The Writing - Early Skills CD contains over three hundred finished content books and writing activities (gridsets). Additionally there are ten easy to use templates which allow you to create additional self-selected writing activities (gridsets) for your students.

The templates will help you easily develop a continuum of writing opportunities for your students. The templates first include a Content Lead-In (i.e. a book template) where you can provide students with initial information on the subject which they can either read or listen to. Within the finished activity (gridsets) folders you will find multiple examples of how the content lead-in template can be used to create a wide range of content books in a quick and easy-to-use fashion.

In addition to the Content Lead-In book template, the CD includes nine writing templates which follow a writing continuum from errorless writing to writing a sentence from a toolbar of five to six words in scrambled order with a model sentence as an example.

The nine writing templates include:

• Choose a Picture – A student simply chooses or clicks on a picture within a toolbar and the picture is inserted on the page and a sentence describing that picture is automatically written into a textbox and read aloud to the student with highlighting. (i.e. Errorless Writing).
   

• Match Picture to Picture – A student chooses or clicks on a picture within a toolbar and the picture is inserted onto the page. The student is also at that time presented with another toolbar which contains the same pictures as the original toolbar. The student is then instructed to click on the matching picture. When a picture is chosen, the sentence describing the second picture is inserted into the textbox and read aloud to the student. The student must listen to see if the sentence they created matches the picture. If not they can try again before proceeding to the next page.
   

• Match Picture to Picture and Label – This template and resulting activities is identical to the Match Picture to Picture activity except that the second toolbar now includes both a Matching Picture and a name or label of the picture.
   

• Match Picture to Word – This template and resulting activities is identical in operation to the Match Picture to Picture and Match Picture to Picture & Label template. The only difference is that the second toolbar contains only a name or phrase. The student is asked to first insert a picture on the page from the first toolbar. They then are asked to choose a matching word or phrase that describes that picture. When they click on the matching word or phrase button, the sentence corresponding to that word or phrase will be automatically written into the textbox below the picture that they originally chose.
   

• Forced Order - In this template and resulting activities, the student is asked to choose a picture from a toolbar. When they choose a picture it is automatically inserted onto the page. Then the student has a choice of either a two or three part sentence (i.e. subject and the remainder of the sentence) or (subject, verb, remaining part of the sentence. When the student clicks on a button the sentence part’s text is inserted into the textbox and the activity moves to the next part of the sentence. When the sentence has been completely entered, the sentence will be read aloud to the student.
   

• Match Picture to Word bank CO (Correct Order). In this template and resulting activities the student is instructed to click on a picture within a toolbar to insert it on the page. When they click on a picture it is automatically inserted onto the page along with a model sentence just below the picture. Additionally, the student is presented with an empty textbox and a word bank (i.e. toolbar) at the bottom of the page that contains the words that make up the model sentence. The student can then click on the buttons to insert the button text into the textbox and write their own sentence. The goal is to have the student rewrite the model sentence using the words in the word bank. In this case the words on the word bank (i.e. toolbar are in the correct order).
   

• Match Picture to Word bank SO (Scrambled Order). You can create activities having the words on the word bank (i.e. toolbar) in a scrambled order using the same template as we used to create the Match Picture to Word bank CO (Correct Order) activities or you may want to skip the Correct Order template and go directly to the SO (scrambled order) template. The only difference is that the words are now scrambled, or not in the same order as the words that make up the model sentence.
   

• Spelling. This template provides you with an opportunity to have students spell four key vocabulary words that you want them to learn from the unit. There are two formats available. The first provides an appropriate picture on the page, with the targeted word spelled below it. Students are then to spell the word correctly below in the text box. The second option does not provide the targeted word in print but the student can heard the word by right clicking on the picture before spelling the word.
   

• Record a sentence. This is the last activity template. It gives students the opportunity to create an auditory book. First, a student will place a picture and a sentence on the page. Then, they can click on the microphone to record the sentence on the page or to expand on the sentence using their own voice to express extra thoughts. When finished with the four pages the student will receive their own book with each of the four pictures, model sentences and their recordedthoughts on two pages.

