After spending a whole month writing another informative piece, we succeeded. We created wonderful pieces you would definitely would like to read:)
Pre-writing:
What was your original idea from your concentric circle and how did you "zoom in" from your original topic during your mind map? What made you do this?
Pre- writing is an important part of writing and it's the first step you take to writing an essay. Before writing, miss Hannah introduced us to the concentric circles. We have used concentric circles in the past so it's easy for us to redo it. For the things and people I like, I chose Bill Gates, the environment, architecture, Vietnam, education, shoes, water, natural resources, sea creatures, and electricity. To zoom in for the things I love, I chose the environment, Vietnam, and water. I considered for a moment and chose 2 topics that I have the most knowledge on. After a moment of considering, I chose Vietnam and the environment. Here's the tricky part, I need to make my final decision on the topic and think I could put my best effort in to. I will write about the environment since it's a big topic where I am very knowledgeable on.
I started to brainstorm about everything I know on the environment. My three main points are waste, water pollution, and air pollution. Those are three big topics that's very hard to decide on. Miss Hannah told me to choose the topic that you can write most about. I know a lot about all of these because my dad is an environmentalist and his job is to process these. I will write about air pollution because I feel like I have a very big connection with it.
Did your graphic organizer help keep you organized? Explain how.
I turned to a brand new page to brainstorm 3 main points on air pollution. My three main points are its causes, its effects and what we can do. I brainstormed everything I know about air pollution onto the paper and I noticed how my paper was full of words. Now is the right time for graphic organizers to come in.
Graphic organizer was a very useful tool for me in my last writing piece owing to the fact that it’s so organized. My main ideas and details get organized in different boxes and circles. We also created our own topic sentences, introductions, and conclusions in our graphic organizer. When I was in 3rd and 4th grade, I didn’t like graphic organizers at all and I ignore them as if they were invisible. As I started 5th grade, I began to understand how organizers is what your piece needs so it’s structured. Your details would be flying everywhere if it’s not organized. All the writing I did in 3rd and 4rd grade was not organized at all and I feel like it’s kind of ...This indicates that graphic organizers is one of the most important step you need to be aware of while writing.
Drafting:
Were you able to write freely about this topic? Did the draft flow naturally?
I was pretty knowledgeable on my topic so it’s not very challenging for me to write a draft. Miss Hannah advised all of us that we shouldn’t be looking up new words, information and trying to make it the “final piece”. I feel like even it’s my first draft, it flowed very naturally which makes it seems like the “final piece”. Transition words and sentence fluency are the two essential additions of our writing piece so I tried really hard to add transition words and make my sentences different while I was writing.
Was this topic easier or harder for you than the first one. What makes you say that?
Since my auntie and air pollution are both topics that I have a lot of knowledge on, neither of them cause any problems for me while writing. I didn’t need to do any research for my 1st writing piece because the internet doesn’t tell me about her. Nevertheless, there are some scientific research that shows vocabulary words and extra information that’s used for experts which is very effective for me to add. For air pollution, I was able to write about 10 sentences longer because air pollution is a very big topic. Were I to choose between these 2 writing pieces, I would chose the air pollution piece because it includes a bigger connection with the audience than my 1st writing piece.
Revising:
How did sentence fluency add to your writing piece?
Sentence fluency adds efficiently to my writing piece because sentence fluency makes my sentences become more fluent. The sentence starters aren’t repeating after and after again which makes the piece sounds better. We were taught about different sentence starters and I have mentioned them in my last reflection. Sometimes, we feel like every sentence of our piece sounds repetitive. and that’s when sentence fluency comes in. Here is an example of me working on my sentence fluency:
Many foreign companies invest in Ho Chi Minh city and build a lot of factories outside of the city. During their manufacturing process, they let their chemicals and sulfur oxide flutter freely throughout the atmosphere. The chemicals and sulfur oxide become smog that stays in the sky, which is a combination of fog and smoke. Furthermore, waste from those factories have a great influence on landfills, water pollution and air pollution.
For the first sentence, I started it by writing about several companies. My second sentence doesn’t starts with the same thing. I told you about the chemicals and sulfur oxide in my third sentence. I used a transition word in my last sentence so it doesn’t sound repetitive.
Which facts did you choose to add if you chose any? Why did you choose them?
I added some facts about what type of gas scooters release so the audience could understand how the gas from the scooters affect the atmosphere. I read the wikipedia about scientific names for certain types of gas. I will show you an example of me adding a fact.
According to Vietnam News, 5.6 million patients spend $70.9 million a year on treatments.
