This Lesson's Title:

Using 90th Street's Advice

four techniques to inspire quality details

The picture book that inspired this lesson was the 2008-2009 school year's Mentor Text of the Year.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out Nothing Ever Happens On 90th Street at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

First, writers will search for all four pieces of advice that young author, Eva, receives from her neighbors and then uses in her story found in the book Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street. Next, writers will apply the four pieces of advice as they brainstorm details about a person, place, and thing they have chosen to write about.  Finally, writers will each create a descriptive paragraph that interestingly describes the person, place, and thing they have chosen. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is idea development; the writer's goal is to create a powerful descriptive paragraph with memorable details.  The support trait in this assignment is word choice; as students attempt to "find the poetry in their pudding," they will be thinking about the power of thoughtful words.

Recipient of the NNWP's
Excellent Writing Lesson Award:

Because of the quality of its resources and ideas, this WritingFix lesson was selected by the Northern Nevada Writing Project as September 2008's Writing Lesson of the Month. It was e-mailed to thousands of teachers who are members of the NNWP's Writing Lesson of the Month Teacher Network.

To quickly access all the WritingFix lessons that have been chosen as "Lesson of the Month," click here to visit the NNWP's archive. You can have a link to a high-quality writing lesson sent to you every month.