Week 1: Characteristics of Excellent Writing 

 
  Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday 

Skill  Mindfulness  Writing Assessment  Characteristics of Excellent  Characteristics of Excellent 

No Red Ink Set Up  Writing Packet: Introduction and  Writing Packet: Writing a 
Finding Main Idea  Paragraph/Writing to an 
Audience 

Plan  Complete mindfulness lesson  Have students write a paragraph  Hand out packets and discuss  Discuss importance of writing to 
  about one of the following topics:  how we will be doing a “crash  a specific audience. 
Set up No Red Ink and have  ● A favorite weekend  course” in excellent writing.   
students work on placement  activity    Discuss formal voice/informal 
assessment  ● A favorite hobby  Discuss WHY writing is so  tone. 
● A favorite recipe  important. Why is it practical?   
Remind students to complete  In what situations will you need  On page 3 in packet, have 
their BEST work. This means…  to write? Share my experiences  students practice writing a 
● Correct spelling  with writing.  paragraph. 
● Correct capitalization     
● Correct punctuation  In the packet, work on finding  Have students read their 
● Correct grammar  the main idea (page 2).  paragraphs aloud and then give 
● Best handwriting  each student a specific glow and 
● Clear topic  a grow. Have students volunteer 
Use these as a before and after  to help share these glows and 
comparison. Also use these to  grows. 
group students based on what   
they need to work on and what  If extra time, have students 
No Red Ink to work on.  revise their paragraphs. 

Preparation/ ● No Red Ink logins  ● Blank lined paper  ● Excellent writing  ● Excellent writing 
Materials  ● Mindfulness lesson  packets  packets 

 
Week 2: Characteristics of Excellent Writing 
 
  Monday  Tuesday 

Skill  Characteristics of Excellent Writing Packet: Organization  No Red Ink 

Plan  Discuss WHY it is important to have organization in your  Have students work on individual assignments on No Red Ink. 
writing. 
 
Go over page 4 in packet and discuss various organizational 
structures. Also discuss transition words on that page. 
 
Have students complete page 5 to identify transition words or 
phrases in a text and identify the text’s organizational 
structure. 
 
Have students work in partners to complete “organize the 
facts” activity on page 6 in packet. 
 
Have students independently write a paragraph on page 6, then 
share them if time. Identify “glows and grows” for each 
student’s paragraph. Students may volunteer to help identify 
these glows and grows. If time, have students revise their 
paragraphs based on this feedback. 

Preparation/ ● Characteristics of Excellent Writing Packets  ● Chromebooks 

Materials 
Week 3: Characteristics of Excellent Writing 
 
  Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday 

Skill  Mindfulness and No Red Ink  Characteristics of Excellent  Characteristics of Excellent  Characteristics of Excellent 
Writing: Text Evidence  Writing: Text Evidence  Writing:Language and Style 

Plan  Complete mindfulness lesson.  Use page 7 to discuss text  On page 10 in packet, discuss  Using page 11 in packet, explain 
  evidence and how to annotate a  how to explain text evidence in  the importance of language and 
Have students independently  text.  writing.  style in writing. 
work on No Red Ink assignments.       
Have students independently  Have students work on using  Have students underline 
identify text evidence in the  sentence starters to explain  examples of precise language in 
paragraph on page 8, then  evidence in writing on page 10.  paragraph on page 11. Then, go 
compare with a partner. Discuss    over as a class. 
as a class.  Share! Have students give each   
  other “glows and grows” and  Have students write a paragraph 
Discuss how to use sentence  then edit those sentences.  on page 11, then swap with a 
starters in order to incorporate  partner and evaluate for precise 
text evidence.  language and formal style. 
   
With partners, have students  If there’s extra time, rewrite the 
complete activity on page 9 -  paragraph on page 12 in packet 
“using sentence starters to  to fix conventions. 
incorporate text evidence in 
writing.” 

Preparation/ ● Chromebooks  ● Characteristics of  ● Characteristics of  ● Characteristics of 

Materials  ● No Red Ink assignments  Excellent Writing  Excellent Writing  Excellent Writing 
● Mindfulness lesson  Packet  Packet  Packet 
Week 4: RACES 
 
  Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday 

Skill  Mindfulness and No Red Ink  RACES Foundations  RACES Practice  RACES Practice 

Plan  Complete mindfulness lesson.  Go over components of RACES  Complete another RACES  Complete another RACES 
  and how to complete each  response independently.  response independently. 
Have students independently  section. 
work on No Red Ink assignments.   
Have students respond to RACES 
prompt as a pre-test. 
 
Have students read their RACES 
responses aloud and find “glows 
and grows” for each. Then, have 
students edit their RACES 
responses. 

Preparation/ ● Chromebooks  ● RACES packet  ● RACES packet  ● RACES packet 

Materials  ● No Red Ink assignments 
● Mindfulness lesson