett
November's
Lesson:
Silly Animal Problems

inspired by Dog Breath
by Dav Pilkey
December's
Lesson:
Four Metaphor Poetry

inspired by Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox

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This year we're exploring innovative ways to use Roni Schotter's Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street as a classroom mentor text. Click here to hear ideas from your fellow educators.

   
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Our Mission

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