To further develop and celebrate our students' writing, several times each year our teachers for Kindergarten - Grade 4 identify a writing assignment for the students and then hand in their work to a faculty team of reviewers.

The team chooses one or two exemplary pieces from each grade level and these students then share their work at a Young Authors' Tea. Parents of these honorees are invited to attend the event, as well as selected school administrators.

Each assignment during the course of the year highlights a different part of the 6+1 Trait © writing program. At Fourth School, we are dedicated to creating an academic setting where children are not only proficient in their written expression skills, but also learn to enjoy the writing process and to view themselves as good writers.

We are encouraged by the writing talent we have in the school and look forward to reading and honoring the work of our students throughout the school year.

The 6+1 Trait © program is used as a scoring format to evaluate student writing at each grade level. In general, the program includes:

Ideas and Development - students have a clear and focused topic, and use details that support the main topic
Organization - the writing provides a clear beginning, middle, and ending; the relevant details are organized/ sequenced; the piece includes transition words to establish order
Voice - reflects a child's interest or enthusiasm for a topic; the writing keeps the reader's attention
Word Choice - measured by the vocabulary the children include in their writing relevant to the topic, and the words used help to enhance or clarify the reader's understanding
Sentence Fluency - describes the way the writing is varied in terms of sentence openers, sentence length, and structure; sentences within paragraphs are structured to lead the reader from one idea to another
Conventions - includes the student's correct use of punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and spelling within his or her writing
Presentation (the +1) - the overall legibility, clarity, and inclusion of details such as pictures or charts that enhance a reader's understanding of the written content