Before reading my reflection, did you know this fact? If you don’t, I am successful. I chose to add this fact because I want to indicate that air pollution is a serious threat to our lives. This fact has a pretty big number so I hope that it will influence your opinion and actions.
Editing:
What strategies you use to find spelling and grammar errors?
I reread my writing piece with a partner so they could help me with some errors. I also used a tool online that points out your grammar and spelling mistakes. The grammar tool is a computer so miss Hannah warned us that it might be wrong. Google does correct your spelling when it is underlined in red. In my piece, I have some new vocabulary words so I was very careful while typing them. I had a conference with miss Hannah so she can give me comments about some grammar mistakes. She helped me resolve some errors but I had to do the other one by myself. I feel very confident about my writing piece and I believe there are not a lot of mistakes in it.
What is a common mistake you're making in your writing?
I've been making mistakes with a lot of grammar elements so I don't really know which one to tell. One of the biggest problem in our class is our verb tenses. We were writing all types of verb tenses which makes the audience feel confused while reading our piece. I beleive the biggest mistake I mam making is writing questions. Sometimes my verb tense when I write questions aren't very accurate. I will try to work on that next time so it doesn't become an obstacle that stops me on my journey of becoming a writer.
Publishing:
What text features did you include? Why did you choose these?
I included subtitles, images, and captions in my writing piece. I added different subtitles so that myparagraphs are separated. At first, my writing piece was a big chunk. Miss Hannah gave me some support that helped me a lot about separating our paragraphs so it doesn't sound boring. I chose to add these because they are common text features that I think are very useful to add to my writing piece. Moreover, my writing piece is a nonfiction piece so these text features are very needed.
What are you proud of in this writing piece? Who would you like to share it with?
I am very proud of my writing piece because it has a purpose and I hope that it could change something in this community. The purpose of me writing this piece is to inform citizens about how their actions are damaging the Earth and themselves. Saying this isn't very good but I am also proud about my piece's length. It looked very attracting to me. First of all, I would like to share it with my dad, mom and auntie. As I have mentioned, my dad's an environmentalist and his job is to protect the environment so my dad would be very elated to find out how much his daughter knew. My mom is a very important partner in my life so she's probably the first one I will share it with. I wrote a piece about my auntie so I believe you know how much she cares about me . I appreciate her love towards me which makes me want to share all my effort and hard work with her.
Thanks for reading my reflection. If you would like to read my final piece, please go to my next post:)
Pre-writing:
What was your original idea from your concentric circle and how did you "zoom in" from your original topic during your mind map? What made you do this?
Pre- writing is an important part of writing and it's the first step you take to writing an essay. Before writing, miss Hannah introduced us to the concentric circles. We have used concentric circles in the past so it's easy for us to redo it. For the things and people I like, I chose Bill Gates, the environment, architecture, Vietnam, education, shoes, water, natural resources, sea creatures, and electricity. To zoom in for the things I love, I chose the environment, Vietnam, and water. I considered for a moment and chose 2 topics that I have the most knowledge on. After a moment of considering, I chose Vietnam and the environment. Here's the tricky part, I need to make my final decision on the topic and think I could put my best effort in to. I will write about the environment since it's a big topic where I am very knowledgeable on.
I started to brainstorm about everything I know on the environment. My three main points are waste, water pollution, and air pollution. Those are three big topics that's very hard to decide on. Miss Hannah told me to choose the topic that you can write most about. I know a lot about all of these because my dad is an environmentalist and his job is to process these. I will write about air pollution because I feel like I have a very big connection with it.
Did your graphic organizer help keep you organized? Explain how.
I turned to a brand new page to brainstorm 3 main points on air pollution. My three main points are its causes, its effects and what we can do. I brainstormed everything I know about air pollution onto the paper and I noticed how my paper was full of words. Now is the right time for graphic organizers to come in.
Graphic organizer was a very useful tool for me in my last writing piece owing to the fact that it’s so organized. My main ideas and details get organized in different boxes and circles. We also created our own topic sentences, introductions, and conclusions in our graphic organizer. When I was in 3rd and 4th grade, I didn’t like graphic organizers at all and I ignore them as if they were invisible. As I started 5th grade, I began to understand how organizers is what your piece needs so it’s structured. Your details would be flying everywhere if it’s not organized. All the writing I did in 3rd and 4rd grade was not organized at all and I feel like it’s kind of ...This indicates that graphic organizers is one of the most important step you need to be aware of while writing.
Drafting:
Were you able to write freely about this topic? Did the draft flow naturally?
