This document outlines a greenbelt writing project that will take place over three weeks. Students will design writing goals and projects on a weekly basis using a provided template. They will post their work to a class blog for feedback. Possible writing projects include collaborative writing, essays, how-to guides, personal narratives, poems, scripts, and more. Students will complete self-assessments, provide feedback to peers, and work towards developing their writing skills.

1. Greenbelt Writing Project
6th Writing Connections Spring 2017 | Ms. Hamilton
What It Is
Just as greenbelts are designed to give people green and natural spaces to grow and
cultivate trees, plants, and nature, our greenbelt writing project will give you an opportunity
the next three weeks to develop your own projects and cultivate writing ideas. Your work will
count as a test grade.
How It Works
Using a template I will provide you, you will design your writing goals every 7 days and post
your work on our project blog at https://kidblog.org/class/ms-hamiltons-6th-writing-
connections/ ; I will help you sign up and teach you how to post your writing in this space.
We will also have an opportunity to respond to each other’s work in a respectful and helpful
way.
Possible Writing Projects
 Collaborative Writing (writing something with a partner)
 Dear World Letter About a Piece of Literature
 Essays (Persuasive, Informational, Problem-Solution)
 How To...
 Issues That Matter to Me
 Personal Narratives
 Poems
 Readers' Theatre Scripts
 Slice of Life Writing (piece of writing about ordinary events in daily life that are
meaningful to you or that you see. Example: a mouse in the cafeteria.)
 Stories
 Take a Stand
 VoiceThread (access through Launchpoint)
You can also propose your own genre of writing or writing project.
Weekly Writing Plan/Project(s)
 Fill out the template and turn in on time.
 Complete your writing projects by the deadline. This means you need to be on task
and using your time with passion and purpose.
 Complete a self-assessment/evaluation of your work (see me for the template)
 Provide constructive and helpful feedback or comments to peers on their projects (I’ll
give you sentence starters to do this task).

2. Updated List of Writing Genres and Possibilities, April 27, 2017
Greenbelt Writing with Ms. Hamilton
Reflective Writing and Personal Narratives (The Yellow Station)
Writing About a Memory
Writing About a Conversation
The Insight Garden
Tribute to the Person Who Taught Me Something
Prized Possession
Valuable Advice
Personal Narrative (seed/small moment story from your life)
Sightseeing
Favorite Place
Story of My Thinking
Expository and Informational Writing (the Green Station)
Problem-Solution Message
Making a Claim About a Historical Event
Defining a Word
Evolution of a Term
Doing Something 101 (How To)
Walking the Walk to Make a Difference
Book Review
Reader’s Theatre Script
Creative Writing (the Orange Station)
Poems (many options!) You can write a poem as a free-verse piece of writing; if you need a
template or poem writing structure to get you started, see Ms. Hamilton.
A Completely Made-Up Story
Curiosity Writing
Anxiety and Worry Writing
Wo-Wo-Wonder Writing
Reader’s Theatre Script
You also have the option of just free writing a story without a template.
Persuasive/Opinion/Argumentative/Taking a Stand Writing (hot pink station)
Opinion Piece
Taking a Stand Against Something
Fighting Unfairness with Logic
Knocking Down the Opposition
Oreo Persuasive Writing
Reader’s Theatre Script
VoiceThread and Collaborative Writing
You can use the templates for any of the genres and writing styles in the categories/lists above.
For VoiceThread, you will type your script and then figure what images you want to use for each
“chunk” or section of your writing. You will then read and record the narration for each photo and
chunk of information in VoiceThread.