Using Picture Books to Teach Writing with the Traits

by Ruth Culham, Scholastic Inc. (Manufacturer)

Using Picture Books to Teach Writing With the TraitsUse high-quality picture books to help students apply the traits of writing ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. This essential resource contains over 200 teacher-friendly annotations on new and classic books, organized by trait, and trait-focused lessons based on specific books. 144 pages. Grade 3-5

Genres: Education, Teaching, Writing, Nonfiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

Ruth Culham, aka The Trait Lady, is the president of The Culham Writing Company and former Unit Manager of the Assessment Program at Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (recently renamed Education Northwest) in Portland, Oregon.

She is the recognized expert in the traits of writing assessment field and author of numerous professional resources published by Scholastic, including 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide, Grades 3 and Up; 6+1 Traits of Writing for the Primary Grades; Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School, and Using Picture Books to Teach Writing with the Traits.

As a pioneering researcher in this field, she creates and conducts teacher workshops and videos, designs national and international institutes for writing assessment and instruction, and provides professional development to teachers at local and district levels.

Ruth was named Teacher of the Year in Montana, the highlight of her 19-year teaching career. Ruth holds specialty degrees in Library Science and Elementary, Middle, and Secondary English Education. She has a Masters degree in Teaching English and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration.

from http://ruthculham.wordpress.com/about/

Reviews

[Karen Malin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruth Culham gives a plethora of ideas of helping students improve their writing. Using six traits (+1--presentation), teachers can easily show students how to improve writing at any level. Even though this book is for the younger grades, it can easily be used to help anyone improve his/her writing. A must read for any teacher helping students with their writing.

[Elaine Bearden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really a fantastic book if you are trying to integrate excellent literature in your classroom, but don't have time. The author went through tons of books to find examples that teach to the writing traits. Could be used for older students as well. Also relevant to writers, is that she has identified traits like voice and organization, to see how different writers have used these tools to tell their stories. I would like to spend more time with this book to thoroughly read through the sections.

[Marguarite Markley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Broken into: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, presentation

Lessons are based on specific picture books and there are lists of picture books for each trait.

Well written and organized, very useful!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a time saver! Love this book.

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for the classroom, good for homeschoolers.