Please see the description and screenshots below from one of the activity folders on the CDs (i.e. Christopher Columbus) for further information on how the templates and activities function.

The Writing Gridsets are organized in the following structure:

1: Christopher Columbus: Choose A Picture

Here on the first page the student is presented with an Open Pictures button. When they click on the button they are presented with a toolbar of four pictures. (See the screenshot on the left). If they click on the picture of Christopher Columbus, the picture is inserted and a sentence stating that Christopher Columbus was an explorer is automatically written into the textbox. (i.e. errorless writing). The student will then proceed to the next three pages and click on a different picture from the toolbar on each page to write their own book about Christopher Columbus. The new writing book can then be saved in the student’s portfolio or printed out as additional reading material for the student.
 

In this activity the student first goes through the same process of picking a picture. When they choose a picture it is inserted on the page. (i.e. choosing the three ships) But instead of the sentence being automatically written into the textbox, the student clicks on the words button which presents them with a second toolbar of pictures which contain the same pictures that were on the first toolbar (Note: that may not be in the same order though). The student is to choose the matching picture. When they choose the second picture the sentence is then automatically written into the textbox. Then student can then go to the next page to choose another picture to match.
 

In this gridset the student goes through the same process as they did in matching a picture to a picture. (i. in this case the student chose the picture of food and spices that Christopher Columbus discovered in America and it has been inserted on the page.) The only difference is that now on the second toolbar they are presented with both a matching picture and a name of the picture. Once they click on the second button which contains a picture and name, the sentence describing that picture and name will be inserted into the textbox.
 

This activity is identical to the operations in the previous two activities except that the second toolbar now only contains the name that corresponds to the pictures on the first toolbar. Again, the student chooses a picture to insert it on the page. (i.e. in this case they chose the picture of Christopher Columbus). They then are presented with a second toolbar which contains on a word or phrase. They are to choose the matching word or phrase to write a sentence about the picture on the page. When they click on a button containing a word, the sentence relating to that word will be written into the textbox automatically.
 

In this gridset the student begins the activity in the same way as the previous activities. They first click on an open pictures button and then choose one of four pictures to be put on a page. When they click on a picture it is inserted onto the page (i.e. Christopher Columbus), then students click on the words button and a sentence starter is displayed. The student then clicks on one of the illuminated cells to begin writing the sentence. When they click on the sentence starter button, the sentence starter text will be inserted into the textbox. Once that process is completed, a sentence ending cells are illuminated and the student is to click the sentence ending statement that matches the picture on the page. When the student clicks on the sentence ending button the sentence ending text will be inserted into the textbox and the entire sentence will be read aloud. The student can go to the next page and choose another picture and repeat the process.

Note: in the forced order section, there is a choice of either two or three part sentences for students to write from. Illustrations of both are shown below.
 

In this activity students choose a picture in the same fashion as the previous activities. Once the picture is inserted onto the page, a model sentence is presented in a textbox just below the picture. Note: The student can click on that textbox to have it read to them if they like. Additionally, an empty textbox is presented along with a word bank (i.e. toolbar) that contains the words that make up the model sentence. The student can then click on each word to insert it automatically into the textbox. The goal is to have the student recreate the model sentence by clicking on the appropriate words or recreating the model sentence.
 

In this activity the functions are identical to the Picture to Word CO (Correct Order) described above, except that the words on the word bank are now scrambled.
 

In this set of activities or gridsets students are presented with four key vocabulary words from this unit. In the first set of spelling words students are provided with help by having the target word spelled below the picture. The student is then to shift+click on the text box and write the targeted word. Note: an on-screen keyboard is also available to help students who use switches or scanning to type.
 

In this final gridset students can insert a picture and a sentence onto a page in the same manner as previously described in other gridsets. After that is done the student can then read the sentence aloud using their own voice and the microphone provided within the gridset OR they can express further thoughts regarding the picture and the sentence. The result is a book which provides the four pictures, the accompanying sentences and the student’s recorded thoughts in a two page summary book.
 

The finished activities are divided up into five curriculum areas for your easy retrieval. They are: Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Life Skills and Miscellaneous. When you click on any of the tablets you will find a list of the finished gridsets listed on multiple pages within the tablets themselves.