I was pretty knowledgeable on my topic so it’s not very challenging for me to write a draft. Miss Hannah advised all of us that we shouldn’t be looking up new words, information and trying to make it the “final piece”. I feel like even it’s my first draft, it flowed very naturally which makes it seems like the “final piece”. Transition words and sentence fluency are the two essential additions of our writing piece so I tried really hard to add transition words and make my sentences different while I was writing.
Was this topic easier or harder for you than the first one. What makes you say that?
Since my auntie and air pollution are both topics that I have a lot of knowledge on, neither of them cause any problems for me while writing. I didn’t need to do any research for my 1st writing piece because the internet doesn’t tell me about her. Nevertheless, there are some scientific research that shows vocabulary words and extra information that’s used for experts which is very effective for me to add. For air pollution, I was able to write about 10 sentences longer because air pollution is a very big topic. Were I to choose between these 2 writing pieces, I would chose the air pollution piece because it includes a bigger connection with the audience than my 1st writing piece.
Revising:
How did sentence fluency add to your writing piece?
Sentence fluency adds efficiently to my writing piece because sentence fluency makes my sentences become more fluent. The sentence starters aren’t repeating after and after again which makes the piece sounds better. We were taught about different sentence starters and I have mentioned them in my last reflection. Sometimes, we feel like every sentence of our piece sounds repetitive. and that’s when sentence fluency comes in. Here is an example of me working on my sentence fluency:
Many foreign companies invest in Ho Chi Minh city and build a lot of factories outside of the city. During their manufacturing process, they let their chemicals and sulfur oxide flutter freely throughout the atmosphere. The chemicals and sulfur oxide become smog that stays in the sky, which is a combination of fog and smoke. Furthermore, waste from those factories have a great influence on landfills, water pollution and air pollution.
For the first sentence, I started it by writing about several companies. My second sentence doesn’t starts with the same thing. I told you about the chemicals and sulfur oxide in my third sentence. I used a transition word in my last sentence so it doesn’t sound repetitive.
Which facts did you choose to add if you chose any? Why did you choose them?
I added some facts about what type of gas scooters release so the audience could understand how the gas from the scooters affect the atmosphere. I read the wikipedia about scientific names for certain types of gas. I will show you an example of me adding a fact.
According to Vietnam News, 5.6 million patients spend $70.9 million a year on treatments.
Before reading my reflection, did you know this fact? If you don’t, I am successful. I chose to add this fact because I want to indicate that air pollution is a serious threat to our lives. This fact has a pretty big number so I hope that it will influence your opinion and actions.
Editing:
What strategies you use to find spelling and grammar errors?
I reread my writing piece with a partner so they could help me with some errors. I also used a tool online that points out your grammar and spelling mistakes. The grammar tool is a computer so miss Hannah warned us that it might be wrong. Google does correct your spelling when it is underlined in red. In my piece, I have some new vocabulary words so I was very careful while typing them. I had a conference with miss Hannah so she can give me comments about some grammar mistakes. She helped me resolve some errors but I had to do the other one by myself. I feel very confident about my writing piece and I believe there are not a lot of mistakes in it.
What is a common mistake you're making in your writing?
I've been making mistakes with a lot of grammar elements so I don't really know which one to tell. One of the biggest problem in our class is our verb tenses. We were writing all types of verb tenses which makes the audience feel confused while reading our piece. I beleive the biggest mistake I mam making is writing questions. Sometimes my verb tense when I write questions aren't very accurate. I will try to work on that next time so it doesn't become an obstacle that stops me on my journey of becoming a writer.
Publishing:
What text features did you include? Why did you choose these?
I included subtitles, images, and captions in my writing piece. I added different subtitles so that myparagraphs are separated. At first, my writing piece was a big chunk. Miss Hannah gave me some support that helped me a lot about separating our paragraphs so it doesn't sound boring. I chose to add these because they are common text features that I think are very useful to add to my writing piece. Moreover, my writing piece is a nonfiction piece so these text features are very needed.
What are you proud of in this writing piece? Who would you like to share it with?
I am very proud of my writing piece because it has a purpose and I hope that it could change something in this community. The purpose of me writing this piece is to inform citizens about how their actions are damaging the Earth and themselves. Saying this isn't very good but I am also proud about my piece's length. It looked very attracting to me. First of all, I would like to share it with my dad, mom and auntie. As I have mentioned, my dad's an environmentalist and his job is to protect the environment so my dad would be very elated to find out how much his daughter knew. My mom is a very important partner in my life so she's probably the first one I will share it with. I wrote a piece about my auntie so I believe you know how much she cares about me . I appreciate her love towards me which makes me want to share all my effort and hard work with her.
Thanks for reading my reflection. If you would like to read my final piece, please go to my next post:)