K-12 Conventions Booklet

More than a definition or complex rule, students need to know why a writer would want to apply a specific grammar or mechanic skill within his writing. This is the key to incorporating conventions into the context of writing— students need to know how a skill can impact a writer’s message. The K-12 Conventions Booklet will provide teachers with 10 common purposes that conventions serve in all types of writing. For example:

• Some conventions emphasize importance (e.g., capitalization).
• Some conventions elaborate on ideas (e.g., prepositions, adverbs).
• Some conventions specify details (e.g., verb tense, possessives).
• Some conventions connect details (e.g., conjunctions, colons, compound predicates).

Each page of this staple-bound booklet lists all the convention skills per grade level, as indicated in the K-12 Language Arts Standards. Adjacent to every skill is also a description of the purpose it serves in sentences/writing. In addition, each skill and purpose is followed by one or more examples.