Specific Craft (ch. 4 & 5)

This concept of specific craft is outstanding. When it comes to teaching children there is so much that needs to be covered; using specific craft allows all of that information to become somewhat organized. In my opinion specific craft could probably be used with almost anything. Out of the 5 main topics that were presented in chapter 4, the five senses has to be my favorite. This concept can take a child's writing to a completely higher level. As they mentioned in the story, by 3rd grade most students know and understand their five senses. When writing, if you focus on these, your able to make your writing more realistic and draw the reader in. Another reason I like the senses one so much is because it is so simple. The classroom could focus on one sense a week. Each week you pick a sense and in all the writings done that week you could put emphasis on a certain sense. When all 5 weeks have passed you can put together one great story. The options are endless with specific craft. Chapter 5 began to talk about working on punctuation. Punctuation seems like it would be a harder task for the children. Everywhere students may read they can find punctuation, they might know what it is, but this doesn't mean they understand it. Developing activities with specific craft and punctuation can slowly help students to grasp the concept. If using specific craft, by the end of the year your students should be sure to improve and impress you.