Think, Then Write Workbook (Volume 3): Transitions, Biographies and Short Reports

Description

In Think, Then Write Workbook: Volume 3 we focus on transitions, biographies and short reports.

Our no-prep 70+ page workbook (part of our Think, Then Write Explicit Writing Program) is designed to support students of all years/grades to learn how to:

1. use transitions to link our ideas and sentences together;
2. write short biographies; and
3. write multi-paragraph reports about movies, computer games and books.

(1) Transitions

We will learn to use “transitions” to link our sentences together.

Transitions are “signal words” that indicate a relationship between ideas. Transitions may begin a sentence, link ideas within a sentence, and create links between sentences. They help to make paragraphs and writing projects easier to read and to understand.

In this workbook, students will learn how to use and practice:

• time and sequence transitions to explain events/steps;
• cause and effect transitions;
• transitions to give examples;
• transitions to give emphasis to a point;
• contrast transitions to change direction; and
• transitions to finish a point.

(2) Biographies

We have prepared 5 short reading passages about famous people (Louis Braille, Walt Disney, Beatrix Potter, Tina Turner, Serena Williams), each with 7 or 8 questions probing comprehension at different levels of abstraction.

Comprehension questions include simple “look back and find” facts in the text, as well as questions that require reorganisation of information, and abstract “why” and “how” questions requiring inferencing, prediction, retelling and other higher level language skills.

The passages are short and were selected to appeal to both upper primary/middle school students and older students with language or learning challenges.

The resource also includes writing assignments for 5 different famous people (Helen Keller, George Lucas, J.K. Rowling, Taylor Swift/BTS/Bruno Mars, and Mr Beast/Pewdiepie) so students can practice writing short reports.

The workbook is designed to support students to write short multi-paragraph reports, using a scaffold or outline to plan the project. The 5 reading comprehension passages are fully worked examples that students can use as models for their own work.

(3) Multi-paragraph reports

The workbook is also designed to support students to write short multi-paragraph reports, using a scaffold or outline to plan the project, as well as fully worked examples they can use as models for their own work. Included in this workbook are outlines for:

• a movie review;
• a video/computer game review; and
• a book report on a work of fiction.

The workbook features:

• a worked example of an outline using a popular game, movie or book (as the case may be);
• an outline template that students can use to plan their own report about their favourite game, movie and book;
• a worked example of a completed 3-paragraph writing project generated from the outline; and
• space for students to write their own 3-paragraph report, using the example as a model.

We have selected each example – Toy Story, Super Mario Cart, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – to appeal to as wide a range of student ages and interests as possible. With a little preparation, the outlines can be adapted to the interests of particular students, including books and films related to class texts of any level.

This new Think, Then Write Workbook, Volume 3, includes our previous Think, Then Write standalone resources volume part 3.1 and part 3.2, and reading comprehension passages volume 6 and short reports.