LA_ellisisland

First I would have the students read a personal essay about a voyage to Ellis Island and their arrival. Next, I would have the students write a letter to someone back home pretending that they were actually on the voyage. The students would need to include the following things in their letter: why they left, describe two events from the voyage, how they felt as the Statue of Liberty came into view, and describe at least two of the tests that they must pass in order to be able to stay. Students may include how they might have felt. Also, the class would discuss which style of genre this text would be and why. Paulet Owens Crescent MS
 * Purdue Online Writing Lab**
 * Language Arts (grades 7 and 8) / Ellis Island**

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ The Purdue OWL is the premier website for finding all kinds of advice about writing.

http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=36 This site, developed by NCTE has a variety of plans for a variety of reading/writing assignments targeted at a variety of grade levels.
 * Read Write Think**

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ The grammar and punctuation on this site are a little higher level, but easily adaptable. The quizzes are good with explanations.
 * Grammar Site**

http://www.cite.auckland.ac.nz/ This site gives examples for citation styles.
 * Citation Sources**

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/soc_sciences/write.shtml****
 * Writing in the Social Sciences

Engineering Writing http://writing.umn.edu/tww/assignments/disciplines/engineering_assignments.htm http://www.ecf.utoronto.ca/~writing/handbook.html Various sites that deal with engineering writing.**
 * http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/

Name: **[|Power Proofreading]** URL: **http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/proofread** Who It's For: **Grades 2-8** What It Costs: **Free** Description: **Improve students' proofing skills and knowledge of grammar with this fun and easy-to-use site. After a short animated video introduces Power Proofreading, students click the folder for their grade level and select a passage to proof. Each passage's errors focus on a specific skill, so why not preview the passages before class, and pick out the ones you want your class to practice based on your current grammar unit? Then, students simply click to delete, add, or edit as needed to correct grammatical and spelling mistakes. Unlike sites that have students correct grammar in a sentence or by question and answer format, this is one of the few at which students work within a paragraph, a valuable skill for success in standardized testing. Kids need more practice? Try some of Education World's [|Every-Day Edits].**

Name: **[|Find a Story…Map a Story…Tell a Story]** URL: **http://www.rebooting.ca/place/** Who It's For: **This project is appropriate for all grades. For the lower grades, it might be done as a collaborative project; for Grades 4 and up, an independent project.** What It Costs: **Free** Description: **Find a Story... Map a Story... Tell a Story invites you to choose a story that matters to you and, using an online mapping tool such as [|Google Maps], [|Community Walk], or [|Wayfaring], create a StoryMap that will place your stories within a geographical context. Using one of those digital mapping tools, locate a geographical map from your story location, and add images, audio, and text memories to the place markers found on the mapping tool. This project will help you recover lost stories and save and share them so other can enjoy and learn from them. Completed StoryMaps will be posted on a student work page on the Find a Story... Map a Story... Tell a Story Web site.**

Name: **[|Google Docs for Educators]** URL: **http://www.google.com/educators/weeklyreader.html** Who It's For: **The Google Docs and Spreadsheets tool allows sharing among students at all grade levels, between students and teacher, student and parent…..** What It Costs: **Free** Description:** Google and Weekly Reader have teamed up to provide free tools and materials for educators to use to teach "digital buddy writing," in which two or more students work together from different computers to write and revise the same paper at the same time. The buddy writing lessons and activities utilize the sharing features of Google Docs and Spreadsheets, which enable teachers and students to determine who can access and edit documents. Google Docs helps promote group work and peer editing skills, and helps fulfill the stated goal of The National Council of Teachers of English, which espouses writing as a process and encourages multiple revisions and peer editing.